Michigan’s 103rd State Park is in Manchester

Small island in Watkins Lake.

After years of negotiations, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources announced on June 16, 2016 a $2.9 million purchase of 717 acres of land in Norvell Township, Jackson County. Combined with 405 acres of contiguous land owned by the Washtenaw County Parks and Recreation Commission in Manchester Township, the property will become the 1,122-acre Watkins Lake State Park and County Preserve.

The DNR property will become Michigan’s 103rd state park and will be the first state park in Michigan to be jointly managed with a county recreation agency. Adoption of a formal management plan to guide the development of the park will take place following a series of yet to be scheduled public input meetings. The park’s planned recreational offerings include hiking, bird watching, upland hunting, mountain biking and other activities.

Of special note to Manchester:

The property includes a 4.5-mile former rail corridor that traverses the property from east to west. The trail will link state and county parcels and has the potential to be developed into a non-motorized multi-use trail, well-suited for hikers, mountain bikers and equestrians. There also is a strong possibility of expanding the trail to connect the villages of Manchester and Brooklyn.

The state has been trying to purchase land, owned by the Trolz family, in Jackson for many years, and this purchase represents a large portion of the land sought. Manchester community member Ray Berg was involved in discussions about a potentially larger purchase back in 2012 because of the implications that purchase had for our growing trail system.

According to Berg, “Manchester Village officials, the Shared-Use Trail Committee, Washtenaw County Parks and Recreation and State DNR persons met in Manchester in December 2012 to address many aspects of this proposed purchase, including connecting the railbed in the Trolz property to our Shared-Use Trail (they are the same railbed). At that meeting, the State and County showed strong enthusiasm for connecting the railbed in the proposed new park to the railbed on which the Manchester Shared-Use Trail is being built. They saw a vision for connecting Manchester to Brooklyn along this trail. We certainly supported that idea as greatly increasing the attractiveness of the trail and bringing in visitors by walk/bike into the Village from the new park.”

At that time, 2,000 acres of Trolz family land was being discussed, and so the 717 acres purchased at this point represents less than half of what was hoped for. That much larger park was to have been called The River Raisin Recreation Area. The DNR still hopes to make additional purchases of land toward that goal in the years to come.

The park is now open to the public, but with limited parking. The DNR and Washtenaw County will collaborate to create multiple public access points this summer and fall.

The property features beautiful rolling land covered in a mixture of open meadow, mixed hardwoods, low wetland areas and open water. Watkins Lake is the park’s most prominent natural feature. As a popular watchable wildlife destination, Watkins Lake holds large numbers of waterfowl during the spring and fall migration.

“It is one of the best inland lakes to observe canvasback ducks. Pending the adoption of a management plan, Watkins Lake will become a seasonal waterfowl refuge,” said DNR Parks and Recreation Chief Ron Olson. “The remainder of the park has diverse habitat that attracts white-tailed deer, wild turkeys, pheasants, cottontail rabbits and songbirds.”

The DNR is encouraging people who are enthused about this new state park to contact James O’Brien (obrienj4@michigan.gov), park supervisor, at 517-467-7401 to assist in forming a friends group for the park.

The official purchase contract map showing what has just been purchased by the State of Michigan in Jackson County.

The map of the land that had been proposed to be purchased back in 2012 (image courtesy of Raymond Berg).

Flora along the shore of Watkins Lake.

For as little as $1 a month, you can keep Manchester-focused news coverage alive.

by Fritz Swanson

Fritz Swanson has written for The Believer, the Christian Science Monitor, Print Magazine, McSweeney's, Esopus, LSA Magazine, and The Mid-American Review. He serves as a trustee on the Manchester District Library Board. He's the designer and publisher of The Manchester Mirror.

Website