Growing up on a llama farm in rural southwest Michigan, land steward Allene Smith discovered her love for nature, which has since grown into a full-fledged career in conservation. “It’s hard to grow up close to nature and not to love it,” she says. Since earning a B.S. in plant biology from Western Michigan University, she has worked with The Nature Conservancy, MDNR, and the Forest Service.
Today she is a land steward for Legacy Land Conservancy, an organization founded in 1971 in response to growing awareness of the need to preserve natural spaces in southern Michigan, and here Smith has grown to love not only the landscapes she helps manage, but also the community she now calls home.
Check out her Ann Arbor recommendations below.