Steven Woods works for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Stewardship Unit in the Parks and Recreation Division as a Regional Ecologist. In this role he oversees Natural Resource inventory and management on state parks, state forest campgrounds, boating access sites and trails in the northern lower peninsula. He has over 25 years of natural areas management experience working primarily with non-profit organizations. Steve has extensive experience building collaborations in natural areas preservation and management and serves as a Steering Committee member of the Michigan Prescribed Fire Council.

TSN Conference 2026

January 23rd, 2026 (Friday) // 1:50 pm – 2:50 pm // Room 105 // Natural Communities of Wilderness State Park: Insights from a Summer of Vegetation Mapping // As part of an ongoing effort to create natural community maps of Michigan state parks, scientists with Michigan Natural Features Inventory conducted wall-to-wall vegetation surveys of Wilderness State Park during the summer of 2024. Manuel Anderson, an ecologist with MNFI, will discuss how the park’s landscape—shaped by ancient seas, glaciers, and wind—supports a diverse mosaic of high-quality natural communities. The park features extensive coastline, calcareous poorly-drained lake plain, and Nipissing-age aeolian dunes. This varied geomorphology influences vegetation patterning and provides for a range of community types, from boreal and dry-mesic northern forests to fens and swamps. The talk will highlight high-quality examples of natural communities found in the park and discuss how the mapping effort can inform conservation priorities, guide management decisions, and reveal the ecological complexity embedded within Michigan’s coastal landscapes.