In a peaceful forest in southeast Grand Rapids, wildflowers bloom beside Plaster Creek, and towering oaks and elms look much the same as they did more than a century ago.
According to botanists, Ken-O-Sha Park, a 141-acre public space tucked into an urban area, includes a 99-acre natural area that holds one of Michigan’s most pristine and biodiverse urban ecosystems.
Ken-O-Sha Park is one of the rarest urban landscapes in Michigan, an ecological time capsule hiding in plain sight.
“It scored a 70,” says Dave Warners, a biology professor at
Calvin University, referring to the park’s rating on Michigan’s Floristic Quality Index. “That’s extraordinary. We wrote a special paper on Ken-O-Sha Park because it’s so rare for a city park to have such high natural quality.”
Warners is co-lead of the
Emma Cole Project, a multi-year botanical survey named for Emma J. Cole, a 19th-century Grand Rapids botanist whose pioneering work laid the foundation for the region’s plant science.
The project retraces Cole’s fieldwork, revisiting natural areas she surveyed over 125 years ago and comparing today’s plant communities to those she documented in her landmark 1901 book, “Flora of the Grand Rapids Region.”
“She was out there before cars, traveling by horse-drawn buggy and train, doing scientific work when very few women were even allowed to do science,” Warners says. “Emma Cole gives us a historical baseline. Thanks to her, we know what we’ve lost and what’s still worth protecting.”
Ecological, cultural importance
What he and his students found at Ken-O-Sha was remarkable: over 300 plant species, many of them rare or highly sensitive to disturbance. Under Michigan’s state guidelines, any score above 50 is considered of statewide significance. Ken-O-Sha’s 70 places it among the most valuable undisturbed ecosystems in the state, he says.
This research will support the effort to blend Indigenous knowledge with ecological science, a collaboration championed by the nonprofit
Miigwech Inc., based in Harbor Springs.
The effort is led by Meredith Migizi, a cultural educator, expert forager, and founder of Miigwech, which operates under tribal law and promotes health sovereignty.
“Our nonprofit was created to serve our people by giving them what they need,” Migizi says. “We serve all Indigenous people of Michigan, regardless of tribe.”
For Migizi, land restoration isn’t just about ecology—it’s also about justice, recognition, and rebuilding cultural systems disrupted by colonization.
“Treaties are not just about governments,” she says. “They are people-to-people agreements.”
Among those treaties is the 1821 Treaty of Chicago, which ceded much of what is now Michigan to the United States in exchange for guaranteed rights to continue traditional lifeways like foraging, fishing, and harvesting native plants. Migizi says those promises are rarely honored in public spaces today.
“You need to see Native people in parks so that we’re not seen as ‘mysterious’ or having the police called on us,” Migizi says. “Caring for the land is how we practice reciprocity. It’s not just a right, it’s a duty.”
Indigenous worldview
The nonprofit's name carries a message rooted in the Anishinaabe language and worldview. While “miigwech” is often translated as “thank you,” Migizi says its original meaning is “I have what I need.”
The phrase reflects a deep cultural ethic of sufficiency and gratitude, not just toward people, but also toward the land, the plants, and the Creator. In the Anishinaabe tradition, language is relational and verb-based, emphasizing balance and interconnectedness over ownership or extraction.
Saying “miigwech” acknowledges that one’s needs have been met and that no excess is required. It reflects a worldview grounded in reciprocity, where care for one another and for the environment is an ongoing and sacred responsibility. Migizi’s nonprofit draws from that philosophy.
“Our nonprofit was created to serve our people by giving them what they need,” she says. Miigwech Inc. provides culturally grounded support for Indigenous families from traditional birthwork to foraging education to treaty rights advocacy. The name signals a break from colonial models of charity and control, centering instead on Indigenous-led solutions rooted in respect and community care.
Restoring traditional plants
Based on the findings from the Emma Cole Project, Miigwech and
Friends of Grand Rapids Parks will reintroduce edible and medicinal plants to Grand Rapids parks, ensuring that traditional plants are not only protected but also reestablished.
This summer, Warners’ team will begin incorporating Indigenous plant names into all future botanical reports, at the request of Miigwech and the city’s partners.
“That’s a really important step,” Warners says. “It’s a good time for it.”
Migizi agrees.
“Floral assessments allow us to reintroduce plants our relations need, such as birds, deer, insects, and to honor treaties.”
Warners believes the scientific community has much to learn from this worldview. Fortunately, this work is drawing the interest of the next generation.
“It’s so encouraging to see young people who want to do good for the world,” he says. “We want our students to connect with groups like Miigwech and Friends of GR Parks, who are out there doing good work, listen to them, learn from them, and then contribute their own insights and inspirations. Helping to make those connections is a beautiful part of my job.”
For Migizi, the work is ancestral, generational, and deeply personal.
“I have stardust in my bones,” she says. “I am from this land, and it’s my duty to care for it.”
Photos are courtesy of Friends of Grand Rapids Parks
The Parks-People-Possibility series, made possible through a partnership with Friends of Grand Rapids Parks, will spotlight community-led initiatives to improve, create, and sustain the city’s parks and green spaces.