ANN ARBOR, MI – City officials are inviting residents to visit Ann Arbor’s newest nature area this weekend.

From 1-4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 19, the city is hosting a volunteer stewardship workday at the Buttonbush Nature Area.

The wooded area featuring a large buttonbush swamp is located along the western edge of the North Oaks condo development off Nixon and Dhu Varren roads on the city’s north side.

Residents who want to help the city’s Natural Area Preservation team care for the newly acquired property by cutting down invasive shrubs such as buckthorn and honeysuckle are asked to meet at the end of Hickory Point Drive off Foxway Drive in the Foxfire subdivision.

Volunteers are asked to wear long pants and closed-toe shoes, and minors must be accompanied by a guardian.

Tools, snacks and know-how will be provided.

The Buttonbush Nature Area is one of two new city nature areas, along with the Hickory Nature Area off Pontiac Trail.

Neither has any official trails yet. The city plans to add trails after going through next spring, said Dave Borneman, deputy parks manager.

“That’s the best time for us to see which areas of the new parks are wet, and which areas contain nice populations of spring wildflowers,” he said. “We’d want to avoid routing a trail through any such areas.”

The plan is to create access points from adjacent residential areas, Borneman said.

“In the meantime, the public is still welcome to visit either area, even though there are no established trails there,” he said.

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