Removing a degraded dam, restoring a river, and keeping a rare species of butterflies alive are all important tasks, none of which is easy to do. Maintaining parks, boat launches, tennis courts, playscapes, beaches, trails, and nature centers are costly. These are all tasks of parks and recreation departments across the country.
Springfield Township
In Springfield Township in northern Oakland County, the township's and county's park departments have found that working together makes all the difference.
Sarah Richmond is the director of Parks and Recreation for Springfield Township. Richmond oversees all aspects of the department, including maintenance, programs, events, policies and procedures, administration, and budget.
“Springfield Township is a smaller community in northern Oakland County with over 14,000 residents here in our community,” Richmond says. “As far as our parks, we always say we are ‘the Up North feel in your own backyard.’”
“We have over 704 acres of parkland in our
park system,” Richmond says. “We have some very rare park land, including our Shiawassee Basin Preserve, which is our largest park in our system. It is over 514 acres, home to the wildlife fens complex, a very highly-rated ecosystem."
Fens provide habitat and clean water for various plants and animals, including rare or endangered species, in the biologically-rich ecosystem.
Mike Losey is the Natural Resource Manager for Springfield Township. In his role, Losey manages the natural resources program, including education and outreach. He works with Parks and Rec. on habitat management, and collaborates with nonprofit conservation groups and governmental departments, and more.
Losey says Springfield Township is unique because it has the headwaters of three major river systems in the township: the Shiawassee, Huron, and Clinton. Within the park department's purview, there are also fishing ponds, River Run Preserve, community parks, basketball courts, play structures, tennis courts, dog parks, and the community center.
Collaborating with Oakland County Parks and Recreation
Richmond says the Springfield Township Parks and Recreation Dept. has many partnerships and collaborates with many entities, including private and public organizations and departments.
“We have a very strong partnership with many organizations, one of them being Oakland County Parks and Recreation,” she says. The county and township departments have worked together on the Shiawassee Basin Preserve, Mill Pond Park, and other community events. "We work with them a lot, rent space from them to do indoor pickleball courts, and they're a huge community partner of ours.”
Springfield Township works with Oakland County Parks and Recreation on natural resources stewardship, and also the program/events side of things. The two entities have shared duties including mowing, planting, treatments, preservation, and more for Mill Pond Park, River Run preserve, and Shultz Park.
Melissa Prowse is the manager of Planning and Development for
Oakland County Parks and Recreation, where she has worked for 18 years. She oversees three units across the
7,000 acres and 17 parks: planning, natural resources, and design and development.
Prowse says the county has a longstanding relationship with Springfield Township Parks and Recreation, even before the Mill Pond Dam project.
“We’ve worked closely with the Township for a really long time,” she says. “The Township has always been very conservation and recreation-focused. Our goals have luckily aligned making some of the projects we’ve done together that much easier. We have the same goals when it comes to conservation preservation, and getting people outdoors.”
The county and township park offices are only a 15-20 minute drive from each other making working together convenient.
Shared Amenities and Similar Goals
Many of the local residents enjoy parks and amenities in both the county and township, given their close proximity.
Northern Oakland County is home to both urban and rural communities, including Clarkston, Independence, Addison, and Highland Oaks. Recreational opportunities abound with bodies of water, forests, golf courses, beaches, dog parks, trails, nature centers, horseback riding, skiing, and more.
Together, the two entities collaborated on the
Mill Pond Dam and river restoration project, which took more than six years from the feasibility study to the culvert installation. The river restoration work continues to this day. Both entities had managed the pond jointly as they shared ownership: 55% owned by Oakland County and 45% owned by Springfield Township.
“When we learned that the dam was failing and would need to be removed or replaced, both organizations saw that as an opportunity to remove a longstanding liability and to restore a section of the Shiawassee River many years ago,” Prowse says. “It was a rocky road for us to get there, but in the end, both our boards and staff came to an agreement that removing the dam and restoring the river was the best choice from a legal and safety standpoint and from a conservation and habitat restoration standpoint.”
