W.K. Kellogg Biological Station – Michigan State University
My sister chose the W.K. Kellogg Biological Station (KBS), the manor in particular, to have her wedding ceremony this past Friday. It’s a fantastic venue for a wedding, with wild flowers everywhere, history, and science. W.K. Kellogg was the business-minded, of the two Kellogg brothers. He’s the one who founded the cereal company. John Harvey Kellogg was the brother who started the sanatorium in Battle Creek, MI. There is a lot of information about the brothers, including the documentary The Kellogg Brothers: Corn Flake Kings, so I’m only going to briefly talk about the biological station.
The manor was the home of W.K. Kellogg and was built in 1925 overlooking Gull Lake in what is now called Hickory Corners, MI. In 1928, W.K. Kellogg deeded Kellogg Experimental Farm and the Kellogg Bird Sanctuary to the Michigan State College of Agriculture. The entire 32 acre estate was given to the Michigan State University in 1951.
Bird Sanctuary
W.K. Kellogg was interested in wildlife conservation and KBS is fortunately the intersection of three major bird migration routes. The bird sanctuary opened in 1928 and is a major attraction. Their mission statement: The W.K. Kellogg Bird Sanctuary conserves native habitat for migratory and resident birds and through research, education, and outreach helps people gain environmental awareness about our past, present, and future.
Kellogg Experimental Forest
The Kellogg Experimental Forest is 728 acres, which includes two artificially created ponds. They have developed hybrid spruce and poplar trees. The Spartan Spruce, is a cross between a blue spruce from southern Colorado and the white spruce from Michigan’s upper peninsula. The needles are blue like a blue spruce but soft like a white spruce.
Biofuel
KBS is working on a lot of interesting questions related to biofuels, such as economy (when does it make economic sense for farmers to switch to production of biofuel sources), what effect does growing biofuel sources, such as corn, have on soil or wildlife habitat, and how much cellulose based ethanol can be made produced from various crops. For example Brazil is doing quite well with sugar cane based ethanol, whereas in the USA most of the biofuel ethanol is from corn.
There’s a lot of interesting science going on at KBS. I plan to go back to see the bird sanctuary, especially the birds of prey.
Image sources:
http://history.kbs.msu.edu/topics/timelines/
#ScienceSunday
July 13, 2014
Thanks for bringing out the Michigan information, Chad Haney. For all the jokes about State being a “Cow College”, it’s good to see some of the positive aspects of their efforts being publicized.
July 13, 2014
For sure, William McGarvey. I didn’t know, until I started digging, that some aspects of KBS are world renowned.
July 13, 2014
Don’t know that the Kellogg work has garnered proper attention. Mostly viewed as part of the quackery/non-science realm for a long time due to some of the early cereal attempts. They tried to overcome some of that, but the work outside of that is largely unknown to most of the world.
July 13, 2014
J Dartt I think the quackery stuff was mostly John Harvey Kellogg.
July 13, 2014
Beautiful and interesting place. Congrats to your sister on her marriage . Wish them many happy years of enjoying nature together.
July 13, 2014
Thanks Gary Ray R. I don’t know about enjoying nature together but nevertheless a long enjoyable marriage would be nice.
July 14, 2014
Chad Haney Congratulations and best wishes to your sister on her marriage.
It sounds like a really interesting place. Is it open to the public? I would like to visit on my next trip to the US as there are a lot of my students at Michigan State Uni.
July 14, 2014
Yes it’s open to the public, Siromi Samarasinghe. I think Carissa Braun would like it too.
July 14, 2014
Speaking as an alumnus, Siromi Samarasinghe, I think you’d find it a peaceable Midwestern setting with verdant growth, combined with a fairly large student body (~40K+). I would suggest, though, that Spring and Fall would be most optimal for weather conditions. Winter is a most inhospitable season, what with generally below-freezing temperatures and often abundant snow.
July 14, 2014
Thanks, William McGarvey for the useful suggestions. I would definitely avoid the Winter, and Summer could be very hot I guess.
July 14, 2014
William McGarvey have you been to KBS?
July 14, 2014
Not to the KBS per se, Chad Haney, but I’m vaguely remembering 7th-grade camping there back in the Spring of ’61. We stayed in the cabins there, I believe, and I have some fleeting memories of those few days.
July 14, 2014
Sounds like fun Bill. I think they have a pretty good science outreach program.
July 15, 2014
Definitely sounds like a place I’d enjoy visiting, Chad Haney. I’ll certainly be looking into it! And congrats to your sister 🙂
July 15, 2014
Thanks Carissa Braun