Holland Ponds park - Shelby Township, Macomb County ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Holland Ponds park is on Ryan between 22 and 23 Mile Roads. I've heard it is easily walkable and has a variety of habitats and periodically produces an interesting bird. Al Ryff says, "Holland Ponds is somewhat wooded with a short stretch of swamp. A small water treatment facility at the back offers comfortable-range viewing of the few migrant ducks and grebes that sporadically show. There is a Great Blue Heron rookery that entails a short walk. An old railroad bed continues northwestward from the backside of Holland Ponds toward Dequinder Road and crosses a stretch of somewhat impressive floodplain forest. (Someone who) should know everything about Holland Ponds is Dan Farmer, the naturalist at Shadbush Nature Center, which also is on Ryan Road at less than a mile away." I did a Google search and got a number of hits, including http://shelbyhistory.tripod.com/id55.html , where there is a map. You can do your own Google search for "Holland Ponds" michigan OR shelby OR macomb The blurb below is from the URL given above. Bruce Bowman 2-20-2008 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Shelby's newest park, Holland Ponds, is an ecological success story. In 2001, the 200 acre former EPA superfund site located west of Ryan north of 22 mile road, was declared free of contaminants by the EPA. On July 30,2001, the property was transferred to Shelby Township from the State of Michigan. This new Shelby park, dedicated November 4, 2001, was named Holland Ponds to honor former Shelby assessor Don Holland. The Township plans to use the parkland as a passive recreation area with nature trails available for hiking and wildlife viewing. An extension of the walking trail to Yates Cider Mill is planned for the future. The marshland and woods provides a home to a variety of wildlife including deer, fox, blue heron, rabbits, geese, ducks, turtles, frogs and muskrat. The remains of an old building foundation, possibly from an earlier farm or outbuilding, are visible near the 22 mile road entrance. From the parking lot a trail leads west through marshland ending at two large ponds. A well defined section of the Clinton and Kalamazoo canal cuts through this area. A small shelter with picnic tables exists at the west end of the property. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ From: "Fred Kaluza" To: birders@umich.edu Subject: [birders] Holland Ponds Observations Date: Sun, 24 Feb 2008 19:23:07 -0500 Holland Ponds is a remediated EPA Superfund site. It's fairly close to a shooting range (much the same as the Stony Creek Nature Area). There are ponds to be sure and some open area mixed with a lot of scrub. There is/was a Heron Rookery as well that is in the trees of the ravine that overlooks the Clinton River. There is also some good swampy area where I've seen Kingfishers before. I don't really go places specifically to look for birds but almost all of Shelby Township gives me a weird feeling. Riverbends Park across the street is an odd mix of things like a lot of nest boxes amongst baseball diamonds and archery and skeet ranges! To me it seems they walk the thin line between "nature area" and "recreational space" and is an unhappy mix of both. Holland Ponds itself is so full of toxic sampling wells that one constantly expects to see a 4-headed Mallard at any minute. We also saw 3 Deer yesterday (single-headed variety). The critters may not mind the scenery but I'm always reminded of a post-apocalyptic wasteland when I'm there. I'm anxious to hear about other's impressions of the area. At the River Bends nature center (nice place), there is/was a nice display about the history of the area and since it's been passed through so many hands, the embedded history is everywhere. Fred Kaluza ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2008 11:18:16 -0800 (PST) From: Douglas Warner Subject: [birders] Holland Ponds To: birders@umich.edu I have been to Holland Ponds on many occasions since its opening around 2002 and have found it to be a pretty interesting place. It is a mix of swamp, open water, scrub and edge-type habitat. The pond near the water filtering facility usually has an ice free area because of the discharge there and I have seen Mergansers, Gadwall, Black Duck and just this January, a Pintail. I've also seen Kingfisher and Green Heron in the larger pond immediately to the left of the main trail off the parking lot. The heron rookery is active and has about 10 to 15 nests in snags above the Clinton River. These are visible when the leaves are off of the trees from Ryan Road near 22 Mile. There is also a foot trail that leads to the top of the rivercut where there are some views of the nests as well (although pretty obstructed once the leaves come out). Signs there note a nesting area for Great Blue, Green and Night Herons. I may have seen an Osprey one spring there near the back of the property where the river passes through. I didn't really see enough of it to get a good ID. but it appeared to be a large raptor carrying a fish. There are two interlinked ponds on the south side of the area that are currently dry and have been so since the summer. I have seen common dabbling ducks and Pied-billed Grebe in that area. At Riverbends across and over on Ryan, I have seen Cooper's Hawk, Eastern Towhee and Bluebird. If you follow the trail down from the nature center into the ravine the trail turns into a boardwalk and leads through a hemlock/cedar swamp. I've seen Wood Duck in that area. All in all, there is nothing really exceptional there, but it is a very unique habitat mix for Macomb County. Thanks, Doug Warner