The modern-day story of the Loda Lake area begins with a vast virgin pine forest "where trees 54 inches in diameter at the base towered to a height of sixty feet." This timber was harvested just before the turn of the century by the Pere Marquette Railroad. Shortly thereafter, the land came into the hands of the Hanson family, railroad stockholders. The Hanson's felt the land, now stripped of timber and strewn with decaying pine logs, was worthless. However, a family friend, Thomas E. Hunt felt otherwise and made an offer to farm the land. The challenge was accepted, and thus Bass Lake Farm came to be.

Mr. Hunt was a pioneer in scientific farming. From 1909 to 1916, he farmed the land using methods to continually replace soil nutrients lost during farming. The farm thrived under his care. Unfortunately, health concerns forced his family to relocate and the farm fell into "disrepair and neglect" under new tenants. Finally, the land was declared "sub-marginal" by the Department of Agriculture who purchased the land for $3.00 per acre and made it part of the Manistee National Forest.

In 1937, the Federated Garden Clubs of Michigan and the local Newaygo Chapter suggested the need for a wildflower refuge. It was finally designated by the Secretary of agriculture as a Wildflower Sanctuary on December 15, 1949. A cooperative agreement was signed between the Forest and the Garden Clubs to maintain the Sanctuary. Efforts sponsored by the Garden Clubs include the initial development of trails and trail guides; hiring botanist Clayton Bazuin who identified 238 plant species, placement of picnic tables, grills, and benches; replanting dwindling species; and maintenance of a visitors log. Modern use of the area includes expansion of native plant restoration.

Thus goes the story of the establishment of the only wildflower sancutary in a National Forest, a project supported both financially and botanically by the Federated Garden Clubs for over sixty years.

This website is a virtual tour of the Loda Lake Wildflower Sanctuary. To go to a map of the site and start the tour click on the yellow map. To go directly to the first stop on the tour click on the picture of the apples. At each post a slideshow of images will appear. A composite photo of images will indicate the end of that post's slideshow.