Newsletter of the HOLLIDAY NATURE PRESERVE ASSOCIATION Our 30th Year Volume 30 Number 2 Thanks Everyone! Hard to believe our Association has been around for 30 years serving the Holliday Nature & Wildlife Preserve, and the community. It is a testament to the dedication of many people, over many years that we are still here. It s also because of you, our members and supporters who have given of your time and resources that we have been able to continue our mission of preserving the Preserve. We have an active walk and work program, an expanding Facebook following, a fine newsletter, and a solid bank account. But most importantly, we have you our members with a strong drive to keep things going. That s what we plan to do, of course. We have walks, an Earth Day project and our 30th Rouge Rescue all ready to go (you ll read more inside. Later this summer, we will celebrate with a member picnic. We may even have a special newsletter with plenty of photos to reflect on what we have done over these decades and with whom. Thank you all for your continuing support and hard work. Bill HNPA.ORG Spring2018 Annual Meeting Report Wayne County Commissioner Glenn Anderson holds a copy of a special Wayne County resolution he presented at the Holliday Nature Preserve Association annual meeting commending for organization for 30 years of service to the community. O n the evening of Feb 28, HNPA held a general meeting. We started the meeting off by introducing Wayne County Commissioner Glenn Anderson who had requested to be on agenda. He presented our group with a Commission resolution honoring our 30 years of stewardship to the community. Commissioner Anderson has been a HNPA member going back to the early days of our formation, and he and Commissioner Terry Marecki co-sponsored this special tribute. HNPA thanks them both. We invite you to read the resolution inside this newsletter. Other HNPA business discussed included: the treasurer s report; a discussion on Wayne County Parks plans for the Preserve (you can read more inside; 2018 Rouge Rescue plans; members agreed to revitalize the Board of Directors. Steps will be taken to engage more people, and plan for the future; and just as the lights were being turned off, the current officers were re-elected.
Rouge Rescue 2018 is Saturday, May 19 E ver see Groundhog Day with Bill Murray? He gets caught up in a time warp loop revisiting the same day over and over again. Well, that may seem similar to our Rouge Rescue 2018 event. We are doing the same work we did last year and in the same place, but only on a different day. This year, Rouge Rescue is Saturday, May 19 at Hix Park. We are going back because last year we had to cancel the Rouge Rescue due to high water. We rescheduled on the following two Saturdays, but we attracted fewer volunteers so there is work left to do. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. and we will work until 1 p.m. Although we hope to have people stay for the entire time, please feel free to come when you can and leave when you must. Our focus this year will be on getting some more floating debris out of Tonquish Creek, as well as cutting honeysuckle, pulling Dame s rocket and garlic mustard. These plants are unwanted,exotic, invasive plants. We will have water to drink, clean water to wash in, and dirty water to play in (if that s your thing!) Friends of the Rouge will provide gloves, trash bags and those ever popular free T-shirts. Oh yes, almost forgot, please meet at Westland Hix Park, west of Hix Road and just north of Warren Road. Meeting with Wayne County Parks I n mid 2017,Wayne County Parks started drafting a Strategic Master Plan, which included: Park Master Plan, Business & Sustainability Plan Five-Year Recreational Master Plan. Public meetings were held in different parts of the County. Parks took public and written comments. HNPA attended these meetings since the Master Plan referenced the Preserve. We spoke at the meetings and submitted comments based on our experiences and from input we received from members during our walks. Wayne County Parks made its final presentation on Jan 22, and HNPA was again there. At that time we reiterated our interest in partnering with them in any discussions regarding investments in the Preserve. On Feb 28 (the day of our HNPA Annual Meeting), HNPA representatives attended a special Parks presentation in which we learned that Wayne County wants to make significant investment in the Nankin Mills complex (their headquarters) and in the Preserve, especially at Ellsworth and will apply for grants to carry out these plans. While HNPA members made some comments at that presentation, it is unclear whether we will have input in the grant application and so have adopted a wait and see approach. As usual, we are always happy to help Parks since HNPA has 30 years experience with the Preserve and a membership that is interested in its future.
