Latest / Conversations with Mark / Conversations with Blandford Nature Center
Transcript
- Mark Huizenga: All right. Welcome to another episode of Conversations with Mark. Today we have with us Stacey Stout, president and CEO of the Blandford Nature Center. Probably one of the most beloved little nooks of nature in the city of Grand Rapids. And Stacey, we're so excited to talk to you about what's happening here, but also recognize the great history that's been here. You're a relatively new president, but you've seen firsthand how this place can change people, how youngsters are impacted, but adults. And I can't remember exactly, but this is one of the largest nature centers around that's in really the urban boundaries. Is that right? The largest urban based nature center in the state of Michigan. In the state of Michigan, which is pretty cool. Very cool. Yes, so Blandford Nature Center is 264 acres. What's really unique is that the unique ecosystem. So we have grasslands, woodlands, wetlands, a creek. We also have farmlands and over eight miles of trails. And so literally from one end of the trail to the next, you're going to see all these different ecosystems, all these different animals and all these different habitats. And it is in the city of Grand Rapids and like you said on the edge of Walker as well. So it's very accessible for folks. We're right off a bus line down Leonard and we just welcome folks. We're really excited to have everyone. I think one of the things that people think about with Blanford Nature Center is that so many people have seen this from a generational perspective. They came here as a kid. They came here as an adolescent. I remember coming here and just speaking frankly, walking on the trails over the creek. and having somebody give us a little guide and talking about the different kinds of insects that are in the creek in the springtime. Things that you don't think about, the education that goes on here. But probably my most favorite story is of course, Sugarbush. Making maple syrup. And I'll tell you my favorite part of that is I was inspired when I came here and thought, wait a minute, we can put a hole in a tree and put a little tap in it and stuff's gonna come out and we can boil it down and make maple syrup out of it. Now I was probably like five or six or something like that. And so as a little kid, you know, you want a souvenir when you leave, what did I get? I bought a little tap so I could find a tree. I didn't have a tree to do at the time. So the next year, so I'm, I'm just playing around and I'm a little kid. I climbed this tree and I see this liquid coming out. Well, what are little kids do? Like I licked it and as I licked it, I felt like this is sweet. I'm like, wait a minute. It struck me. I bet this is a maple tree. It's hard to tell in the winter because there's no leaves and stuff like that. You would know that. But I went down in my dad's barn. I took a bit and braced just like we have on the table here. And I augured this thing right in there and I tapped it and sure enough, the drops came off. And as a little kid, I brought the buckets of sap in and blessed my parents for being so gracious to my crazy habits and adventures. But we boiled it down in the house and I literally made maple syrup. And now just so you know. it was enough for our family to have a pancake dinner. So it wasn't like production, but it was inspiring enough for me to learn something about it. And I think that's really what the nature center is about, bringing people to nature, educating them, but like showing how important it is to all of us. And really sparking that curiosity and that connection. So you made a connection. You saw it in practice here at Blanford and then you're like, huh, I saw this in my own backyard or hey, I've noticed this and really making that connection. connection because nature is everywhere. is in people's backyards. It is in people's neighborhoods. But what's unique about Blanford is that we just have such expansive and we have curriculum based through state standards. This curriculum that's really engaging and fun and really brings those lesson plans to life. So Blanford is a place of curiosity and wonder and not just for young folks because there's plenty of adults that come here for sugar bursa season that's also inspired and excited. It was really special this year as my first Sugarbush as a team member and as we're boiling down the sap. So it's 40 gallons of sap, which is clear and almost looks like water. And then you boil it down to this beautiful, delicious syrup. I got a chance to taste it right out, right when it was ready. So it's still warm. It was the best. It was so good. And creating candies and this new maple cream that we have. And so it's fun to take a little bit of that with you and your home and then you have these stories. And so I hope that Blandford and it's been doing it for generations, just sparking curiosity and just love of nature. And when you come here, no matter what age you are, you just smile, right? And you can appreciate it all. You can appreciate it all and all seasons. And so we're so fortunate to live in Michigan where we can experience nature year round in different ways. You know, you mentioned education and educating people that walk on the trails and things like that, but you also have a school