The main benefits of planting more trees in Flint are self-evident: “They suck up the carbon, so it helps with the Earth and the warming of the Earth, that’s the overarching thing,” said Mike Keeler, president of the Pierce Park Nature Preserve nonprofit organization.
But, in the 67-acre former golf course that is being converted into a nature preserve near the intersection of Court Street and Dort Highway in Flint’s College Cultural Neighborhood, the trees will eventually have another vital role. The property is bordered by heavily trafficked sections of Dort Highway and I-69, as well as a nearby railroad. As the trees grow and mature, they’ll provide some relief from the surrounding noise.
“We want to try to have some things grow up to block the the railroad tracks and highway,” Keeler said. “We want people to have a real experience with nature. When they come out here they’ll hopefully be able to see some wildlife and ducks, eventually blue herons, there’s deer around here, there’s hawks, so hopefully they can get a good experience with nature.”
More than a dozen volunteers spent April 11 planting nearly 200 small trees. Volunteers are also needed to plant more next weekend. Anyone interested can meet in the parking lot of Pierce Park Nature Preserve, 2302 Brookside Drive, at 10 a.m. on April 18 to help out. In all, once planting is done, there will be about 1,200 trees in the preserve. More information about the next volunteer opportunity is in this post.
The actual process of planting each individual tree is relatively simple, but ensuring they are protected requires attention to detail, especially from roaming deer who would feed on them. Plastic tubes and stakes are put around the trees to protect them from deer and other elements while also serving another important purpose.
“These tubes, they’re really interesting,” said Larry Anderson, a College Cultural resident and volunteer with Pierce Park Nature Preserve. “They’re like a little greenhouse. They’re semi-opaque, so they let light in, they have holes in them, so they let in air. They also condense on the inside walls, so they water the tree. But the primary purpose is to keep the deer from chewing them off.”
The tree planting is the latest in the continued transformation of the former golf course, which closed in 2011, to a nature area. That process started around 2018, after the site had become a magnet for illegal dumping, crime, and blight. The city of Flint still owns the property, but the Pierce Park Nature Preserve nonprofit organization, which was formed in 2021, now operates it and has worked with a range of community partners to secure grant funding for various projects. Locally, the Community Foundation of Greater Flint, Genesee County Habitat for Humanity, and others have provided support, and a major three-year grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, originally through Michigan State University but now through the University of Michigan, is supporting the development of 12 acres of wet meadow and oxbow wetlands, culvert improvements, tree planting and reforestation, invasive species removal, and soil and prairie restoration along Gilkey Creek. Previously, volunteers have also worked to create a pavilion area that hosts an annual summer concert series, installed signage, and an expanding pollinator garden.
This summer, volunteers are still planning the concert series and there will be more planting and other work being done in the pollinator gardens, all aimed at continuing to create a natural, relaxing space within the neighborhood. Information and volunteer opportunities can be found on the Pierce Park Nature Preserve Facebook group.
And Keeler said that soon, people will see excavating equipment working in the area on the wetlands. He also noted that the project should help some with flooding that some residents experienced this spring, where large amounts of rainfall caused flooding from Gilkey Creek into the neighborhood. The project will actually undo some of the history of the site and return it to a more natural state. When it was created as a golf course, the property was graded so that any water from heavy rains would drain away from the course quickly.
“Hopefully by June, we will have excavators out here and they’ll be moving dirt and it’ll be six acres of wetlands in this area by Gilkey Creek,” Keeler said. “There’ll also be a flood shelf, basically just making a flat area on the inside of the creek bed, so when it floods, the water can actually come inside the park rather than flooding Brookside.”
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