Stewards of Kleinstuck is dedicated to making Kleinstuck and Little Sister Preserves healthy, welcoming, and beautiful for wildlife and our community.

The Stewards of Kleinstuck formed in 2007 around our love for Kleinstuck Preserve. In 2019, when 12 acres of undeveloped woods went up for sale next to Kleinstuck, we worked diligently with our community to purchase and protect that woodland now known as Little Sister Preserve.

The Stewards of Kleinstuck care for 60 acres of land; Western Michigan University’s 48-acre Kleinstuck Preserve and SoK’s 12-acre parcel.

The Stewards of Kleinstuck is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization governed by a board of directors.

Our mission is to unite neighbors, ecologists, educators, and WMU land managers to support nature education, ensure public access, and to protect the health, diversity, and beauty of the Kleinstuck Preserve and adjoining natural areas for the benefit of wildlife and our community.

What we do.

We care for the land

Volunteer with us! We meet the second Sunday of each month and work from 10 to noon. Meet at the Maple St. YMCA outdoor tennis courts. No experience necessary! We use detailed Land Management Plans to guide our work in the preserves. These plans were drafted with support of professional land managers. The Kleinstuck Land Management Plan was approved by WMU and we collaborate with WMU to care for Kleinstuck. Learn more about the ecology of Kleinstuck and Little Sister.
We work to make the woods a welcoming place to visit

We keep the trails open in Kleinstuck and Little Sister so people can safely walk the trails . We cut fallen trees from the trails and push back shrubs to keep sight lines open. We re-route trails if heavy use or erosion makes them hard to traverse.
We host events in the Preserves

We gather in the woods to celebrate and to learn. We host events to celebrate things like the solstice or to learn the sounds frogs and birds. Our goal is to bring people to the woods to help them remember they are part of nature and encourage participation in caring for the natural world.
We build community

We collaborate with local organizations to make Kalamazoo a better place to live. We are close partners with The Kalamazoo Nature Center, The Kalamazoo Valley Bird Observatory, The Audubon Society of Kalamazoo, The Kazoo School, The Montessori School, and the YMCA of Greater Kalamazoo.