Outdoor Discovery Center

This outdoor adventure exceeds every rave review you will hear or read! Totally immersive and interactive. Beautiful interpretive center. Deluxe picnic pavilion. Kids play area using all natural, native materials in construction. Miles of well marked, groomed trails, many meeting ADA criteria. Trails loop through second-growth woodlands, open prairies, marshes and ponds.
Blinds for bird watching, elevated platforms/overlooks with benches to accommodate prolonged wildlife observation. Have camera handy!

Had a great time here with my daughter, the inside of the building is beautifully put together. The outside trails behind the building are open dawn till dusk, and are nicely maintained. Outdoor playground is a 10/10, they even have small animals and birds you can look at around the grounds! Entrance to the grounds and building are free, no purchase necessary.

We spent the whole day here easily. Lots of trails with hidden sculptures. Seeing bald eagles up close was cool. And food trucks near the pavilion was a great surprise.

Great place to visit beautiful nature and so many activities to do!!!

This is a great place for kids, and it's all free! There is an indoor nature center, hiking trails with a scavenger hunt to keep kids interested, and lots of fun, challenging play scapes, including zip lines for big & little kids. Zoo like exhibits of rescued birds and Michigan animals.

An absolute must visit nature park for anyone with kids. There is a nature center, some animals and a birds of prey rehabilitation center, lots of nature trails and even a play area with unique play structures. We spent a few hours here and still only saw a fraction of the property. Definitely make a point to at least visit the birds of prey area. They had an impressive variety of birds including eagles, hawks and owls! Also, the earlier you arrive the better. We were here around 9am on a weekday and had the place to ourselves for a while!

My wife and I first visited about a month ago for a walk. We brought our nephew back a week ago. It's a great place to get away for a while. Absolutely beautiful grounds with plenty of wildflowers (and a bit of wildlife) to admire. Our nephew LOVED the "natural playground" and seeing the Birds of Prey. We can't wait to come back!

This is a very unique place, has lots taxidermy animals to look at, life animals like fish and turtles, very educational. Nice nature walk and always some signs around to learn thing about the plants and animals in their natural habitats. The rustic playground is very cool! So worth a stop.

I absolutely LOVED this place!! My favorite part was the birds of prey center and seeing such beautiful creatures. I could have spent hours just watching them all. Nice paths around the grounds and lots of things to look at. Great place to bring children as we saw a couple of school groups here on what looked to be field trips.

What an amazing natural area! The landscape is beautiful and the educational signage is top notch. Highly enjoyable for all ages! I came after hours so I cannot comment on the facilities or events, but I look forward to checking those things out!

Such a fun place to bring your kids! The hiking paths were wide which was great for our little group. There were soooo many fun things to do and see. I was shocked it was free to get in! I am excited to go back and check out more of the grounds. We did some hiking (we do a weekly nature walk and this week's theme was fungus/mushrooms) and we found a beautiful reishi mushroom to study. The kids also enjoyed the zip line, slides, playing in the sand and rocks and doing their nature journals. There were picnic tables for eating and I didn't even make it in the welcome center. I'll update next time I go!

The outdoor Discovery center was a great way to spend a few hours today. The visitor center was full of great taxidermy and explanations of not just the local area but much of Michigan and outside of Michigan as well. Things for kids and adults to touch and explore. The trails are wide and long and there is lots of walking to be done, and also great natural habitats to explore. the trails are well-marked and there are many informational signs along the way. as an angler I really appreciated the many lakes and ponds and descriptions on the watershed and how that feeds into the fish populations and activities around the area. there is also a nice catch and release fishing pond, which I thought was a great addition. I also thoroughly enjoyed the raptor center with a large number of predatory birds that you can get close to and learn about.

What a wonderful place to hike and observe nature. The birds of prey enclosure was a bit small for some birds but they look like they're taken care of really well. Lovely place to hike and watch birds. The welcome center is very cozy and entertaining to kids and adults. Lots of animal displays and information.

The inside part was closed, but my kids and I enjoyed the acres of open outdoor space to play and hike around. The zip line was a highlight, as was the Birds of Prey building.

Fabulous spot with plenty to see. The birds of prey have an explanation of why they are at the sanctuary; impressive work. Kids had fun fishing (catch and release) and seeing a variety of critters. It's fast away from town so the setting is very natural and quiet.

What a fun place. The receptionist was super friendly and helpful. Of course the kids liked the zipline the best, but the trails were fun and the birds of prey were really neat. We didn't get to see everything but I would come.back here again!

Such a nice place to visit for a walk on the trails and to see the animals. Plenty of play things for kids to climb on. Great for a free home school field trip

Great place for a relaxing morning walk. There are bathrooms throughout the park and lots of cool things to keep the kiddos occupied including a few play grounds, a zip line, and even some animals in their sanctuaries like an elk and a few different birds. And there are a few little lakes with nicely constructed boardwalks.

This is one of our all time favorite place to bring the kids. You get to hike well maintained trails to hike, plenty of ponds, plants, and scenery. The covered pavillion is beautiful and has tons of picnic tables. The bathrooms are wonderfully clean. They offer the kids a giant sand box, little cabins to play in, logs to hop across, a zipline, slides, and much more. The staff is always super friendly and great with educating the kids on the nature around them. It is completely FREE to use all these This is a must see place for anyone near the area!!

If you love the outdoors in s urban area, that's the place to go. They have great trails and most of them you can take your dog as long as their on a leash. Awesome wildlife. Awesome nature. Would highly recommend.