News and Events

Work Day – Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024

When: On Saturday, October 26, 2024 from 10am to noon 

What Will We Do? spread mulch and remove invasive burdock.

Details:

• We welcome all ages and abilities to volunteer. 
• Please bring a small hand tool.

Celebrate the Rain Gardens

Thanks to all those who joined us to Celebrate the Rain Gardens at the Neighborhood Fall Festival, October 6, 2024

Thurston Nature Center June 2024 Workday

Thanks to those who joined for the TNC Workday on Saturday, July 20, 2024. The group worked on

• PROPERTY MARKING: We are looking for help placing markers along the pond to visually identify and protect our property’s natural environment.  In response to the ongoing removal of native plantings, yard waste, personal landscaping, and overall encroachment onto the Thurston Nature Center (TNC), we will be placing property markings & signage surrounding the pond property. Notices have been sent to homeowners. We seek your support to help us protect our community’s land.
  
• WOODCHIP AND CLEAR TRAILS: Help us with our trails by grabbing or bringing a shovel and wheelbarrow and spreading chips along the bare trails from the woodchip pile on Praire Court.

Did you know?  The property bordering the TNC is owned by OHAC on the east and AAPS on the west. The TNC Committee is a subcommittee of the non-profit Thurston PTO. The TNC thrives on donations and volunteers.

Learn more and donate: https://thurstonnaturecenter.info/donations/

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Excellent Turnout for Thurston Nature Center Committee Meeting May 14, 2024

The Thurston Nature Center Committee had its first in-person meeting in several years on May 14, 2024 (following several years of Zoom meetings) and the participation was great. Thanks to all the neighbors who showed up. Meeting notes are linked from this page. An important issue being discussed is the potential impact of the planned new Thurston Elementary School building on the Thurston Nature Center. See page 34 here

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Berm and Culvert Work at Thurston Nature Center
in late July and early August 2023

Work at Thurston Nature Center started the week of Monday July 24, 2023. The project will take about two weeks to complete. See diagram HERE

Information from Jason Bing, Director of Capital Programs, Ann Arbor Public Schools:

In support of the storm water system repair at Thurston Elementary School completed in 2021, this limited scope of work will
• stabilize the area around the north catch basin,
• repair the existing culverts, and
• restore the nature walking path in this small area.

This is part of the Capital Program. The project includes the following scope:
• Excavation and hauling off unsuitable soil at the berm, replace with clay soil
• Salvage and replace existing culverts
• Landscape restoration with appropriate seed mixes
AAPS solicited proposals from qualified contractors for construction services. 
Blue Ribbon Contracting was awarded the contract for this work.
For more information and updates, please visit www.a2schoolsbond.org

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Tour of Thurston Butterfly-Hummingbird Rain Garden
Saturday, June 10, 2023

On Saturday, June 10th, there was a tour at the Butterfly-Hummingbird Rain Garden on the Thurston Elementary School campus (2300 Prairie St, Ann Arbor, MI 48105).  

Volunteer stewards shared the story of this set of three gardens which have benefitted from a partnership among the school, the neighborhood, the Thurston Nature Center committee and Washtenaw County Water Resources. 

Thanks to Sandy Breck, Lynn Olson, Elizabeth Morehead, Sheryl Wytychak for coordinating this event.
For history of the garden, and to view a video about the garden, click here.

June 10, 2023

Garden in May 2023

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Work Day Thanks!
Thanks to all who helped with the Thurston Nature Center Spring Community Work Day
Saturday, April 16, 2022 1-4 PM
Work included:
(1) Haul already-cut brush to the Amphitheater area, where the School District’s grounds crew will chip it; and
(2) Pick up food wrappers and other trash that has blown into the Nature Center from the schoolyard.

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Trail News

We’ve had an unusually long period of flooding on the Thurston-Clague Trail, owing in part to rain water runoff where trees and other plants were removed for the drain pipe repair this summer. There is another trail, the North Prairie Trail, that runs parallel to the flooded section of trail that can be used as a detour.

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Hallows Eve Walk
Saturday, October 30, 2021
6pm – 8pm
The Thurston Nature Center Harvest Moon Night Walk was
an event to mark the end of summer and beginning of fall. Following ancient traditions we wore costumes, enjoyed friendship by the fire and walked the trails marked with lights.

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Drain Pipe Repair Work, Starting August 2021

Major work was done in summer 2021 to repair a storm drain pipe at Thurston Nature Center. An informational meeting on Zoom was held July 27, 2021.

View the Stormwater Repair Update slides from July 27, 2021 here

For more information, see this link.

Photo August 2, 2021

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Thurston Nature Center Work Days were held
May 1 and May 2, 2021. Thanks to everyone who helped.

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Breathe with the Wind
Sound Installation and Sound Ceremony
April 2021

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Goats came to the Thurston Nature Center in September 2020 to help control invasive plants. CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS AND FULL DETAILS

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Butterfly Hummingbird Rain Garden Expansion

In May 2020, the Washtenaw County Water Resources Office awarded the Thurston Nature Center a $1,200 mini-sponsorship grant to complete the rain garden project at Thurston Elementary School.

The expanded garden adds beauty while solving the standing water in the transitional zone between existing Butterfly Hummingbird Rain Gardens’ trellis area and TNC woodland. It features over 20 different native plants!

See the grant application (with diagrams and photos) and award. See also annual report from December 2020.

Many thanks to Cathleen (Cat) Adams for her work on this exciting project.

Kudos to the volunteers who worked to make this project a success. Please see our thank you’s page here for more on the volunteers.

See article and photo in the A2H2O Quality Water Matters for January 2021 (on page 2).

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Read about all the Earth Week 2019 Activities at Thurston Elementary School!

Thurston Nature Center received the 2019 Environmental Excellence in Water Quality Protection Award from Washtenaw County. Read the citation read at the award ceremony (PDF download).

Recent events at Thurston Nature Center included a winter solstice walk in December 2018, a broom hockey and cocoa afternoon in February 2019, and wildflower walks in April and May 2019.

Thurston Nature Center workdays are fun and a great chance to bond with neighbors while helping the nature center.

We have two goals for this community work day: (1) Haul already-cut brush to the Amphitheater area, where the School District’s grounds crew will chip it; and (2) pick up food wrappers and other trash that has blown into the Nature Center from the schoolyard.

Details:

The City has stopped supplying free wood chips for our trails.  So we are going to help make some, while we also beautify the trails on the south side of Thurston Pond.  We have cut much of the invasive buckthorn and honeysuckle from along the trails between the Amphitheater and the tip of the Peninsula.  We’ve also cut some of the fallen willow branches into manageable pieces, and it all needs to be moved.

The areas where trash pickup is needed include the Oak Savanna and Rain Garden near the Amphitheater, the two Rain Gardens near the school parking lot, and the woods’ edge along the north end of the Thurston playground.

We will have a few wheelbarrows and garden carts (bring your own if you can) and large trash bags available.  Bring your own gloves.

Thank you, friends and neighbors, for all the support you provide every year!