Connell: Treehouse Opens a Window on Nature
September 14, 2008
When a wheelchair-accessible treehouse opens at the Pine River Nature Center this autumn, it will write another chapter in one of St. Clair County's real success stories.
Few aspects of local life have improved more in the past decade than our recreational facilities. We've added parks, playgrounds, skate parks, ball fields, public beaches, boat launches and miles of trails.
The gems include the five-year-old Pine River Nature Center near Goodells in Wales Township.
The rustic lodge, a handsome log building, includes a museum featuring native wildlife such as whitetail deer, bear, raccoon, porcupine, muskrat and mink. Near the lodge, a re-created Indian village offers a glimpse of life before the first Europeans arrived.
Beyond the lodge, more than two miles of trails meander through 90 acres of hardwood forest and wetlands bordering the south branch of the Pine River.
Last year, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and the county Regional Educational Service Agency, which owns the nature center, spent $143,000 to create a mile-long trail for people in wheelchairs.
From the lodge, the trail descends a hillside via a series of switch-backs. It then wends through the woods to the banks of the Pine River, where two idyllic rest stops with ramps and benches overlook the stream.
It's perhaps a quarter of a mile from lodge to treehouse, a walk I made the other day with my 2-year-old granddaughter riding on my shoulders. The path, while wide and level, is unpaved. I have been told it takes about 20 to 30 minutes to make the trek in a wheelchair.
On our visit, we found the treehouse still under construction but beginning to take shape. Although it's supported by pillars, the deck encircles the trunks of two mature trees and offers the illusion of being part of the living forest.
Tammy Verbeke, a teacher at Woodland Developmental Center, should take a bow. The treehouse began with her.
Woodland serves about 200 severely disabled students, and Verbeke saw a treehouse as opening a window on nature for them.
About a third of the 1,000-square-foot deck will be shielded by a canopy. Architectural drawings by French Associates, which designed the treehouse, show a whimsical enclosure large enough to keep 20 or 30 people out of the rain.
As for the open areas, they'll be surrounded with a barrier of steel cables, allowing unobstructed views for a person in a wheelchair.
Charlie Andrews, a RESA administrator and retired superintendent of Marysville schools, is overseeing the project. It's a labor of love.
"Charlie's been out there in all kinds of weather, trudging through the woods, figuring things out," said Garth Kriewall, another RESA official and a member of the Port Huron school board.
The treehouse is the first of its kind in Michigan, and putting it together has been a puzzle of sorts. It's certainly a lot more complicated than nailing a few 2-by-4s to the branches of the maple in the back yard.
The site itself had to be chosen with care. The entrance to the treehouse is at grade level, but by the time you reach its outer limits, you'll be 30 feet in the air.
There are no roads to the site, meaning no access for heavy equipment. And since it's a nature center, efforts are being made to minimize the effect of construction on flora and fauna.
Treehouse or not, the structure must meet code for a public building. Its support pillars rise from concrete piers, and an arborist helped determine how to place those without destroying the roots of a magnificent oak. Deck boards are being installed at an angle because a normal pattern could snag and slow wheelchairs.
Doing the job right is not without cost. The tab for the treehouse is expected to approach $170,000, with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation picking up half of it. RESA has been lining up donors to underwrite the other half and would welcome your support.
The treehouse is part of the Community Foundation of St. Clair County's splendid Access to Recreation program -- www.accesstorec.org -- which also includes accessible canoe launches on the Belle River in the Columbus County and East China Township parks as well as improvements to the Algonac community pool.
The Pine River Nature Center is only a short distance from the county's showcase park in Goodells.
After an hour or so at the nature center, we drove to the park where the grandkids romped through the water jets at the Splash Pad and peeked through the windows of the old Lynn Township one-room schoolhouse.
Goodells County Park, long the home of the annual 4-H Fair, has become a true jewel in the 14 years since county voters first approved a special tax for parks.
It's hard to imagine a more delightful place to spend an afternoon with children. If you haven't visited these marvelous twins -- the nature center and Goodells Park--why not pick a good-looking day and make the drive to Wales Township?
You'll be doing yourself a favor.
— Originally published September 14, 2008 in the Times Herald.
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- Phone: (810) 937-2707
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