Chikaming Open Lands wants to hear from all Berrien County residents about their experiences at its preserves and about any barriers to access they may have encountered.
COL education and outreach manager Grace Fredenburg tells us they’re launching a new accessibility initiative and have put together a survey to learn what issues, if any, people may be having.
“What we’re trying to do is we’re trying to gather information from like our community — so that would be pretty much like Berrien County — to learn about how accessible our trails are,” Fredenburg said. “Everything from physical to emotional, like psychological, just any aspects that could potentially keep you from either wanting to come to our preserves or even like come back to our property. We’re really trying to gather that information so that moving forward we can really be aware of how we’re communicating about our trails, making them as accessible as we can to as many people as we can because nature is for everybody. That goes for caregivers too. We want to make sure that people who are caring for loved ones or just family members or even as a job, that they have the correct information too so that they can plan a trip.”
Fredenburg says it’s not just those with physical impediments who might have trouble accessing some preserves. She says there could also be emotional or cognitive issues that hinder a person’s ability to enjoy a property.
“We know nature is healing. There’s so many different studies out there about it, but it can be intimidating if you don’t know what to expect when you get there.”
Chikaming Open Lands operates 14 public preserves around Berrien County. Some of them are popular with Berrien County residents.
“Definitely Robinson Woods Preserve off of East Road is one of our most visited preserves, along with Sugarwood Forest Preserve. One of our newer preserves that tends to be really popular is Myron Perlman Nature Preserve. But with spring coming up, Trillium Woodlands Preserve connects into Trillium Ravine Preserve out in Niles, and that’s a great place to see all of like the spring wildflowers, the spring ephemerals.”
Fredenburg says the results of the accessibility survey could help guide the pursuit of grants for improvements at them, or even the design of amenities at new preserves.
The survey is online now and you can find it right here. It will remain up through February 27.
