Parks in Partnership: Conservation Stewards and Michigan Naturalist Classes

July 30, 2025

By: Erin Parker, Interpretive Services Supervisor

Have you ever wished you had just a little more knowledge about the natural world around you? Are you looking to volunteer in the Metroparks or your local park system and want to gain a little experience first? Do you want to understand more about your own backyard ecology? Are you looking for a career transition?

During an early spring session of the Michigan Naturalist Class, participants explored vernal pools and the creatures that live there. This blue-spotted salamander was found, photographed, and returned to its daytime hiding place by the class!

The Metroparks collaborate with Michigan State University Cooperative Extension along with other community partners to help two different classes for interested volunteers and natural-knowledge seekers on a rotating basis. Both the Michigan Conservation Stewards class and the Michigan Naturalist Class can be taken as stand-alone courses or students can take both, with content intended to expand the learning for participants of each.

Conservation Stewards

The Michigan Conservation Stewards program (CSP) takes place during alternating autumns. In 2025, Oakland and Washtenaw Counties are hosting a cohort. In 2026, Wayne and Macomb Counties will be hosts again. The CSP course covers a variety of ecosystem and conservation topics over the 8 weeks of classes and field trips. Within each course, participants move from location to location, exploring new natural communities with experts in the field. This class focuses on:

Foundations of ecology (past and present)
Aquatic, terrestrial, and wetland habitats
Natural communities of SE Michigan

In 2024, students in the Conservation Stewards Program selected the overgrown pollinator garden at Stony Creek Metropark Nature Center. From inventory to weed removal to purchasing and planting, this project has dramatically improved the aesthetic, educational, and habitat features of this garden.

Instructors also rotate so that course participants are hearing from a diversity of perspectives, roles and agencies in the community, and exploring a variety of southeastern Michigan habitats through the lenses of local experts. The CSP class concludes with a showcase of student projects, where participants have selected some way to apply their learning. Projects are as diverse as the students that take the course.

Improvements to the pollinator garden included removing nonindigenous weeds and replanting a variety of plants to attract insects. This monarch caterpillar on the common milkweed is a sign of the success of this CSP student project.

Michigan Naturalist Program

The Michigan Naturalist Program is also offered in alternating years in different locations throughout the state. This program typically runs from mid-to-late spring to October, with classes meeting monthly to cover natural communities and wildlife. Much like the Conservation Stewards Program, the Michigan Naturalist Class utilizes a variety of locations for classes and field trips as well as local experts for each module.

The content across the state remains roughly the same so that all students, no matter which cohort they participate in, receive the same broad course content. Because Michigan is such a diverse state, each region tailors the content for the habitats and wildlife each cohort would actually encounter around them.

Topics cover everything from geology to climate change to mammals and insects. Each course typically includes 1-2 lecture style topics followed by an outdoor field exploration to put the classroom learning into action. Students in different regions may explore their local ecosytems in a variety of ways. The Clinton River cohort, which is the Oakland and Macomb County class, conducts insect sweep-netting, seining for fish, birding, and searching for animal signs during their field experiences.

Michigan Naturalist Program participants meet for lectures on different habitat types in southeast Michigan as well as different wildlife. During the June 2025 class at Indian Springs Metropark, participants focused on plant and insect identification.

The Michigan Naturalist Class supports students that are looking to make updates to their own backyard habitats or volunteer in a local park or Metropark as well as people simply looking to better understand southeast Michigan’s natural communities. Field trips allow for a great way to explore different parks and preserves throughout southeast Michigan and give agencies such as watershed councils and parks an opportunity to showcase their expertise- and recruit future volunteers!

In 2025, Oakland/Macomb and Wayne County cohorts are meeting. In 2026, Washtenaw will host again. Interested participants should add themselves to the waitlist as these classes fill quickly each year and are limited to 32 people.

By partnering with a MSU- Extension and local conservation organizations, the Metroparks help train community volunteers and nature enthusiasts which benefits everyone!

Resources and registration

Michigan Naturalist Course and wait list

Michigan Conservation Stewards Program

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