Fred Russ Forest and Dowagiac Woods in April 2014

April 17, 2014 

An adventure to Fred Russ Forest in Cass County was the start for our day.  Here is some info on this park, "Nestled along the Volinia Creek, Fred Russ Forest and Newton's Woods County Park, is a nature lovers paradise with its old growth forests, acres of wildflowers and abundant plant life. Located on Marcellus Highway, one-half mile east of Decatur Road near Volinia, Russ Forest offers two picnic shelters with electricity, potable water, equestrian and hiking trails, fishing (designated trout stream), horseshoe pits, and much more. In cooperation with Michigan State Univeristy, Russ Forest is also considered a national landmark with 737 acres of virgin black walnut and white oak. It is also home to one of the largest standing Tulip Popular trees east of the Mississippi River. Beautiful landscapes and peaceful natural settings are the rule rather than the exception at this very popular county park."

We saw a few more wildflowers blooming this week.

          Trout Lily

              Dutchman's Breeches 



                 Marsh Marigold

                 Harbinger-of-Spring

               Thyme-leaf Speedwell

            Spring Beauty



This was an interesting plant that we found, Golden Saxifrage!

 I should have put the quarter in this shot - the flower on the Golden Saxifrage is only 1/4 inch in size, petals absent, anthers orange to red-orange.

         Face Tree

                  Tulip Tree

We walked about 2 1/2 hours in the park.  It was a perfect day to be in the forest.  Then we drove eight miles west to Dowagiac Woods!  We were here 6 days ago and we could see the difference in the plant growth.  The plants hadn't gone crazy, they might have with a bit of rain. 
We saw Marsh Marigold, Spring Beauty, Hepatica, Trout Lily, False Rue Anemone and

Bloodroot, all blooming.   We saw more Large-flowered Trillium, and Dwarf Ginseng but both were just in bud.
We did see many beautiful Sharp-Lobed Hepatica blooming, they are my favorite.

A maple tree had fallen down, some branches had flowers on them yet.

And we saw this Eastern Box Turtle.

 So that was our day, a very nice day.

Southwest Michigan

April 09 2012  
Fred Russ Forest and Dowagiac Woods
                    
First the Fred Russ Forest, this is a new park for us (my sister Marie and me). We left my house at 7:20am, it was 44 degrees.  It took two hours  to get to Russ Forest from home.

Along the way

Russ Forest Park on Dowagiac Creek

There are huge Tulip Trees here at Russ Forest.  This is part of one that blew down in a storm but there are many more alive and well in the forest.

 Dowagiac Creek has Brown Trout, I don't know much about Brown Trout but I do know how to fish for Bluegills (Lepomis macrochirus).

 Marsh Marigold

 Violet

Golden Ragwort

Dowagiac Creek

 Skunk Cabbage leaves

Newton Woods (Fred Russ Forest) is a Registered National Landmark.


Below is a flowering shrub we came across and didn't know what it was, so Marie booked it.  She identified it as a Red-berried Elder (Sambucus pubens).

Red-berried Elder

We were a little surprised to find Paw Paw over head since we were in the forest not along the creek.
A lady came riding a horse down the trail and asked us about some blue wildflowers she had seen farther south on the trail.  Later we found what she was talking about, Blue-eyed Mary.

Eastern Blue-eyed Mary (Collinsia verna) Figwort Family


We found some of the huge Tulip Trees, Tulip Poplar.

We met some one on the trail they told us there were the leaves of the Puttyroot Orchid near the trail by the big trees, we found the leaves.

Puttyroot Orchid Leaves

Trail Map

At the edge of a field we found Flowering Dogwood blooming.

Celandine Poppy (Stylophorum diphyllum)

New green leaves of a Black Cherry covered with red pointed galls?  We have seen this before.

This sign reads, Black Walnut  White Ash Black Cherry  Red Oak  Tulip Poplar    Machine Planted 1945-1946

 Near the parking lot we found English Daisy (Bellis perennis) a cute little garden escape.

So we found ourselves back to the car at 1:45 so ~ 4 1/2 hours in the forest. 
Fred Russ Forest was a great choice for the day.  The forest was wonderful.

Now a bit of a sticky wicket, it is about time to go home, 2 hours to my house and then another 35 mintues for Marie to get to her house.  Husbands waiting at home for dinner but...we are only 8 miles from Dowagiac Woods (Michigan Nature Association) one of our very favorite places to wildflower. 

So we head west to Dowagiac then over to Frost Road, we arrive at 2:14pm.  Luck thing I had the cell phone along (and that we both have very understanding husbands) so we called and let everyone know we were going to be very late, now if we can still walk (which wasn't a problem at all) we can relax and enjoy the woods and wildflowers.

Dowagiac Woods...

This is the old sign, it's gone now.  Below is the new sign.

Hepatica leaves

 

Wild Ginger

Large-flowered Trillium

 American Bladdernut

Many, many, trillium

Bellwort, I like the way the stems seem to pierce the leaves (Perfoliate).

Two-leaved Miterwort

 Marsh Marigold

 One late hepatica

 Dwarf Ginseng (Panax trifolius)

A whole bunch of Dwarf Ginseng, with their balls of white along with Mayapple.

 Ohio Buckeye (Aesculus glabra) tree

Through the pines and we are back to the car.  We got home exactly 12 hours after we had left that morning!  What a long and wonderful day!


Some info about Fred Russ Forest that I gleaned online-

Fred Russ Forest address 20379 Marcellus Highway Decatur, MI 49045

580+ acres of Michigan State research forest with 12 acres park land open to the public for hiking, biking, fishing, cross-country skiing and horseback riding. 

Russ Forest is also home of the largest tulip poplar tree in Michigan. Standing approximately 180 ft. tall, this tree has a 15 ft. circumference, and is over 300 years old.

Forty acres is designated as "National Nature Area" representing a virtually undisturbed mature oak-hickory forest

   

For more information check this out http://michigantrailmaps.com/Cass/FredRuss/FredRuss.html