Asylum Lake Preserve heads to Kalamazoo County Parks after WMU trustees approve the handoff, with a county vote next

KALAMAZOO — Western Michigan University’s Board of Trustees voted Thursday to make Kalamazoo County the new manager of the Asylum Lake Preserve, moving the 274-acre nature preserve on the city’s west side a step closer to county hands.

The trustees approved an interlocal agreement for the county to take over maintenance and operation of the preserve, WKZO reported. If county commissioners also sign off, the county parks department would take over management at the start of 2027, along with the endowment that pays for the preserve’s care, WMUK reported. We previewed the trustees’ vote on Wednesday.

WMU would keep the land for now. The university will push for state legislation that would let it transfer the deed to the county, Jeff Breneman of WMU told WMUK.

Per the trustees’ resolution, WMU does not consider managing the preserve part of its core mission. “While the preserve has been a great place for research and recreation, it’s not core to our mission, and we identified that the county parks is a perfect place to be able to manage this preserve for the future,” Breneman said, according to WMUK.

He said the county can manage it under the existing conservation declarations and restrictions, “so that it will always be free and accessible to the public, continued access for research, as well as make sure that it’s preserved for the future, only through passive recreation.”

The endowment that has paid for prescribed burns and other upkeep would move to the parks department, Breneman said, and the county’s parks foundation could raise more money for the preserve over time. “This is the best possible outcome,” he told WMUK.

How the deal came together

Breneman told WKZO the agreement took a year of negotiations, and that the citizen-driven Asylum Lake Preservation Board took part and supports it. Trustee Jon Hoadley said he was “really excited as someone who loves Asylum Lake, that we find a solution that’s going to keep it accessible.”

What happens next

Breneman told WMUK that county commissioners will vote on the agreement Wednesday, Nov. 4. After that, the parties will ask the Legislature to formally transfer the deed from WMU to the county, WKZO reported.

The preserve includes two lakes and an oak savanna, according to WKZO, and the land came to the university decades ago along with other former state property that now makes up WMU’s BTR Park. Kalamazoo County now runs five parks, the Kalamazoo River Valley Trail, the County Expo Center and Fairgrounds and the Woolham Nature Preserve. Asylum Lake would be the third county park property in the city of Kalamazoo, WKZO reported.

Sources:
WMUK, “WMU trustees approve Asylum Lake management transfer to Kalamazoo County,” Oct. 29, 2026 (vote, 2027 start, endowment, legislation, Breneman quotes, county vote Wednesday), https://www.wmuk.org/wmuk-news/2026-10-29/wmu-trustees-approve-asylum-lake-management-transfer-to-kalamazoo-county
WKZO, “WMU trustees approve agreement for Kalamazoo County to take over Asylum Lake Preserve,” Oct. 30, 2026 (interlocal agreement, year of talks, preservation board, Hoadley quote, deed step, county parks, BTR Park history), https://wkzo.com/2026/10/30/985368/
Photo: Gpwitteveen, “Asylum Lake.jpg,” Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped and color-adjusted, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Asylum_Lake.jpg

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Tags: Kalamazoo · Asylum Lake Preserve · Western Michigan University · Kalamazoo County Parks · Nature Preserves · Parks