Ives Road Fen Preserve

View overlooking the Fen © TNC Archives

Why You Should Visit
Where land and water come together, wonderful things happen. Wet, spring-fed fen blends into floodplain forest to create the globally significant habitat of Ives Road Fen Preserve. Fens are unusual, and increasingly rare, wetlands that receive water from underground alkaline springs rather than from precipitation. This pure, cool water flows in rivulets under the thick grasses and sedges of the preserve, emptying into the River Raisin at its eastern edge.

The air sings with throaty trills of the tree frog, the tap-tap-tap of the rare Blanchard’s cricket frog and a chorus of migratory and breeding birds such as the yellow-breasted chat, blue-winged warbler and alder flycatcher. The fen also provides ideal habitat for many rare plants, including the carnivorous sundew and pitcher plant, as well as the showy coneflower, prairie dropseed grass, prairie Indian-plaintain, hairy-fruited sedge, beak grass and prairie rose. Spectacular sycamore and silver maple trees spread their shade over the floodplain. One of the rare animals here is the hickorynut mussel, found in the river itself.

Location
Lenawee County, Lower Peninsula

Hours
Access to this preserve is limited to field trips and volunteer workdays typically held at least once a month. Please contact Rebecca Hagerman at our Lansing office if you are interested in participating or visit our volunteer webpage.
 

Conditions
The Nature Conservancy allows hunting for white-tail deer on this preserve to reduce an unnaturally high deer population in the area and reduce threats too many deer pose to our conservation targets. Hunting at this site is at full capacity, but if you would like to join the waiting list, contact the East Michigan office at eastmichigan@tnc.org or (517) 316-0300.

A fine chorus of spring peepers can be heard calling in mid-to-late March. The splendor of wildflowers and prairie grasses can be enjoyed from June to August. Be aware of poison ivy, poison sumac, chiggers and stinging nettle at this site. Because of the wet and uneven ground conditions, wear waterproof boots with ankle support.

Volunteer stewardship workdays held throughout the entire year provide a great opportunity for you to experience the wonder of this place while contributing to the efforts to maintain its special habitat.

How to Prepare for Your Visit
Please see "Preserve Visitation Guidelines"

Directions
From Tecumseh, Michigan:

• From downtown Tecumseh's intersection of M-50 and Evans Street, head south on Evans 2.1 miles to a small drive on the left (east) side of the road (road marker 5909). Note: Evans St. becomes N. Raisin Center Highway south of town and the small drive is located 0.1 miles south of Ives Road which intersects on your right (west).
• If N. Raisin Center Highway begins to curve to the left, you have gone too far.
• The small drive goes over the railroad tracks. Cross the tracks and park in the field at the top of the hill.

What to See: Plants

• Beak grass: This inhabitant of moist, shaded to partly-shaded southern floodplain forests, most commonly occurs on levees and drier portions of first bottoms and second bottoms. It thrives in areas with light disturbance caused by such natural events as windthrows and in areas with minimal vegetative competition.
• Prairie dropseed: Growing in dense, roundish clumps or tufts, this grass forms a turf when abundant. The tall, waist-high stems, reaching 4-10 dm in height, bear elongate, usually narrow and somewhat inrolled leaves.
• Prairie fens: Geologically and biologically unique wetlands found almost exclusively in the glaciated Midwest, they are distinguished from other ‘chalky’ fens by a tall grass prairie flora and fauna component. Sapric peat is typical prairie fen substrate, which is saturated with a constant supply of groundwater. Groundwater is calcareous, or rich in both calcium and magnesium bicarbonates; resulting from flow through limestone bedrock and/or coarse textured calcareous glacial deposits.

Why the Conservancy Selected This Site
The Conservancy began purchasing land at Ives Road Fen in 1987. This wet, spring-fed prairie blends into floodplain forest to create a globally significant habitat. Its pure, cool water flows in rivulets under the thick grasses and sedges of the preserve, emptying into the River Raisin at its eastern edge. The River Raisin is one of the very best warmwater rivers in the state and includes 5 mussels of conservation concern. Additionally, three of the four local communities that draw all of their drinking water from rivers  are on the River Raisin downstream of Ives Road Fen Preserve.
 

What the Conservancy Has Done/Is Doing
The main threats to this preserve are invasive species such as purple loosestrife and glossy buckthorn, ditches and tile lines, and fire suppression. Staff and our cadre of ambitious, dedicated volunteers have removed more than 2.5 million adult buckthorn stems, burned nearly 400 brush piles, spot burned 10 million buckthorn seedlings, conducted 31 prescribed burns, removed 1.5 tons of garlic mustard by hand and treated 500,000 purple loosestrife and 10,000 cattails. To restore hydrology, we have filled one ditch and installed dams in several others, and have removed over 100 meters of tile lines. Learn more about restoration monitoring of fens.

Sources for information include MNFI and MDNR.