File photo.
Story and photos by Pat Stinson
Wondering what to give your adventure-seeking, nature-loving or wildlife-watching friends and family this holiday season? If you live in Manistee or Lake counties, your national forest ranger station store offers books, guide books, maps, calendars, socks, hats, t-shirts, hoodies, small stuffed animals, Huron-Manistee National Forest logo merchandise and Smokey Bear swag.
The Cadillac-Manistee Ranger Station store, located at 1170 Nursery Road in Wellston, is offering 20% off most items purchased Dec. 12-16.
The Baldwin-White Cloud Ranger Station, at 650 Michigan Ave. (M-37) in Baldwin, held its store sale last week, but we checked in with them today (Dec. 12) and there is plenty of merchandise available for holiday shoppers.
The Forest Service announced that, after 10 years, it is again offering all-in-one “Forest Visitor Maps”, a guide to trails, trailheads, campgrounds, day use areas and more. Hard copies of the guide are available for $14 at Cadillac-Manistee and Baldwin-Whitecloud ranger stations or by visiting the USGS map store . The guide can also be accessed online from Avenza for $4.99.
We recently visited the ranger station in Wellston. Entering through the double doors of the lobby, we passed by this silent sentinel keeping watch as visitors headed for the information desk and staff entered and exited the back offices.
Rounding a corner, we were met with stacks of colorful, neatly folded tees and sweatshirts printed with messages geared toward paddlers, hikers and explorers. The person in charge of the store’s inventory greeted us as we browsed.
A stout, handsome black spruce tree, ringed in white lights, softly lit a corner of the store. We were told every ornament on the tree was hand made by current or former Forest Service employees. Some are felted, some made of paper or other materials. All hung beautifully between the branches.
As we made our purchases, our eyes spied a Kirtland’s warbler on the cover of a calendar. Inside the calendar, and on the front and back covers, are reproductions of student drawings of Michigan’s famed warbler. Students entered their drawings in a contest sponsored by the Eastern National Forests Interpretive Association. For a $10 donation, the 15-month calendar can be yours to keep or give as a gift. Learn more about the Kirtland’s warbler here and conservation efforts on their behalf here.
If this story sounds faintly familiar, that’s because we stopped in the Cadillac-Manistee Ranger Station in November 2019, when it was located on Red Apple Road in Filer Township. We reported on all the merchandise waiting to be purchased there. Read “Ranger Station offers nature gifts and books”. Scroll to Page 7.
The ranger station’s relocation to Wellston gives shoppers a reason to stop at the nearby Arboretum Trail for an easy, mile-long snowshoe hike among many species of towering trees. Take M-55 west of Wellston to Bosschem Road. Head south on Bosschem for one mile to Pine Lake Road. Turn east and find the sign and parking lot entrance immediately on your right.