here. where you do real education. can you tell us a little bit about the school and kind of what people learn here and how it's different from a traditional school? Absolutely. So it's still with the GRPS system, Grand Rapids Public Schools. So our founder, Mary Jane Dockery, was really about connecting kids with nature, even before there was a building on this property. So she would bring people out back when this was the Collins Farm and do a lot of different activities with young people, but also teenagers and other students that have some hands-on learning back when we were managed through the Grand Rapids Public Museum. And so through that education, we built this curriculum, our organization, and since partnered with GRPS. So that is a GRPS RAND school right here on Blandford grounds, really having Blandford as their outdoor classroom, right? And so even today we partnered with, we call it BEEP, so Blandford Environmental Education Program. We partnered with the BEEP, the sixth graders, and they helped with a field trip today of younger kids. And so we have multi-generational youth. teaching each other with staff around to support that learning. So it's special, it's unique. We also are the backyard to see a Frost Environmental Academy with GRPS. And so we really are the environmental of that academy, the backyard classroom. And so we partner with schools, but that's just some of the schools. We serve 121 schools across 11 counties here in Michigan with about 12,000 learners just on field trips. Well, you know, I think the amazing part is that they come here with that many people coming through here. It still looks like it just to walk in the woods. You do such a great job preserving it to make it feel, I guess I'd say almost Disneyland like, you know, the trails look still rustic and you keep people on, but it gives them a chance to learn. I thinking about your comment about the kids learning and being in school. It's almost like if you were thinking about students taking a biology class, but here they're living it and they're seeing it. They can learn about it in the textbooks, but they can just go right out the door and see it firsthand. So that's probably one of the biggest collaborators you have. What other kind of collaborators do you guys have here at Blandford? Because you integrate with a lot more than just schools. absolutely. So we want to make sure that we partner with a lot of corporations today. We even had a corporation here doing a service project, working with land stewards and making sure the trails, like you said, are clear and clean and making sure that. limbs that are being safe and so pulling out lot of invasive species even. So a lot of corporations come here for team building and to give back to community. And again, it's another way for them to experience Blandford Nature Center and really fall in love with it and hopefully come back with their families. So a lot of corporations, we also work with other nonprofits. Sometimes they have fundraisers and we will donate maybe a membership or maybe some of our delicious syrup as raffle prizes to try to help them also sustain because we're in this together. Blandford would not exist without community. coming together to really make this happen. Actually, community, we are 100 % funded by community. We have through memberships, donations, and some sales that we do with our farm and our gift shop and some of our program fees. But besides that, that is how we're funded. So community has always come together to support Blanford and to subsidize some of those field trips as well to keep them accessible and affordable for schools and families. Well, and to make it more accessible, a number of years ago, you had... Basically a gift and an opportunity to expand your footprint here to acquire this golf course through some really special people that made it happen and You really I mean did you quadruple the space that you had here? I don't remember what the number but it's massive almost half. We added a hundred and twenty-one acres for a total of 264 so it was a significant ad which is a great partnership with the Land Conservancy of West Michigan we kind of say like they do a lot of the restoration a lot of turf removal and and controlled burns and to rewild it, to bring back the restoration. And we help make sure that those trails and those bridges and those decks that you'll see to kind of overlook the nature, those are safe and maintained. And now we have a pavilion that we will have a ribbon cutting for very soon that will provide shade for groups, because it's the grasslands, right? And so we're going to have field trips, and especially our littles that go out there, the little children. to go out there, they need access to restrooms because they're not making it back to the other campus, right? So now we're going to have restrooms and those restrooms double as shelters. So if inclement weather and you know Michigan, right, it can come very fast. And so for weather, it's a weather shelter, but then the shade of all the pavilion as well. So we can do some really fun opportunities and create more space for even more young people at our summer camps and year-round programming. So we're really excited for it. You've got trees and trails, but you also have another component here that people maybe don't know about