Oakland County Parks and Bloomfield Hills Schools are working together to turn natural areas into public parks.

Officials say that this partnership is designed to protect the sites for the long term, give more residents easier access and keep school programs going.

Oakland County Parks Director Chris Ward and Bloomfield Hills Schools Superintendent Rick West say the plan will make the land more open to the community while preserving a special natural area in a suburban neighborhood.

Since Bloomfield Hills doesn’t have any public parks, this change is a big deal for local residents. Sites like the Johnson Nature Center may eventually connect to walking paths, including a safe route through the city. 

Students already use these sites for their lessons. A fifth-grade class took a field trip to the Johnson Nature Center recently to learn about the local watershed.

West says the center is a valuable natural area in the midst of the highly developed community. “It’s… nature at its best, right here, nestled in Bloomfield Township, and our students get to benefit from it. Our community gets to benefit from it, and that’s the richness of the partnership [with Oakland County Parks],” he says.

This agreement is a teamwork effort between the school district and the parks department, aimed at benefiting both recreation and education for students, local residents, and the entire county.

This story is a part of WDET’s ongoing series, the Detroit Tree Canopy Project.