Former Michigan Summer Camp Land Purchased To Be State Game Area

I don't know about you all but some of my best memories growing up were from summer camps. Spending a week or more at a time away from my family and friends wasn't always something I was looking forward to but the amount of fun that I had each and every time was more than enough to make me forget about all of that. Places like Sherman Lake, Beechpoint, and Pretty Lake are important to me and some still serve children today.

Another summer camp that I spent a lot of time at was the Boys and Girls Club Summer Camp in Hastings, Michigan. They managed to find a way to blend everyday life with the outdoors to make it appealing to just about any kid. Being without technology for an entire week was always a weird feeling but there was more than enough to do so it didn't matter all that much but now things are different. The Boys and Girls Club Summer camp is no longer in service and now has a new purpose.

The Boys and Girls Club Summer Camp is located in the rural areas of Hastings, Michigan just north of Richland and Kalamazoo. This land is in close proximity to the Barry State Game Area, which is protected land for hunting and ecosystem preservation. Now, the land that the camp once stood on will now be added to the game area in a little over a week.

The land was purchased by The Southwest Michigan Land Conservancy, or SWMLC and they have planned to donate the land to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, or DNR. The purchase took place in the Spring earlier this year and the land will officially be added to the Barry State Game Area soon. Once the DNR has received the land, Barry State Game Area will be almost 17,000 acres of protected wetland ecosystems.

The public is invited to a celebration of the land on July 15th from 2-4pm at the former land of the Boys and Girls Club Summer Camp as the land will be transferred.