the different animals that you have that are available. And that I think is kind of a cool thing because the chance to see certain animal species that people wouldn't normally be a ability, have the ability to see up close. It's kind of like a zoo, but it's sort of a rescue as well. But it's also, you can see them really up close and learn about the animals firsthand. Can you talk a little bit about the different kinds of species you have here? Yes, we have over 30 animal ambassadors, both here at the visitor center. So these are, injured animals that cannot be returned to the wild and so they have their Second career here if you will as teachers so animal ambassadors that they partner with the schools that come in to really help teach them and like you said Hands-on literally hands on get to see them We have a lot of curriculum built around the animal ambassadors for vertebrates and vertebrates and kind of Finding which animals for different classifications, so it's really great So we have a lot of different owls, but you have to come in turtles that are adorable opium opium, is so sweet and so soft, you have got to come see him. And then I can't have favorites. love them all equally. But quilber is super adorable. He is our porcupine. And he actually kind of signals to us, we call him the king of sugarbush, because he tells us when it's ready, because he can start smelling the sap in the trees. And he starts wanting to, to really like non that a little bit. And so we listen to nature, we partner with nature and That's when we kick off sugar bush. Well, I would say it's probably a comprehensive connecting with nature here between the forest, the trails, the animals. You have a little something for everybody here. Everybody has a story. What kind of a special story do you have about Blanford and why is why do you have a special place in your heart? What's going on here? I have a special place in my heart because when my girls were three years apart, I would come here busy working, working to get my masters. I needed rest, but I also wanted to enjoy them. Life is so short. I would bring them to our nature nook. So it's a nicely fenced in area. It has like a play kitchen and some water. I loved it because one, they were making me all these great imaginary meals and you act like it's the best meal ever. But then the water and they would come home dirty. And I love that because we were in a place, living in a place where they couldn't necessarily engage with the earth in that way because of different lead situations. And so for them to come here and get dirty and sweaty and play and fall asleep on the way home. And just be real kids. And just be real kids because I grew up in the country and I always came home filthy. My aunt says, you know, they're building their immune system. And I love that for my kids. And it was just a safe, engaging place for them to learn and fall in love with nature. What's next for Blanford? You have so much property and I'm sure you don't have the final plans or anything, but what is this thing going to look like? 10, 15 or 20 years, if you guys had your way, if the board had their way of what the next steps look like here. Well, mostly I want to preserve the land as is. Hopefully you'll see less invasive that is a continual struggle, pull that garlic mustard and really maintaining the natural habitat, the native species. I think one that is coming up will continue to restore the highlands. And so that's still an ongoing project. What I'm really excited about is the Farm Learning Center. So in addition, we have a two and a half acre working farm. We have a barn, historic barn that we're kind of restoring this summer that is home to more animal ambassadors, goats and chickens. But we're going to build this learning classroom. So it's going to have a classroom. So really for future farmers, scientists, nature lovers of all ages to come in and really learn about agriculture and food systems. In addition, again, more restrooms. because our summer camps are so popular, we just open up and we're almost full with awaiting this. So by opening this learning classroom, we can serve more young people and get them to fall in love with the food that they grow and really from farm to table to their home tables. So really excited for the Farm Learning Center to open up more possibilities, which will then open up. We also have this house, a residential house on the property, a farmhouse if you will. And we want to activate that. Right now we're using the basement as farm team offices. but we would like to remove that and put them in the learning center. So we have this whole house that maybe we can have farm apprentice. We can have different programs there and they can really just live on the farm and have that full immersion experience. And so that's really the next season for Blandford. But besides that, I hope in 20 years, Mark, when you come back, that you don't see a lot of change because I think it's great how it is. We want the trails, we want the animals and the education will continue to grow and expand, but we hope it always has this feel. One thing we didn't talk about is what does the golf course look like in the future? I know you had to de-identify it and get rid of golf course type turf. You had to make some changes for the sand traps and things like that.