WAVERLY TOWNSHIP, Mich. — Hundreds of acres in rural Van Buren County will remain in their natural condition after being purchased by the state.
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources announce it established the Paw Paw River State Game Area in Waverly Township. The 350-acre space was purchased through a $900,000 grant from the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund.
The area neighbors two tracts of land owned by the Southwest Michigan Land Conservancy that stretch for nearly 400 acres. The conservancy helped the previous owner sell the land to the DNR in hopes of keeping it protected from development.
“The establishment of this new state game area adds to [Southwest Michigan Land Conservancy's] land protection efforts along this critical riparian corridor identified as a high-priority protection area," says Kaleigh Winkler, land protection director for the Southwest Michigan Land Conservancy. "Maintaining these floodplain forests protects water quality and all the wildlife that call these important communities home.”
The new state game area features 1.2 miles of frontage on the Paw Paw River, several marshes, wetlands, and floodplain forests.
“These places are the foundational building blocks of the food web,” says Kristin Wildman, field operations manager for the DNR Wildlife Division’s southwest region.
According to the DNR, the floodplains area helps provide early spring food sources for migrating birds and the twisting riverbed has pockets of slow moving water key to the early life cycle of fish, amphibians, and reptiles.
“Floodplain forests create natural corridors for wildlife to travel and plants to spread, which is especially critical in more fragmented landscapes like southern Michigan,” says Don Poppe, DNR wildlife biologist in Van Buren County. “These floodplain and riparian areas continue to be irreplaceable corridors that act to conserve biodiversity by allowing safe passage.”
“The establishment of the Paw Paw River State Game Area provides an immediate benefit to wildlife and ensures stability during an unpredictable future,” says Poppe. “If development occurred on this parcel, we would expect it to impact the river, fish, wildlife, vegetation and the natural aesthetic. With this purchase, we can ensure that current and future generations of humans and wildlife can continue to depend on this area as a natural oasis amid development.”
Hunting, trapping, and fishing will be permitted inside the game area.
Access to the game area is unrestricted, though for now there is only roadside parking available off 42nd Avenue. This summer the DNR will be installing boundry signs and a parking lot. Improved river access for canoes and kayaks could also be developed in the future.
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