Thurston
Nature Center
The Thurston Nature
Center is located
just north of Thurston
Elementary
School on Prairie Street and on the south side of Bluett Road, across from Clague
Middle School, in northeast Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan. The Nature
Center was dedicated as a Conservation
Education Reserve by
the Michigan
Department of Natural
Resources in 1968, and celebrated its 40th anniversary in
2008. In 2010, it became a National Wildlife Foundation
Certified Wildlife Habitat. School
classes have used the nature center as part of Ann Arbor Public
Schools'
Environmental Education Program for decades, and the area is enjoyed by
many
people in the community.
Fall
& Spring workdays help with trail maintenance and
weedy plant control, and an active "adopt-a-tree"
program involves community members in tree maintenance. The Nature Center is managed by the volunteer
Thurston Nature
Center Committee, a subcommittee of the
Parent-Teacher
Organization at
Thurston Elementary School. A
Land Use Policy
Statement was agreed upon in 2003.
The
24-acre nature area has a 7-acre
shallow pond, called Thurston Pond, an oak-hickory woodlot, a vernal
pond, a
small area planted with prairie species, and other areas with grass or trees and shrubs and flowers.
Common birds around the
pond include great blue
herons, egrets, mallards, and Canada geese. Racoons
and skunks
are seen in the area. A
2008
article in the Ann Arbor Chronicle describes the Thurston Nature Center
- and its restoration needs - very well. Recent TNCC
activities have included more work days to maintain trails and space
around trees, and planting 20 oak trees in 2009 to start an oak savanna using a
recent grant from the Community Forestry Grant Program of the Michigan
Department of Natural Resources. 2009 saw the movie "Flipped"
being filmed on part of the Thurston Prairie, as well as improvements
to the pond's berm and new Aqua-Swirlers being installed.
2010 and 2011 found us working with the Ann Arbor Public
Schools, owners of most of the Nature Center, on improving the pond's
western berm and drainage outlet, as well as participating with the
Thurston "Green
Schools"
program. A berm repair and outlet improvement project was
completed in 2011, and two Eagle Scouts projects were done - helping
clear out invasive brush, establish new trails, put down some
woodchips, add new signs, and a new picnic bench. Recent
interests have focused on controlling invasive plants around the Nature
Center.
During
some periods of very heavy rains,
water overflows from Thurston Pond into Millers
Creek, which in turn flows into the Huron
River. The pond is home to many painted turtles and snapping
turtles.
However, the biodiversity of the aquatic plant and animal life in the
pond has
declined substantially over the last several years, and now the fish community consists of
just black bullheads, carp,
and goldfish along with a few other fish species. Indeed, conditions in
Thurston Pond have deteriorated so much that the pond can no longer be
used by
the Ann Arbor Public Schools for classes about aquatic life, and the
majority
of the Thurston Nature Center Committee voted in 2005 to adopt a comprehensive plan
to rehabilitate (i.e.,
restore the ecological health and biodiversity of) Thurston
Pond. We continue to look for funding sources to restore the
pond and also take
donations as part of being a committee of the non-profit
Thurston PTO, a 501(c)3 organization.
You can
now also find us on Facebook
and we also now have an e-mail list you can sign up for at http://groups.google.com/group/thurstonpond.
Plus there is a geocache
hidden in the Thurston Nature Center 
!
Thurston Nature
Center Committee entry page:
revised April 12th, 2012