Palmer Park Earth Day
Sunday, April 23, 2023

• Park-wide Clean-Up
• Old Growth Forest Ceremony & Guided Walk
• Aziza Fairy Forest Treasure & Trash Hunt

 
Join People for Palmer Park as we celebrate Earth Day, clean our beloved park, explore the woods, and enjoy friends, family and nature. From grit to magic, we welcome all ages to pick up a bag and help make a difference.
 
Sign up at palmerparkearthday2023.eventbrite.com to volunteer and join us for a day celebrating nature.
 
Spring Cleanup! Spring is upon us and we want Palmer Park to look beautiful and vibrant for the wonderful community of people who enjoy the park. Trash pick-up, weeding, sweeping, raking, and clearing are just some of the ways to volunteer your time and energy! 
 
Aziza Fairy Forest Trash & Treasure Hunt. Earth Day at Palmer Park is also a fun family event, too! For the young ones, sign up to search for the treasures: the tiny, invisible, magical Aziza Fairies from African and their hand-painted doors that will hang from branches throughout the forest trails. Explore the forest pathways and pick up trash to leave the woods sparkling and clean.
 
Old Growth Forest Ceremony! At noon, between the two clean-up shifts, join us to welcome Nick Sanchez from the Old Growth Forest Network. Detroit’s Palmer Park’s Witherell Woods will be inducted into the Old Growth Forest Network and we want to celebrate with you!
 
The 70-acre Witherell Woods in Palmer Park is the largest old-growth forest in the Tri-County area, and one of only seven forests in the City of Detroit. This is quite an honor, since only 5% of U.S. forests remain undisturbed allowing old growth trees and plants to flourish. Following the brief ceremony, Nick and representatives from PFPP will lead a guided walk through the woods.
 
Sign up with your family, community groups or neighborhood associations, work staff, or come yourself! Please help spread the work and invite as many neighbors and friends as you can!
 
Volunteers will be deployed throughout the park to promote social distancing and to cover as much of the park as possible. Choose a two-hour shift or stay for the whole time. Additional information will be sent the Thursday prior to the clean-up with instructions and directions to your location. (Note: Ticket location is a meeting point, not the site where you will be sent to clean-up)
 
People for Palmer Park will be providing gloves, trash bags, tools, hand sanitizer, and light refreshments. Please bring your own water bottle!
 
Invite family, friends, neighbors, co-workers and any other nature lovers in your life! 

The City of Detroit, Detroit Exploration and Nature Center (DEN), People for Palmer Park (PFPP) and a team of ecological experts are working together to make Lake Frances and Witherell Woods more healthy, usable, and beautiful. This team has collaborated to initiate a substantial habitat restoration initiative in Palmer Park as one of seven projects selected to receive grant funding to benefit communities and wildlife habitats in southeast Michigan by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.
Over the next year, we will clean up the Lake, replace invasive species with native plants, and improve walking and biking paths on the South end of the park. We will also be developing a long-term ecological restoration and management plan for the remnant woods occupying the center of the park. We have begun the detailed planning, design, permitting and an intensive community engagement process for this effort, including a public survey. We are also in the process of seeking participation from allied stakeholder groups, agencies, and institutions, all of whom are essential to the long-term success of this effort. This amazing ecological transformation in the much-cherished Palmer Park, will provide a myriad of opportunities, including education, research, public access to nature, and others.  


Watch the first meeting of stakeholders
Here is a link to the full Stakeholder Meeting #1 Zoom call held by the City of Detroit on 3/17/2021.
This presentation gives you a great overview of the Lake Frances project and how it started and what the plans are for this beautiful habitat in Palmer Park. Learn then about the construction schedule, the expected activities and—very importantly—the Community engagement we hope all of you will be a part of. The presentation begins at the 01:13 mark if you'd like to skip the side discussion in progress at the beginning.

Take the Survey
The City is also monitoring this Palmer Park Habitat Restoration Project Survey and encourage all to give their input. Your participation in the survey will help us design our programming, outreach strategy, and communication materials. It will take approximately 5 minutes to complete.

​Zoom Link:
https://cityofdetroit.zoom.us/rec/share/ohCbkgORqoA5eq4cQXNacYEzBRVhTPrkykXvBSncLBFZbBQyZFO6EhjRI0SQEXBJ.yxosWcgkZOU1gglM

Park construction projects continue as part of the planned City of Detroit improvements.
Along with the continued work on the shelter/pavilion, there is now a state-of-the-art fitness pad and brand new walkways and benches on the Woodward side of the park.

More projects in progress and planned to begin in the future:

• Picnic Shelter/Pavilion next to Lake Frances
• Volleyball Court to be rebuilt
• Baseball Diamond to be rebuilt in a new location when funds allow
• Power being pulled for more much needed lighting in the park
• Removal of the roadway that cuts through the middle of the park property near the cabin
• Removal of trees in a bad state and and effort to save the bigger healthier trees growing throughout the park
• Revitalization of Lake Frances (with National Fish & Wildlife Foundation grant funding). Begins Spring 2021

As one of seven projects selected to receive grant funding to benefit communities and wildlife habitats in southeast Michigan by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, People for Palmer Park and the City of Detroit will be working to make Lake Frances and Witherell Woods more healthy, usable, and beautiful. 
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These investments will strengthen regional resilience by installing green infrastructure, and reduce the threat of flooding and other intensifying environmental stressors. Additionally, projects will restore critical habitat for wildlife and create or enhance public access to and use of natural areas and parks across four counties. (1)

Over the next two years, we will clean up the Lake, replace invasive species with native plants, and improve walking and biking paths on the South end of the park.  We look forward to sharing more updates and getting your input throughout the project, but here's a preview of what you can expect to see happening in and around the lake. (2)