Roy Van Loo

Grass pink orchid.

Located off Wolf Lake Road, this sanctuary has a variety of plant communities including wooded uplands, oak groves, lakes, a cattail marsh, a sedge meadow, a prairie fen, and a dry prairie. This diverse habitat supports a variety of animal life, including more than 50 species of birds known to nest here. Can you guess how the sanctuary got its name?

Situated in a picturesque part of southern Jackson County, and embodying the best of its natural features, Lefglen is a collection of varied terrains which include wooded upland, cattail marshes, swales, lakes, tamarack bog, oak groves, flowering well, and prairie. It is little wonder that the plant and animal lists are long.

Lefglen is one of the unusual places in Michigan where northern and southern flora intermingle; 690 native plant species from 116 plant families have been identified here.

Lake Nirvana is completely surrounded by an extensive marsh where one pair of sandhill cranes nest annually.

When visiting Lefglen, you can find rare wildflowers and nine species of native orchids. Over fifty kinds of birds nest at the sanctuary.

A number of mammals and seven kinds of reptiles have been catalogued here. A mollusk study showed Lefglen has 26 species of gastropods. Eight different salamander species are found in the vernal ponds.

History
Lefty and Glenna Levengood walked “Glen Run Path” in the early 40’s as young people who enjoyed the “Beech Grove” where they watched nesting owls in late winter and impatiently waited for flowering skunk cabbage and wild flowers of spring, the caddis fly frogs, salamanders, toads, wood ducks, spring warblers, and other woodland flora and fauna of the swamp and hill. They dreamed of making the area a nature preserve. They managed to acquire several contiguous pieces of property starting with Lefty’s grandfather’s farm woods, in the family since 1895, and made purchases from other local owners who called them ‘the two nature nuts.” Each parcel was given a name reflecting their view of the nature there: “Easter Pond,” “Lake Nirvana,” “Pinelandia”, and "Moon Run.”

Having heard of MNA's mission and wishing relief from spiraling property taxes, the Levengoods sold their holdings to the MNA in 1970 for far below market value to establish Lefglen Nature Sanctuary.

But the Levengoods did not stop there; they continued to acquire adjacent land, then later selling it to MNA at bargain prices. In case you have not guessed by now, Lefglen is a combination of Lefty and Glenna, certainly a most fitting name for this outstanding sanctuary.