OCPR (Update)

COUNTY HAS NEW LEASE ON WILDLIFE

Madison Heights park gets do-over

By Bill Laitner Free Press Staff Writer

   Long the target of critics who said its parks are too far from where most taxpayers live, Oakland County Parks and Recreation has stepped up efforts to add facilities in the county’s populous southeast corner.

   On Oct. 1, the agency will begin a 25-year lease — at $1 a year — of the 38-acre Madison Heights nature preserve just south of 13 Mile and west of Dequindre.

   Budget-strapped Madison Heights laid off its naturalist two years ago and let maintenance of the preserve go.

   This month, county foresters are clearing fallen limbs from 1.3 miles of nature trails, felling dead trees, installing benches and repairing the nature center building, all work long overdue, county parks executive officer Dan Stencil said.

   “We’re giving those woods a haircut,” Stencil quipped.

   Madison Heights Mayor Ed Swanson, who walks in the woods every day with his shih tzu Tiramisu, said he’s delighted with the face-lift.

   “We couldn’t keep this up, but the county has budgeted $225,000 a year for it,” Swan-son said. The city had spent $150,000 a year there until July 2010, when all staff were laid off and the yearly budget cut to $8,000, City Manager Jon Austin said.

   The name of the area will change from the George W. Suarez Friendship Woods, after a former mayor of the city, to Red Oaks Nature Center at Suarez Friendship Woods.

   After adding the nature area, the county parks system will offer a swath of recreation options on 13 Mile Road just east of I-75, including the existing dog park, golf course and the Red Oaks Waterpark.

   Seven miles away in South-field, a 24-acre city park of soccer and baseball fields off Greenfield between 11 and 12 Mile roads, had received no upgrades for decades when the county took over its management in 2007, officials said.

   Starting Jan. 1, Red Oaks Nature Center visitors will need a vehicle parks sticker — $30 a year for county residents, $22 for seniors, $46 for nonresidents. Catalpa Oaks park is free at all times, Oak-land County Parks communications supervisor Desiree Stanfield said.

   The improvements make paying the Oakland County parks millage easier to justify for residents of the county’s southeast area, said a former critic of the parks agency, 43rd District Judge Chuck Goedert in Hazel Park.

   “I commend Oakland County Parks, and I am thrilled to see this,” said Goedert, who lives in Ferndale.

   At the Madison Heights nature center last week, volunteer Jean Linville, 81, scanned the log cabin building filled with nature exhibits.

   “We’re very happy the county is taking over because we know now this will stay open,” Linville said.

   • CONTACT BILL LAITNER: 313-223-4485 OR BLAITNER@FREEPRESS.COM  

PATRICIA BECK/DETROIT FREE PRESS

Kylie Fournier, 3; Margaret Over-ton, 2; Diana Fournier, 27, and Khloe Fournier, 1, all of Oak Park read on a platform at the top of atree at the Madison Heights Nature Center in Madison Heights.

MADISON HEIGHTS FALL FESTIVAL

   What: 16th annual open house —cider, doughnuts, hayrides, folk music, petting farm Where: Suarez Friendship Woods, 30300 Hales When: Noon-4 p.m. Sept. 30 Cost: Free, but donations, payable to City of Madison Heights Nature Center Open House, can be mailed to 300 W. Thirteen Mile, Madison Heights 48071.