I sent the following letter, slightly shortened, to the Kalamazoo Gazette on 15 July 2009.  It deals with a long-standing conservation issue in the Kalamazoo area. [Note added 28 July.  The letter was in fact published with an omission or two of no importance on Sunday 26 July.]

Western Michigan University has the Asylum Lake preserve in its sights again.  This time the target is the 54 acres just across Drake Road called the Colony Farm Orchard.  This Oshtemo Township land is covered by the same state restriction as the rest of the Asylum Lake property; it is to be used “solely for public park, recreation, or open space purposes” unless changed by statute.  Nevertheless WMU proposes to expand their Business Park onto it (according to the Kalamazoo Gazette).

The land with its old, abandoned orchard has value for wildlife and for the public as open space.  It also has historical value because it lies on or very near Genesee Prairie, one of the eight tall-grass prairies in Kalamazoo County at settlement.  WMU aims to persuade the legislature to overturn the restriction and plans to pay Michigan State University $985,000 to give up a lease to do insect research at the orchard. Wouldn’t a more rational approach be to use land remaining within the current boundaries of the Business Park, such as the soccer fields? And if more land is really justified, the $985,000 WMU has available to throw around would buy some other nice Oshtemo property nearby–possibly more than 54 acres.  As for the state legislature, its best course would be to convey the orchard property to Oshtemo Township in exchange for a binding pledge to let it remain forever undeveloped open space.

I posted the following essay to the earlier version of my website as Conservation Letter 1 on 28 April 2003. It had been submitted to the Gazette as a Viewpoint but was not published.  It, and the two updates, give a little of the controversial history of some land that was conveyed in 1975 and (Colony Farm Orchard) 1977 by the state of Michigan to Western Michigan University “solely for public park, recreation, or open space purposes.”

Mark A. Hoffman knows more about the history of the site and of the controversy than anyone else. His project paper submitted for the Master of Public Adminstration degree (2007) is comprehensive but not readily accessible. The full title is Asylum Lake and Colony Farm Orchard (Kalamazoo County, Michigan): The history, legislative intent, and analysis of their conveyances from the Michigan Department of Mental Health to Western Michigan University. Links to many contemporary news articles (especially 1999-2004) are available on the WMU Asylum Lake website.

Asylum Lake

Last Friday gave us a beautiful sample of spring weather. Late in the afternoon, I took a walk at Asylum Lake. Blue-winged teal and gadwall were on the water and a pair of wood ducks flew by. There were cardinals, goldfinches, titmice, and a few other land birds, but 4:00 PM isn’t the peak of bird activity.

I’m a fan of Asylum Lake, so I’ve listened when occasional members of the focus group set up by Western Michigan University to plan the future of the preserve have told me what’s going on. The members have such diverse backgrounds and interests that I’ve been slightly surprised that they seem pretty much to have reached consensus on what’s right for Asylum Lake.

What they recommend–as I understand it–is mostly what’s there right now (including the new prairie planting), with the addition of an assurance that it’ll stay that way except for natural processes.

Other people were also at Asylum Lake last Friday. A man and his son were fishing, several people were walking dogs, two young women were catching some rays on a grassy slope, several people were just enjoying the spring, like me. I counted 23 people during the hour I was there, all involved in suitable passive pursuits .

There may have been a few visitors I missed, because my path took me past all three of the larger parking locations for the preserve, and each had several cars. I thought 23 was a comfortable number, uncrowded but companionable. If there had been twice as many people (and dogs) or more commotion–bikers, for example–the shyer kinds of wildlife would probably find the site unsuitable. Probably I would too.

One aim of the focus group was to identify the values of the property that need to be preserved. It’s reassuring that the values they came up with basically correspond with what the citizenry has said over the past dozen years in letters to the Kalamazoo Gazette and public meetings.

We haven’t heard a lot from the public lately because most people think the issue was settled. In 1998, the city and university seemed to come to an agreement assuring that the Asylum Lake preserve would not be degraded or destroyed. It has now begun to seem that it was too early to relax.

A story in the Gazette toward the end of February foreshadowed what seems to be an attempt by the city to pressure WMU into agreeing to changes that few who know the site will see as appropriate. The city wants paved roads and a large paved parking lot, replacing vegetation and wildlife habitat with impermeable surfaces. It wants bike trails running here and there to off-site locations bringing in people with no interest in the preserve as a preserve. The city envisages a research/education center. Does it really make sense for public agencies to enter into competition with the Kalamazoo Nature Center?

It’s ironic, I guess, that after all the threats to the integrity of the site from WMU the threat now comes from the city. Most of us had thought that the city’s role was to watchdog the university.

Only someone with no knowledge of the past ten years of Asylum Lake history would think that the intrusions being promoted by the city would be welcome. Re-reading the dozens of Asylum Lake letters to the editor would be educational for them. So would sitting down with Dok Stevens’ charming little book Haven : A Treatise on Asylum Lake (Spunky Duck Press: Kalamazoo, 1993) and perhaps a good environmental science or conservation textbook.

The city’s on the wrong side now, but the time may come again when both are on the wrong side, as was the case with the first ill-considered plan for a research park, in 1990-1993. It would be nice if the university and city would hurry up and sign a paper saying that Asylum Lake will be protected, not exploited. Even if they do, the citizens who saved it before must not relax their vigilance. In the long run, the real protection will come from the people who care about Asylum Lake being willing to spend the time, energy, and money to do what it takes to thwart ill-advised, destructive schemes of the future coming from the city or the university, or both.

Note added 19 August 2003: One reason for the Gazette‘s lack of interest in this Viewpoint may be suggested by the title of the front-page Gazette article of 9 August 2003: “Asylum Lake Fight: How a battle over open space nearly stalled Kalamazoo’s economic engine.” Some might say that Kalamazoo’s lack of forward movement hasn’t been engine trouble but the 1950s road map the drivers are still trying to follow. A Viewpoint by Mark A. Hoffman (24 August 2003) corrected some mistakes in the 9 August “Kalamazoo engine” article but could, in justice, have been considerably tougher.

Note added 15 July 2009: “It would be nice” I wrote, “if the university and city would hurry up and sign a paper saying that Asylum Lake will be protected, not exploited.”  This they did on 16 April 2004 when the WMU Board of Trustees approved two documents, one a Declaration of Conservation Restrictions.  The documents come as close to being a conservation easement as the somewhat peculiar nature of WMU’s possession of the land  allows.  Unfortunately, the 54-acre Colony Farm Orchard was not included in these restrictions.  My conclusion from April 2003 is still relevant:  “In the long run, the real protection will come from the people who care about Asylum Lake being willing to spend the time, energy, and money to do what it takes to thwart ill-advised, destructive schemes of the future coming from the city or the university, or both.”