The Dexter Leader
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Smith Woods Preserve now under county stewardship
By Sean Dalton, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: May 29, 2008
After lengthy discussion with the Dexter Village Parks Commission and Washtenaw County Parks, the Smith Woods Preserve has been donated to the county.
Advertisement
The deal developed after the commission and the county hashed out the details of shared parking and access at Smith Woods and the adjacent Miller Preserve, which the county also acquired this year.
Together, Smith Woods and the Miller Preserve are 29 acres of combined parkland.
From there the commission solicited prices for a management plan, and habitat and species identification within Smith Woods.
The two entities reached a consensus that the best way to properly maintain and manage it was to implement a plan costing $8,000; with the annual management costs of $5,000 per year.
Some members of the Dexter Village Council were hesitant.
"Is there any way to do that without transferring the land," asked Village President Shawn Keough, to which Alan Green, chairman of the Dexter Village Parks Commission, answered, "No."
Smith Wood Preserve is considered by many to be a little piece of Dexter Village pre-history, dating back thousands of years before settlement of the area.
The preserve is a 17-acre tract that contains one of the few remaining patches of "oak barrens" habitat, which was once prevalent in the Midwest and almost entirely encircled and partially covered the area that is now Dexter, according to the Michigan Natural Features Inventory.
While there was once almost 27.2 million acres of oak barrens in the Great Lakes region and about 720,000 acres in the Lower Peninsula in an area that now comprises 29 counties, today that has shrunk to 17,000 acres in six counties, according to the inventory.
Green discussed the decision to go with the county's stewardship, since the alternative would be an additional yearly expense to the village. In the past Green has said that he would like to "turn back the clock" on the preserve.
The goal of transferring the preserve to the county was to create one large preserve out of two separate ones, according to commission officials.
The county would also maintain all of the property in accordance with the Natural Areas Preservation Program, which is funded through a countywide millage.
"There is a lot of maintenance that should be done that we currently don't do," Green said. "We don't have the personnel or contract for it."
Much of the property is overrun with invasive species such as poison ivy and other weedy vegetation. Only the southwest corner of the preserve has been cared for, unintentionally due to its proximity to Norfolk-Southern railroad property.
Green has said in the past that the long-term goal is to return that 17 acres to "pre-settlement" condition.
Last year Green was considering financial backing from the county and partnerships within the Dexter community and school district, but under the current arrangement there would be no financial commitment needed from the village.
Green's vision would be realized, provided the county brings all of its resources to bear to first restore and then preserve Smith Woods.
The county has foresters, ecologists, naturalists and other professionals to protect the unique ecosystem.
Village officials agreed that the county's ability to publicize the outdoor potential of the combined preserves was greater than theirs, and therefore a greater benefit to promoting the area.
"I see this as an opportunity to make it a better park for the community," said Trustee Ray Tell.
Responding to a perception of allowing village property to be "absorbed by another entity," Tell said that the preserve had "been the forgotten stepchild" of the village.
Not all stories are guaranteed to appear
online. The Web edition contains a reasonable
sampling of the print edition stories.
For the most complete news coverage, we invite you to
subscribe
to the print edition of the paper.
Expanded
Web
Coverage
TOP JOBS
