Per the website:

The Highlands is a collaboration between the Land Conservancy of West Michigan and Blandford Nature Center to transform a former golf course into a healthy and thriving urban natural area.

I met up with my two sons, my daughter in-law, and my baby granddaughter at The Highlands on Saturday.  Located in an older suburb of Grand Rapids, it was a golf course at one time, but now it is being encouraged to revert back to nature.  The water areas are pretty much dried up, but there is still some bit of water.  The mature trees have been left alone except for some unfortunate carving on the majestic birch tree.  You can still feel the character of the golf course with the slopes and fairway, but the manicured part is absent except for a pathway that is mowed through it to guide the walker on the circuit around the grounds.  The park didn’t have many other humans, which was both pleasant and surprising.  The baby was in her stroller most of the time and seemed to enjoy the bumpy ride.  It was quite sunny out, but the quantity and quality of the trees made the stroll pleasantly dappled with shade and cool.  We stopped several times in the shade to let the baby get out and run.  Deer are in the park.  We saw one doe grazing and the baby made a bee-line for her, so she ended up loping off into the shadows.  We also saw a fawn that appeared to be looking for its mother, but we stayed far from the fawn. 

They have planted zillions of milkweed plants, most of which haven’t bloomed yet.  There are a concerning number of giant thistle plants in there that they need to address before they take over.  They’ve planted white and pink yarrow.  There are a wealth of birds in the park but most too skittish to get a good look at.  I didn’t take a lot of pictures, as I was too busy enjoying the precious time with family. 

Click on captions to see full-size pics.