Overview
Foxfire West Nature Area is a 7-acre natural area off of Birchwood Drive just north of Dhu Varren Road on the city's north side that contains wetlands and a branch of the Traver Creek. View the Ann Arbor Parks & Nature Areas Map for location context.
Foxfire West Nature Area
is one of a number of city park properties with no trails or amenities. These natural areas represent a unique recreation and conservation feature of the city’s park system. In these relatively few spaces across the city, off-trail exploration is encouraged – a rare opportunity to meander through a wild space in our urban context. Visitors are also invited to reflect on the conservation value and biodiversity of these spaces, where the Parks & Recreation’s Natural Area Preservation staff and volunteers work to steward, restore and inventory the natural communities throughout the city’s parks.
Adjacent to Olson Park, Foxfire West provides an important habitat corridor for wildlife that depend on water, such as muskrat and ducks. It also hosts a variety of wetland wildflowers that support butterflies. Natural Area Preservation is restoring this area to improve habitat and reduce invasive species.
