WMSBF To Visit The Highlands at Blandford for Tour and Forum

West Michigan Sustainable Business Forum will host a program and tour of one of the region’s most exciting conservation projects at its monthly luncheon on Monday, August 6, at Blandford Nature Center.

Featured speakers are Joseph Engel, Executive Director of The Land Conservancy of West Michigan and Jason Meyer, Executive Director Blandford Nature Center, who will discuss the Highlands Golf Club project and the new Mary Jane Dockeray Visitor Center at Blandford.

The Land Conservancy of West Michigan and Blandford Nature Center are partnering on the purchase and transformation of the 121-acre Highlands Golf Club property into a natural area for community recreation and education, with additional support from The Conservation Fund. A private golf course for over 100 years, the land is being conserved and protected for the people of Grand Rapids forever.

Last year, Blandford Nature Center celebrated the opening of its new Mary Jane Dockeray Visitor Center, named after the nature center’s founder, Mary Jane Dockeray, who recently celebrated her 90th birthday in the new auditorium. The visitor center is an 11,000-square-foot addition to the nature center that features a lobby, auditorium, outdoor amphitheater, science lab, and an upgraded Wildlife Education Center that houses the center’s wildlife ambassadors. Many of the decorative wood features in the new center came from trees in the nature center harvested as part of the construction process.

The program will feature a walking tour of The Highlands property and time to explore the new Blandford building. Lunch is $17 if paid online, $22 the day of the event. Learn more and register online here.