Keep Kalamazoo Wild – 10 Birds They’re Trying to Protect in Kleinstuck Preserve

By now you've heard of Keep Kalamazoo Wild, a conservation project whose mission is "focused on the preservation and conservation of one of Kalamazoo’s greatest treasures—its natural spaces." Recently they made news hoping to purchase a piece of the Kleinstuck Preserve, a 48-acre piece of land owned by Western Michigan University. According to the university's website, Kleinstuck, which is situated near the YMCA in the Westnedge Hill neighborhood, is home to a wide variety of native flora and a "highly diverse bird population."

Keep Kalamazoo Wild hopes to see Kleinstuck remain untouched for years to come. This goes beyond petitioning to stop businesses from developing the property in recent months. The people behind the organization hope to raise enough money to purchase a twelve acre swath of Kleinstuck that recently went on the market. They need just over $650,000 to see this area marked safe. That all looks great on paper, but what are they really hoping to save? What kind of birds make up the aforementioned "highly diverse bird population." To put a "face" on the cause, I've put together a list of ten of the common birds you'll see when on a nature hike in Kleinstuck.

Feel free to donate by clicking here, or support their cause by purchasing some Keep Kalamazoo Wild merchandise.