Springfield Township

Beavers: Oakland County’s Best Dam Builders!

Oakland County, MI Government 2 Comments
beaver habitat sign

WILDER SIDE OF OAKLAND COUNTY

The days are short, and darkness comes all too soon. The dawn of winter draws near. We may feel sleepy at times, but there is no long winter nap awaiting the beaver (Castor canadensis,) the largest rodent of North America. Contrary to the belief of some, beavers do not hibernate. Beavers are true architects of the wildlife world. Although these highly-skilled engineers are almost never seen in winter, the evidence of their activity is everywhere, from the most rural sections of our county to the wooded banks of the Clinton River in the city of Pontiac.

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A Sundew Kind of Morning!

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WILDER SIDE OF OAKLAND COUNTY

The Ice Age was coming to an end. Shuffling its 6-ton frame, a shaggy mastodon laboriously crossed a steep esker and trudged towards melt water from a giant block of ice left behind by the Pleistocene Era’s last local retreating glacier. The mastodons that once roamed Oakland County are now extinct, but the glacial evidence of nature’s land sculpting power is unmistakable in many sections of our county. Some of those sites, that once provided habitat for Mastodons, now harbor carnivorous flora and rare secretive creatures. One of those locations is within the Shiawassee Basin Preserve, a 600-acre site in northwestern Oakland County managed by Springfield Township Parks and Recreation. Continue reading →

I Am Not a Chipmunk!

Oakland County, MI Government 2 Comments

WILDER SIDE OF OAKLAND COUNTY

I was blissfully unaware of the existence of thirteen-lined ground squirrels (Spermophilus tridecemlineatus) living in Michigan, let alone in Oakland County, until a summer day ten years ago. On that day of discovery, I was wandering the Shiawassee Basin Nature Preserve in Springfield Township admiring wildflowers, dragonflies and butterflies in a small meadow. I was just a few hundred feet from the Springfield Township Civic Center when suddenly a small chipmunk-like creature popped up out of the ground in a field rich with clover, grasshoppers and bugs of all sorts. I managed one photo before its hyper-speed vanishing act commenced.

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Exploration of the Davisburg State Wildlife Area

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WILDER SIDE OF OAKLAND COUNTY

Situational Awareness. That is the one item you must have with you before setting foot in the Davisburg State Wildlife Area. Never heard of this beautiful wildland gem in Springfield Township? Most people have not. If you are looking for a place with a trail system, signage, established parking lots, creature comforts, and other hikers, this is not the place for you. Want to get lost? This might be the place. The landscape has diverse terrain with rolling hills, abundant wetlands, including murky soils that can just about suck boots off your feet, an icy cold stream, a wooded swamp, a hidden lake and excellent habitat for our federally protected swamp rattler, the eastern massasauga rattlesnake. And don’t forget patches of poison sumac at a face-slapping height and skin-scratching thorns. Continue reading →

Oakland County Sheriff’s Office Coats for the Cold 2018

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Four young girls bundled up in winter coats drinking hot chocolate.

The Oakland County Sheriff’s Office is accepting donations for the 31st annual “Coats for the Cold” coat drive from November 1st to November 30th. Clean, gently-used or new coats can be dropped off at one of their drop-off sites around Oakland County. All Oakland County locations of Real Estate One HQ and Genisys Credit Union are drop-off sites. Additionally, donors will receive up to $50 off the cost of a pet adoption ($10 per donated coat, up to five coats) at the Oakland County Pet Adoption Center.

For a list of all drop-off sites, click the button below:

Coats for the Cold Drop-Off Sites

Donated coats will be sent to various local charitable organizations who distribute the coats to community members in need.

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