Muskegon County Nature Club, Muskegon
In the late 1930's Muskegon High School biology teacher Ann Verne Fuller took her students on nature hikes. With encouragement from the school librarian, noted naturalist Margaret Drake Elliott, some of the students continued those hikes after school. The group met at the Muskegon County Museum originally in the Vanderlaan School, later in the old jail building. Premier birder George Wickstrom sent the others postcards announcing future hikes. In 1981 during the presidency of Les Ford, the group created a set of by-laws, established the present meeting times and places, and created the official "Muskegon County Nature Club" name.
Meetings are held the third Thursday of every month September through April at 7:30 p.m., usually in the Roosevelt Park Community Building at Glenside and Roosevelt Roads. Business takes about thirty minutes followed by a program and refreshments. Meetings are open for the public to enjoy.
Each Saturday morning following the monthly meeting, the MCNC conducts its monthly fieldtrip. In December it participates in two Christmas Bird Counts (Muskegon city area and Muskegon Wastewater area).
On the second Saturday in May the MCNC participates in the Great American Migration Count. On the third Saturday in May the club conducts its Big Day Count. A record 158 bird species were counted in Muskegon County on May 18, 2002.
The club organizes annual fieldtrips to such Michigan locations as the Allegan State Game Area, Tawas Point and Whitefish Point. It has also conducted occasional birding trips to Point Pelee in Ontario, Magee Marsh & Crane Creek in Ohio, the Upper Texas Coast, and Southeast Arizona from Tucson to the New Mexico border.
Although it does not have Audubon in its name, the Muskegon County Nature Club is an official chapter of the Michigan Audubon Society.
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