Wau-Ke-Na South Track

Dogs Leashed

Features Birding · Fall Colors · Wildflowers · Wildlife

The map is very helpful, except for the "Wet Woods" area (NW quadrant of the park). The trails there are currently impassible due to fallen logs and thick, high grass.

There is a complex network of paths at this park, but there are no markings on the trails. The paths are grassy, wide, flat, and easy to hike. This route takes you along several of them, where you'll see small ponds, wooded lands, prairies, and more.

From the website: "Despite a history of farming, the South Tract includes several interesting natural communities: oak-hickory forest, early successional forest, old field, prairie grassland, wet meadow, pond, cattail marsh, and lake-plain prairie. The grasslands provide habitat for significant numbers of grassland birds in decline. The forests are changing dramatically due to the emerald ash borer – the silver lining is that increased sunlight is resulting in greater numbers of wildflowers in the woodlands. Lake-plain prairies are an endangered habitat and extremely rare in west Michigan."
"Fields of prairie grasses and wildflowers provide foraging and nesting areas for rare birds like sedge wrens, bobolinks and eastern meadowlarks."