Prowse says both entities acting as a united front behind-the-scenes and during public meetings helped provide a level of transparency and trust within the community.
Many community members shared their thoughts and concerns, some in favor of the project, and others against the big change. Going through the multi-million dollar and multi-year project together has strengthened the working relationships between Oakland County and Springfield Township, says Prowse.
Prowse says it made sense for the bigger organization, Oakland County, to act as fiduciary and manage the construction and funding of the project, having experience with large-scale projects and grant writing/management. That leaves Springfield Township to act as “the boots on the ground for this project — engaging with the residents, keeping people informed, and managing that component of the project,” she says.
Collaborations and partnerships like these across the county are crucial for movement across the region.
“If there are multiple organizations that are working towards the same goals, I think we’re always much stronger together than when everyone is trying to do their own thing,” she says.
“We have a really great relationship with Springfield Township and they’re doing such great work. They are a very easy, logical partner for us, and we know that will continue into the future because we have such shared goals in terms of what we’re trying to achieve,” she adds.
Some of these goals wouldn’t be possible from one sole organization, says Losey.
“The natural resources work that we do, we couldn’t do it without some of the vital partnerships from our conservation non-profits,” he says. “One of the things worth mentioning is that a portion of the Shiawassee Basin Preserve is that a portion of our preserve has a conservation easement that’s held by a local land conservancy [Blue Heron Headwaters]. They have an extra layer of protection of conservation covenant on that property. They help us do certain things with invasive species removal, native plants and things like that.”
Springfield Township also works with other conservation entities and universities, including Oakland University, Michigan State University, and Grand Valley State.
“There’s just a ton of partnerships that we make sure are continually fostering and participating in because every time we do that, we get a good return on our investment,” Losey says.
Residents enjoy rare species in diverse ecosystems
During the pandemic, many residents increased their visits to parks and rediscovered a love for the scenic outdoors on park trails.
“When you get out into the middle of Shiawassee [Basin Preserve], and you forget that you’re not that far from the highways, and bustling activity,” Richmond says. “Out there, it’s just peace and quiet, and you can birdwatch and be in that moment, enjoying the beauty of nature.”
One rare sighting folks might see while on a hike is a special butterfly, the Poweshiek Skippeling — only 200 known to remain.
“We have one of the last three populations in the whole world of federally endangered butterflies that live in our preserve here,” Losey says. “It’s the largest remaining population in the United States, if not the largest one in the world.”
Losing these rare ecosystems is not something Losey or Richmond wants to see happen in their lifetimes, or for future generations. They work hard to educate local students in nearby schools about the importance of caring for the environment. They also listen to community input surrounding the desire to own park land directly through the township, as listed in the five-year master plan.
“Once those ecosystems are lost, they can’t be recreated, they can’t be man-made. Acquiring property is crucial because we know that we can maintain it and continue the stewardship efforts on it for future generations,” Richmond says.
The desire to own and maintain these special landscapes, including the Shiawassee Basin Preserve, is not new. Many planning documents dating back to the ‘50s and ‘60s show the natural features of the area and the actions to protect them were put in place decades ago.
Richmond has been in her role for 25 years and grew up in Springfield Township. She’s proud to see the level of care and pride they have in the natural resources here.
“As a kid, I remember walking this land and seeing these things,” Richmond says. “It means something to me to know that years down the road, this will still be here for generations to enjoy.”
Losey says it’s crucial to make sure generations know the clear benefits of high-quality land, water, and biodiversity in ecosystems.
“We get to actually make a difference that hopefully will last beyond our time on the planet, so it means a lot to me as well,” he says.
This story is part of the Nonprofit Journal Project, an initiative focused on nonprofit leaders and programs across Metro Detroit. This series is made possible with the generous support of our partners, the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation, Michigan Nonprofit Association and Co.act Detroit.