Ethan has been a Field Technician at Six Rivers Land Conservancy and the lake St. Clair CISMA since the summer of 2022. Born and raised in south east Michigan he as always seen the potential in the often overlooked southern Michigan natural areas. With a life long love of nature, Ethan loves to see Michigan natural areas protected, restored, and celebrated. Starting at the CISMA as a seasonal technician, he has progressed into a multifaceted natural areas steward, tackling invasive species projects, restoration efforts, nature preserve and conservation easement stewardship and management, and volunteer leadership.

TSN Conference 2026

January 23rd, 2026 (Friday) // 2:25 pm – 2:50 pm // Room 103 // The Restoration of the Golden Preserve // The Golden preserve is a 31 acre nature preserve owned and managed by six rivers land conservancy and located in Springfield Township Michigan. This preserves composition of prairie fen, upland oak forest, and proximity to known eastern massasauga habitat elevates the importance of stewarding this property as potential Eastern Massasauga habitat. Despite its high potential, this preserve faced ecological challenges, primarily from encroaching woody invasive species, but also herbaceous invasive species establishment in the prairie. This presentation will cover the multi year effort to restore sections of the Golden preserve. Restoration efforts for this property were funded through a variety of sources, and employed help from volunteers, CISMA staff and Six Rivers Staff. The pros and cons involved in conducting restoration efforts in chunks over many years rather than as one large contiguous project will be explored and results of this multi year effort will be showcased.