Mattawan Tract, Paw Paw River Watershed
Michigan, Van Buren County, Mattawan

Size
21 acres

Price
$53,075.00
The 21-acre conservation buyer property will be encumbered by a conservation easement negotiated with the seller before the sale closure. Hunting on the parcel will be allowed consistent with state and local law.

Description
Just a short drive from Kalamazoo, this environmentally significant property gives the next owner the beauty of country living without losing the benefits of city life. The terrain indicative of the area provides an ideal setting for many special prairie plants and insects as well as the animals that depend on them, including the Eastern box turtle. This tract is being restored to a beautiful oak savanna and mesic prairie with many native grasses and rare prairie flowers.

Primary Conservation Objective
Primary conservation objectives for this tract are to restore native mesic prairie on the property, and to increase the population of eastern box turtles that currently live and breed on the tract by restoring and preserving their habitat. Through careful application of prescribed fire and invasive species removal, prairie vegetation can be restored, and the sunny nesting sites which are required for turtle reproduction can be managed and preserved for future generations.

Biodiversity Highlights
The Paw Paw River Watershed is distinct in that it originates in a band of steep, ice-contact ridges pocketed with kettle depressions that feed into the river’s mainstem. The close proximity of this property links with other areas nearby already protected by The Nature Conservancy, including Lawton Prairie and the Paw Paw Prairie Fen Preserve. Conservation targets in this area include many special and rare plants, insects, and reptiles, floodplain forests, migratory songbirds, and a rare Great Lakes marsh at the Lake Michigan river mouth.

Qualifications and Restrictions
There will be no commercial activities or structures to be built, and no subdividing, mining, plowing, dumping, motorized recreational vehicles, livestock, and any topographical or hydrological changes. The Nature Conservancy will conduct habitat management on the tract. Domestic pets that do not adversely affect the conservation values of the protected property may be present on the protected property, if they are accompanied by their owner or another responsible adult. In addition, we are selling to the same buyer one adjacent smaller parcel. It is a 1.64 acre beautiful wooded lot, for $55,000, with full, unrestricted rights.

Mattawan Tract © The Nature Conservancy

For more information, please contact:

Sue DeVries
3728 West River Drive., NE
Comstock Park, Michigan 49321

Phone: 616-785-7055
E-mail: westmichigan@tnc.org