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Wushowhan Players Club |
Wuskowhan Players Club
in West Olive, Michigan, is an 18-hole golf course located on 255 acres
of sandy soils, with 80 acres of wetlands and 2800 linear feet of
streams. The course weaves through hardwood forests before emerging
into the marsh areas along the Pigeon River, which feeds into Lake
Michigan. The property is located in the Northern Great Lakes natural
region of the United States. “Wuskowhan” means wanderer and is the name
given by Native Americans to the passenger pigeon. In the 19th century
this land along the banks of the Pigeon River was used for hunting the
now extinct passenger pigeon. Wuskowhan Players Club became the first
Certified Audubon Signature Cooperative Sanctuary in Michigan on
November 4, 1998. For further information about Wuskowhan Players Club,
visit www.wuskowhan.com |
Crane's Pond-Phase I |
On
June 27, 2007, Crane’s Pond-Phase I became the first Audubon
International Silver Signature Sanctuary in the state of Michigan. It
is also the first Certified Silver Signature residential community in
the world. Set in the oak forest of southwest Michigan east of
Kalamazoo, Crane’s Pond is a layout designed for clusters of
single-family dwellings that will operate under guidelines similar to a
condominium development. The entire 230-acre parcel of land was planned
for 140-acres or 70% of open space for all phases. Phase I includes
36-unit lots set on 70-acres of land with approximately 50-acres
preserved in open space. The dominant feature on site is the 54-acre
glacial lake called Crane’s Pond located in center of site. Because
Crane’s Pond empties into Mill Creek and then into Augusta Creek and
finally into the Kalamazoo River, protecting Crane’s Pond is important
to the entire community. For home lots, the goal for building envelopes
is to place structures within existing landscape as much as possible
thereby helping to prevent fragmentation of the lake corridor. In
addition, there is a minimum 50-foot setback for buildings around
Crane’s Pond. Stormwater from the home lots is directed into a French
drain or dry well at the side or back of each lot. A series of basins
helps reduce the amount of water managed at each location. If there is
overflow, the water will filter through at least 50 feet of upland
buffer before reaching Crane’s Pond. There are no curbs on the roadways
and roadside swales empty into catch basins and French drains to
facilitate percolation into the ground. Crane’s Pond is a development that was approved
by Ross Township as an “Open Space Preservation
Development” and that complies with all requirements
of the Ross Township Zoning Ordinance for such
development. To learn more about Crane’s Pond,
visit their website at www.cranespond.com |
Forest Dunes Golf Club |
Forest Dunes Golf Club is a Tom Weiskopf designed 18-hole golf course located within a residential
community near Roscommon, Crawford County, Michigan. The 1200-acre
property is a mix of hardwood and jack pine forest with open sand areas,
meadows, and four man-made lakes. The golf course with practice
facility occupies 165 of those 1200 acres and has only 70 acres of
maintained turf, with the non-turf areas remaining native habitat and
wildlife corridors. Soils, which were
deposited as the Wisconsin Age glaciers receded, have very low retention
qualities. Four lakes were excavated on site.--.with the largest, Lake
Ausable, 12 feet deep and covering 30 surface acres -- and lined with
30-mil plastic and covered with two feet of sand. From the beginning of
the project, seeds and plant cuttings were taken from undeveloped areas
and propagated for use in final landscaping of the golf course. Over
40,000 plants were grown and used from on-site seed. One mile to the
southeast of Forest Dunes runs the Ausable River, a blue ribbon trout
stream. The property is surrounded by 400,000 acres of federal and
state land, much of which is part of a reforestation project. Crawford
County is one of the few counties in Michigan where the Kirtland Warbler
can be found. This is the country’s rarest warbler and one of the first
birds to be federally listed under the Endangered Species Act of 1973.
Forest Dunes property is surrounded by Kirtland Warbler Management
Habitat. Possession of domestic cats is not allowed on the property,
because they are warbler predators. Forest Dunes was certified on
October 9, 2003, as the first Gold Audubon Signature Sanctuary in
Michigan. To learn more about Forest Dunes Golf Club, go to www.forestdunesgolf.com |
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