Parks in Partnership: The Library Network and Your Local Library

2.25.2026

By Stephanie Kozak, Macey Kunkle, and Shana Totten

At the Metroparks we are working on expanding our programming into areas where people may not have access to the parks. We strive to reach all corners of the 5 counties where the Metroparks are located: Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Washtenaw, and Livingston. Our Community Outreach program is offered to communities, schools, senior centers, and other related groups that may not have the opportunity or means to visit the Metroparks.

One of our valued partners in this effort is our local library systems. Libraries provide a safe, convenient, and welcoming space for community members to gather and learn. We collaborate with libraries to bring engaging, hands-on science and nature related programming to the communities.

Detroit Public Libraries

This year, we’ve partnered with the Campbell Branch of the Detroit Public Library to offer exciting monthly programs to the community! One of our highlights has been Nature Trivia Nights, where each month features a unique theme. Using Kahoot! on iPads provided by the Metroparks, participants test their knowledge in a fun and interactive way. To make the experience even more hands-on, we bring nature artifacts that connect to the trivia questions. If a question is about beavers, you might get to examine a real beaver fur or skull! With snacks and music, trivia has been a great time for everyone and a great way to bring the Metroparks to the communities we serve.

Looking ahead, we’re thrilled to join the library to celebrate Earth Day to create seed balls and to host a special event for Father’s Day where we’ll be making custom fishing lures. These events are a great way to learn, connect, and enjoy nature together!

The Metroparks recently received a grant through the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) and the United States Environmental Protection Agency titled Expanding Community Resiliency through Rain Gardens. One of the goals of the grant is to demonstrate and promote the benefits of green infrastructure best management practices, specifically rain gardens, and their capability to capture and reduce stormwater flow.

To accomplish this, the Metroparks will facilitate hour-long Introduction to Rain Garden programs as well as 5-week Master Rain Gardener Certification courses. Libraries have provided community meeting rooms for past rain garden programs and will continue to do so during this project. To attend one of these programs you can find more information on our Climate Classroom. We will also partner with select branches to help provide gardening tools for patrons to borrow as a part of their “Library of Things” collections. The Conely Branch of the Detroit Public Library will start checking out some of our gardening tools at their library starting in April. Libraries provide a natural gathering place within the community, we are grateful to host these programs in such integral spaces.

This project has been funded wholly or in part through Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy’s Nonpoint Source Program by the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

Summer reading programs

Another great way to bring the Metroparks to library audiences across the five-county region is our participation in summer reading programs.

This year, the Collaborative Summer Library Program (used by many area libraries and library networks) theme is “Unearth a Story” focused on history, paleontology, fossils, and more. Metroparks staff will support some summer reading sites with programming related to our local animals, tracks, and how those tracks can become fossilized in the right conditions and time.

For those who would like visit one of the Metroparks, we are proud partners with The Library Network’s Michigan Activity Pass program. This program provides Michigan library cardholders the opportunity to “check-out” free or discounted passes to hundreds of cultural destinations, parks, campgrounds and recreation areas, including the Huron-Clinton Metroparks.