This is hill country, carved by the glaciers and covered with towering oaks, hickories and sycamores, some more than 200 years old. A variety of woodland birds can be seen and heard in spring and summer. Spring wildflowers include wild blue phlox, wild geranium, bloodroot and Jack-in-the-pulpit

Black Creek, which flows into Little Cedar Creek and then Cedar Creek, weaves through the preserve. The now-protected-forever ACRES land has vibrant wetlands, agriculture acreage, an oxbow stream and small forested wetland system. The preserve has considerable local history, too: An interurban rail line and Five Points School once existed on the property. Carl Heinzerling, whose …

The James P. Covell Nature Preserve contains 2,700 feet of the west bank of Cedar Creek. The preserve also safeguards 40 acres currently in agriculture production, 33 acres of emerging upland forest and 23 acres of mature forested floodplain. Several trees in the preserve are estimated to be more than 150 years old. ACRES will …

This is a floodplain forest where the drainage divides among the Eel, Wabash, St. Joseph and Maumee Rivers. There are wet areas, except during periods of drought, and old stream meanders. Jack-in-the-pulpit and ferns are common, and an unusual wildflower growing here is green dragon. Read more about why ACRES temporarily closed this preserve to protect our region’s natural areas from …

The ACRES office is located in this preserve. Built of cedar and stone on a bluff high over Cedar Creek, the office was originally the home of Tom and Jane Dustin, founding members of the organization. Trails wind through meadows and woodlands, one leading to a wetland filled in springtime with horned bladder wort and …

This preserve is nature adjacent to the modern world in the form of Interstate 69, and the sound of traffic is ever-present. Yet the visitor who can ignore the traffic noise can enjoy the view of Cedar Creek from a high escarpment, as well as trails through old fields, by a marsh and across ravines. Beneath the trees, twinleaf, hepatica, Dutchman’s breeches, …