Projects
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There are many beautiful and natural things that you will notice as you visit the Forest Dunes property. Located on 1200 acres of mixed hardwoods and jack pine forests, Forest Dunes has an abundance of wildlife ranging from deer and squirrels to turkeys and chipmunks. Our 27 acre lake is stocked with perch and bluegill and more species are planned for this spring. Some of the projects that encourage the wildlife on the property include a loon nest, purple martin house, and the addition of fish habitat to the lakes.
 The loon nest was created with the help of the local Boy Scout troop. This was completed in May of 2004 and is still in place through the nesting months. As the picture shows, it is a nesting platform located in a low traffic part of the lake where the loons like to fish. This has not had any nesting on it yet, but we are optimistic about the future.
The Purple Martin house is located on hole number fourteen of the course and received some of its first visitors in the spring of 2007. We anticipate more use by them this year and encourage you to take a look as you pass. They can be seen skimming along the top of the lakes for bugs.
The fish habitat process is completely a winter project. As we build our habitat, the fish will have more places to hide, live and breed. This year is no exception with the addition of an underwater boulder reef as a great spot for fishing and exploring.
If you are interested in the species of plants on the site, a test garden is located by the pump house for labeled identification of a few of the native plants to this site. We encourage you to visit this as it will be a fun and interesting way of educating yourself on the local plant species.
 Along with projects on the course, we also participate in the Michigan Adopt-A-Highway program. We have adopted four miles of I-75 south of Roscommon and 2 miles of M-18 near Chase Bridge Road. We are anticipating three cleanup dates this year in April, July, and September. The Forest Dunes staff would like to encourage you to give your input on how we are doing in our projects and what more you think that could be done. Any clubs, groups, or individuals that would like to get involved in our projects can call John Wessels in the Natural Resources Department. |
