Erie Marsh Preserve and Erie Shooting Club (aka Erie Gun Club) are one and the same. For directions and information see the several emails below. Bruce ---------------- This is from Carol Bryson of The Nature Conservancy , http://nature.org/michigan. Follow I-75 south to Summit Street - Exit 2 [nearly to Ohio]. Continue south on Summit Street. (You will pass over I-75 while on Summit Street.) Follow Summit Street to the first intersection (Sterns Road). Make a U-turn and head north 0.2 mile on Summit Street to Bay Creek Road, the first road on the right. Follow Bay Creek Road 0.8 mile north to Dean Road. Turn right (east) onto Dean Road and travel 1.0 mile to the Erie Hunting and Shooting Club cottages. Park in the cottages parking area. ------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Susan.Falcone@um.cc.umich.edu Date: Wed, 10 May 95 12:09:52 EDT To: birders@umich.edu Subject: directions to Erie Marsh Bruce B suggested I post these directions for everyone, since this can be a tricky place to find: Erie Marsh Preserve --Take I-75 south past Erie Rd for about 2 miles --Take the Summit Rd exit (exit 2) -Go OVER I-75 on Summit to Brewer's Boat Livery (at the intersection of Sterns Rd). (We always drive along the canals before turning around and heading for the preserve). --Make a U-turn at Sterns Rd and head back north about 1/4 mile to Bay Creek Rd (first road to the right). You'll get off at Bay Creek Rd. just before the onramp puts you back onto I-75. --Take Bay Creek Rd about a mile north to Dean Rd. --Turn east (right) onto Dean Rd and go 1 mile to the Erie Shooting Club cottages, where you can park. --Hike the dikes! Erie Marsh is closed during Oct & Nov for hunting. [Erie Marsh is now closed from Sept. 1 to Dec. 15. BMB 10-31-2004] If you go during Sept don't be alarmed by the sound of gunshots--they are tapes to acclimate the poor beasties to the sound of shooting. The Conservancy asks that people stay on the inner dikes. [Larry Nooden writes, "I have never heard that recommendation from The Nature Conservancy and it does not make sense. If anything, hiking the inner dikes causes more disturbance." BMB] [Larry Nooden says that it should also be noted that sections of the dikes may be closed where the bald eagles are at critical nesting stages. BMB] ------------------------------------------------------------------- Date sent: Sat, 25 Mar 2000 11:47:22 -0500 From: Adam Byrne To: mich-listers@envirolink.org Subject: ...Erie Marsh Preserve, Monroe Co. Greetings, Yesterday (March 24), Dave Smitley, Tex Wells, and I birded Pointe Mouillee SGA and Erie Marsh Preserve (once called the Erie Gun Club). To reach the Erie Marsh Preserve, take I-75 South to the Summit St. Exit which is just before the Ohio border. Once on Summit St, do a U-turn and head north (looks like you are heading back on the highway) and turn left on Bay Creek Rd just before the entrance ramp to the highway. The first road on your right will then lead you to the preserve. Park by the barn and walk the dikes (be sure to respect any signs, etc.) [...] Good birding, Adam M. Byrne ----------------------------------------------------------------- The Erie Gun Club/Erie Marsh Preserve is in extreme southern Monroe County late this afternoon. This is a unique place to find dabbling ducks in southeast Michigan even in the harshest of winters as the water in the sulphur springs and in the channels leading away from the spring never freeze. Here are some of the birds we found: 84 Great Blue Herons 50 Gadwall 1 Pintail (male) 2 Green-winged Teal (female at Sulphur Springs and an injured male at "third base") 4 Common Goldeneye 2 N. Harrier 1 Winter Wren (third base) 2 Swamp Sparrow 40 Grackle 3 Red-winged Blackbird This is not a great showing for this place in mid-winter but at least we made par I would say. The blackbirds, save one Grackle, were fly-bys. The baseball analogy is quite useful (started by Tex Wells?) for this location in giving directions. To do this, gird yourself for a long, often cold, walk at this time of year. From the parking area at the end Dean Road, walk north past the row of hunting cabins and out the main dike road. When things start to thaw, this gets my vote as the muddiest walk in birdingdom. When you come to dike roads going off to your right (one on each side of a channel), this is consider "home plate". Take the second dike road. This will take you into a grove of riparian cottonwoods. Great Horned Owls are often there. Once you reach where two channels converge, this is considered "first base." Now you will walk northeast. When you reach the sulphur spring, this is "second base." Approach the spring cautiously as the ducks are skittish there, presumably for being shot at for the last 3 months. Incidentally, the woods behind the sulphur springs are excellent for spring migrants. From the sulphur springs (if you go there you will immediately sense why it is called a sulphur spring), follow the dike between two channels of partially open water (at least now) west to another grove of riparian cottonwoods. This is referred to as "Third base." Then trudge "home." To reach the Erie Gun Club/Marsh Preserve from the Detroit area, go south on I-75 to the last exit in Michigan (Summit Street). You will have to go down Summit until you can make a U turn. Then go north on Summit and bear to the right instead of re- entering I-75 and you will be on Bay Creek Road which runs parallel to I-75 for about a half mile. Turn right on the first road you come to which will be Dean and take Dean east to the end which ends at the Erie Gun Club. Incidentally, there is no exit at Summit Street if you are coming from the Toledo area to the south. Karl Overman Farmington Hills, Mi. ----------------------------------------------------------------- I spent several hours walking around the Erie Gun Club in extreme southern Monroe County, Take the last exit off I-75 in Michigan, Summit Street, and make a U turn where legal and go north of essentially the service drive of I-75 which is Bay Creek Road. Take the first right once you pass the north entrance to I-75. That road will be Dean Road which dead ends at the Erie Gun Club (Erie Marsh Preserve). There is good shorebird habitat along the southern end of the area which is accessible by a road (no vehicle, not even bikes are allowed in the ultimate wisdom of the Nature Conservancy which controls the area). Walk passed the maintenance building. It is about a 2 mile walk out to the best area. Dense vegetation obscures the view most of the way. Still, this area looks to have the best potential for shorebirds this late summer in SE Michigan. I saw 4 Stilt Sandpiper enroutes and counted 205 Dowitchers, the vast majority at a great distance near the east end of the dike road before it turns north. I did not have much success finding a variety of duck species. A couple of Gadwall and a male Lesser Scaup were all I found in with the standard teal, Mallards and Wood Ducks. This area will probably get better, assuming water levels drop. All we need is someone with a Kevin Thomas-like tenacity to find a way to bushwack in to a place to get a close look at the bulk of the shorebirds present. Karl Overman Farmington Hills, Mi.