Ottawa Conservation District

06/03/2026

FYI to anyone visiting our office for the next few months! Our office will still be open and accessible to the public. Visitors to our office should come from west of Ferris St.

🚧Road Closure Notice: Beginning Monday, June 8, Ferris St. from 160th Ave. to 168th Ave. in Grand Haven Twp. will be closed for water main and non-motorized pathway work. This is estimated to last through Aug. 15, 2026.

Detour: U.S. 31 to Lincoln St. to 152nd Ave.

06/02/2026

Wow, it's June already?! 😮 Check out our list of our upcoming events!

Wednesday, June 17th Voogt Farms is hosting a Pasture Walk as part of our Cultivating Resilience Summer Series. The event begins at 5:30pm, and will feature delicious burgers donated from Voogt Farms. Please register, as space is limited, at https://ottawacd.org/.../cultivating-resilience-summer.../.

On Thursday, June 18th beginning at 6pm, we will have a second Hands-On Mushroom Workshop 101. Due to such high demand for our first workshop in April, we are hosting another educational, hands-on, and yummy (did we mention mushroom pizza?! 🍕) workshop. More details and registration can be found at https://ottawacd.org/events/hands-on-mushroom-workshop-101/.

Happy June! 🔆 And we hope to see you soon

06/01/2026

WOW!! We cannot say thank you enough for all of the love you showed us (and native plants) this weekend! This was the largest, and the most fun, sale we've ever had. We also learned a lot to make the next sale an even better experience. Thank you so much for your patience as we worked through the lines! But it sounds like most of you made some plant friends while you were waiting 🥰 Which is what this event is all about (other than getting plants out to the community & fundraising for the District!).

We would also like to thank Brew Haul Coffee & Desserts, Ottawa County Parks and Recreation's Connected County Parks Program, and Ottawa County's Department of Strategic Impact for collaborating and showing up for the community!

If you missed it, don't worry, we will have our annual Fall Native Plant Sale on Saturday, September 26th from 9am-12pm. Garden Kit pre-orders will open in August, so keep an eye out for more details coming soon.

*** I (Morgan) would personally like to shoutout the staff for all the hard work they put in to make sure this event goes as smoothly as possible. We start planning for this sale in December, so this weekend's success has literally been months in the making. Thank you, Ottawa CD team!***

05/29/2026

It's finally here, folks! The Spring Native Plant Sale is tomorrow! 🌱 The sale begins at 9am-12pm and will be at our office (16731 Ferris St, Grand Haven MI 49417). Bring a wagon if you plan on getting a lot of plants, and a craving for coffee as Brew Haul Coffee & Desserts ☕ will be there too. See you soon!

Learn more about our day-of plant sale at https://ottawacd.org/browse-n-buy-sale/ (or by visiting the link in our bio under "Native Plant Sale."

05/28/2026

As a follow up to our 2026 Cultivating Resilience Winter Conference, Ottawa Conservation District and MSU Extension will be hosting a Pasture Walk at Voogt Farms to get an in-person look at various regenerative grazing and other livestock practices at work!

Gary Voogt and Dr. Morgan MathisonSlee, Ph.D. (Post-Doctoral Research Associate – MSU Department of Community Sustainability and MSU Center for Regenerative Agriculture) will walk through the Voogt's grazing rotation, manure management operations, and will showcase their efforts to improve bird and pollinator habitat on the farm. Dr. MathisonSlee will also highlight the bird and soil research being conducted on the Voogt's Farm by MSU Extension and Ottawa Conservation Districts CTAP Technician, Ximena Figueroa, will show attendees how to conduct a field soil health assessment.

This event is FREE and includes free dinner with burgers donated and cooked up by the Voogts! All attendees will also go home with some free soil health assessment tools!

Register today at tinyurl.com/CRSummerSeries to claim your spot!

05/27/2026

Conservation Districts across Michigan host a Conservation Needs Assessment (CNA) survey once every 5 years to better understand local conservation priorities. This survey helps us guide the work we do so we are aligned with the priorities of people in our county.

Ottawa Conservation District's survey is currently open! Please help us out by taking 10 minutes to answer a few questions about your conservation and natural resource priorities.

Visit www.ottawacd.org to take the survey or download a paper copy today!

05/26/2026

We hope everyone had a relaxing holiday weekend, and are feeling excited for our Spring Native Plant Sale THIS Saturday! 🔆 Please view the map below for parking options.

Just a reminder, plants are available on first-come, first-serve basis (unless you pre-ordered a garden kit!). To view a tentative list of the 80+ varieties of plants we plan on having available, please visit https://ottawacd.org/browse-n-buy-sale/.

Shoutout to Linda Anderson for sharing a picture of native plants she planted after our sale last spring! 🐝

05/22/2026

We are ONE week away from our Native Plant Sale, folks! 🎊 We plan on having over 80 varieties of native plants for your perusing. The sale is a one day, browse-n-buy sale where plants are available on a first come, first serve basis.

*PLEASE NOTE A LOCATION CHANGE**
We will have the sale at our office (16731 Ferris St, Grand Haven, MI 49417) from 9am-12pm. In the event of rain, the sale will take place at Hemlock Crossing Nature Center ( 8115 W Olive Rd, West Olive, MI 49460).

Bring some extra cash because Brew Haul Coffee & Desserts will be on site to provide all your coffee needs!

To view a tentative list (depending on germination and survival rates) of the plants we will have available, please visit https://ottawacd.org/browse-n-buy-sale/

Shoutout to Michelle Adaway for sharing photos of her garden using plants from our sale! 🦋

05/22/2026

Last week, our invasive species staff went to Aman Park with Leona from the Old-Growth Forest Network . Staff got to learn more about the characteristics that identify old-growth forests and why this stage of forest is so important ecologically. Our West Michigan CISMA team is out doing management all year long, and they love to increase their knowledge about the ecosystems they are working to restore. If you want to learn more about old-growth forests, check out www.oldgrowthforest.net

05/20/2026

We need your help! We are seeking volunteers to help set-up for our Spring Native Plant Sale in the afternoon on Friday, May 29th. Volunteers get a FREE t-shirt and a discount on native plants! 😊

Learn more & sign-up at https://ottawacd.org/volunteer/ (or visit the link our bio under "About -> Volunteers").