A Walk, A Picnic, A Celebration bers, talk old times, tell funny stories, complain, laugh, and relax with a beer picnic. A fter 30 years of stewardship that includes walks, work projects, meetings with Wayne County Parks and more, we deserve a celebration. In fact, we deserve a fun, meet with other mem- And we will. Not in Holliday (too many mosquitoes) and not in Hines Park near Ellsworth (it is booked). We will picnic in HNPA President Bill Craig s backyard. To make it simple, hot dogs provided. Please bring whatever else you d like to eat and drink. No HNPA money will be spent. Bill s yard has sun and shade, a grill, city water and a bathroom. Festivities start at 2 p.m at 20050 Milburn, Livonia, 48152. No need to RSVP but it would be nice. In addition, it's only fitting we have a walk in Koppernick section beforehand, since saving that section of the Preserve started our Association. The walk begins at 10 a.m. Hope to see you at one or both events. Questions? Ask them at Earth Day, Rouge Rescue, at one of our Spring walks or send us an email. Winter Walks and a New Generation Mid-February walk. Not long afterward, temps warmed, heavy rains came and the entire bridge was under water. The photo at left at our 10th anniversary shows three children standing in a row in front of Pat Kobylarz. The second boy is Pat s son Ryan. The photo at right shows a young man in a grey sweatshirt, glasses and beard. It s also Ryan at our January winter (but no snow) walk. He s changed a bit in 20 years. Maybe we have too. Anyway, it was good to have him there. Hope we get to see his dad soon, as well. In Memory of As you may remember, our friend Dorothy Smiley passed away in 2016. Dorothy was an ardent supporter of the Holliday Nature Preserve Association and one of our founding members. Her son Jack was HNPA s first president and he recently sent us $200 in contributions he had received for the Preserve in honor of his mom. We had a nice crowd during our March walk. Nothing greening yet, but Blue Herons were back. We are touched by this bequest. We will use the funds to strengthen the Preserve in a way that will honor Dorothy.
HNPA s Mission H olliday Nature Preserve Association (HNPA) is a group of volunteers dedicated to the William P. Holliday Forest & Wildlife Preserve in Westland, Livonia and Canton. The Preserve consists of 500-plus acres of forests and wetlands that runs along tributaries of the Rouge River. The HNPA seeks to nurture a greater appreciation of this unique natural resource by hosting walks, conducting maintenance improvement projects in conjunction with Wayne County Parks and promoting the importance of the Preserve in improving the quality of life in Western Wayne County communities. Our activities are free and open to everyone. Find out more at hnpa.org. Thanks to our Supporters T he following people joined HNPA, renewed their memberships or made donations this summer. We thank them and appreciate the continuing support they and our other members give along with the trust they put in us. We will use the funds for the overall benefit of the Preserve. Larry & Linda Bernhardt Nancy Butka Roberta Campbell Madeline & Thomas Carpenter David Cartwright Melissa & Mike Deluka Irene & Dona Deman Linda Etter Sally & Mickey Green Michael Johnson Daniel & Ann Kalvelage Orin & Kiran Lenz Diana Mente Wayne McGarrah Cheryl Montgomery Mary Murphy Vivian & Gerald Nyland David & Susan Ostafinski Rosemarie & Mark Rembisz Zlatko Rauker Robert St.John Emily Rodrique & Joe Schaefer John & Marina Wagatha Suzan & Gerald Waskelis Erin & Scott Williams Larry Willis Richard & Karen Zyczynski Become Part of HNPA! embership in the Holliday M Nature Preserve Association is only $5 per year (Jan. 1 Dec. 31). Your support makes it possible to distribute our newsletters, host a website, support Rouge Rescue, offer walks, educate the community and promote the Preserve. Any additional funds over and above are used to benefit the Preserve. You may also earmark additional funds to extend your membership. Name: Address: Address 2: City: State: Zip: + Email Address (if you wish to share it. (We won t) : $ Enclosed Please make check or money order payable to the Holliday Nature Preserve Association and mail to: HNPA, P.O. BOX 532243 Livonia, MI 48153
Upcoming Activities J oin us this spring. Our walks last from an hour to 90 minutes and are held regardless of the weather, so please dress for conditions and often uneven ground. Please note that some walks and activities this Spring take place on Sunday! Our walks are family friendly. Sorry, no dogs allowed. Questions? Contact us at HollidayAssociation@ hnpa.org. Taxes Over Walk Sunday, April 15, 10 a.m. Newburgh entrance, east side of Newburgh Road, just north of Warren Road. Visit lesser used area of Preserve. Earth Day Project Sunday, April 22, 10 a.m. 2 p.m. Newburgh entrance, east side of Newburgh Road, just north of Warren Road. Help cut vines from trees that we planted in the past. Entire area needs some helping hands (some with loppers). Going Wild Over Wildflowers Walk I Saturday, April 28, 10 a.m. Cowan entrance, Central City Parkway, west of Wayne Road. High ground loop trail, some ups and downs, and some wildflowers I hope. Going Wild Over Wildflowers Walk II Saturday, May 12, 10 a.m. Koppernick entrance, Koppernick Road, west of Hix Road, south of Joy Road. Walk Beech Trail, cross Deer Creek, and enjoy the new leaves ROUGE RESCUE 2018 Saturday, May 19, 8:30 a.m. 1 p.m. Hix Park entrance, west of Hix Road, just north of Warren Road. Help with our 30th Rouge Rescue (see accompanying article.) HNPA 30 Year Anniversary Walk, Picnic & Celebration Saturday, June 9, 2 p.m. Anniversary Walk in Koppernick on Tulip Trail at 10 a.m. All members are invited to HNPA President Bill s backyard at 20050 Milburn in Hot dogs provided. Please bring your own beverages and a chair.