The Mary Jane Dockeray Visitor Center is now open during normal operating hours Monday-Saturday from 9am-5pm. To read about our current Covid-19 Policies and Procedures, click here. We appreciate our community’s continued support as we work to keep our facilities, programs, and events safe for all to enjoy. If you have any questions, please contact info@blandfordnaturecenter.org.

We are super excited to share a new resource that allows you to discover all the wonderful things Blandford has to offer in a fun, simple, and green way—introducing our NEW Virtual Map! 

This interactive and mobile-friendly map allows you to learn about our property on your own time and from the convenience of your phone, whether you are out on our trails or at home. With this new way of exploring our trails, there are no downloads or signups required, and having a digital map will help conserve natural resources by reducing the waste from printing paper maps. 

KNOW WHERE YOU ARE AT ON OUR TRAILS: One of our favorite features is the “blue dot” GPS capability that can be turned on when using the map on your mobile phone, so you can roam all 264 acres knowing exactly where you are. 

LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR PROPERTY: We also have videos, photos, and more information highlighting some of our favorite points of interest including our Wildlife Trail, Children’s Garden, and The Highlands so you can learn about these popular spots. We recognize that most of our 100,000 annual visitors are walking our trails without one of our educators, and that our historic buildings are not open daily, so we have created videos to share more about these spaces with you when you walk by—just look for the QR code symbols at select points of interest around the property. 

EXPLORE ON YOUR OWN TERMS: With the virtual map, you can wander with a purpose searching for all the points of interest around our property like the elusive Mother Maple wolf tree, or simply use the GPS to guide you on a new trail loop to explore the prairie restoration that’s occurring at The Highlands. The informational videos will change quarterly and will include closed captions in English and Spanish – this means you’ll have opportunities to learn about different topics here at Blandford during every season!

You can check out our Virtual Map below, or keep your eyes out for QR codes along our trails during your next visit. We hope to see you all exploring the trails soon!

This map was created specifically for you, to enhance your experience when visiting Blandford. If you would like to share your feedback about this new resource, please fill out this brief survey.

We’d like to send a big thank you to the experts at Cynthia Kay & Company for their work putting this resource together!

Land Conservancy of West Michigan and The Highlands

Blandford Nature Center and the Land Conservancy of West Michigan collaborated on the purchase of the 121-acre former Highlands Golf Club in Grand Rapids in the winter of 2017 with a vision to transform the property into a natural area for community recreation, nature preservation, and land conservation.

Learn More