Your support makes that possible: please consider making a donation on our secure website at www.swmlc.org. That’s like asking which of your kids you love the most! But if forced to choose, I’ll take an early May morning at the Portman Nature Preserve: the mist lifts off the lakes, the songbirds’ dawn chorus erupts, and the world starts to stir. Portman is where I’ve watched coyote puppies tumblin
g off a log while wrestling. Where I surveyed one of the rarest butterflies on the planet dance over orchids. Where I stood transfixed witnessing water boiling up in a spring as big as a swimming pool. It is a place of both subtlety and grandeur where I can savor beauty in the delicate hairs of a pitcher plant as well as the glory of a sunset over a lake.”
— Nate Fuller, former SWMLC Conservation and Stewardship Director
Acres: 189 | Parking: gravel lot, with two paved barrier-free parking spaces
RECREATION FEATURES
cross-country skiing, fall color, hiking, scenic views, snowshoeing, spring and summer wildflowers, wildlife watching
TRAILS
Featuring signed, scenic, easy-to-moderate hiking trails that cross a natural causeway between two lakes, gently climb through upland forest, then gently descend to a boardwalk that offers interesting views into a fen wetland. APPROXIMATE STREET ADDRESS
28000 block of 49th Ave., Paw Paw, MI
GETTING THERE
From I-94 take the Mattawan Exit ( # 66) and head north (right) from the traffic circle onto Main Street. Head north for 1 mile to reach Red Arrow Highway, then turn left (west). Go west for 1.5 miles, then turn right (north) onto 27th Street (look for Owsiany Farm Stand on the corner). Continue traveling north for 0.75 mile, then turn left (west) onto 49th Avenue. Go about 0.75 mile to the preserve entrance on the right/north side of the road (just west of the old white farm house at #28534). Find a trail map, photos, and other details on our website:
https://swmlc.org/project/portman-nature-preserve/
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We’re YOUR local land conservancy! Southwest Michigan Land Conservancy is a non-profit conservation organization, founded locally in 1991 by a passionate group of concerned citizens who wanted to help protect southwest Michigan’s wild and scenic places for the benefit of wildlife and future generations of people. We work to conserve the scenic and ecologically important landscapes that give our region its natural character — now and for generations to come, envisioning a southwest Michigan that is environmentally healthy, economically vibrant, and naturally beautiful. Our public preserves are free and open to the public from dawn to dusk - with support from people like you. Please consider making a donation in support of our conservation work on our website: https://swmlc.org/donate-now/
