Welcome to the Marguerite Gahagan Nature Preserve! Located in Roscommon, MI, Gahagan is a non-profit organization run by volunteers and funded by its members, generous donors, and the endowment left by Marguerite Gahagan herself. Her former estate now serves as a public wildlife sanctuary and is open to the community for hiking, biking, and sightseeing. MGNP is dedicated to preserving Marguerite Gahagan's legacy of outdoor appreciation and communication by offering environmental education programs for area students and communities. We host field trips, camps, and guided tours for many schools and organizations in the area. If you are interested in the preserve or its programs. For more information, go to https://www.gahagannature.org/
Marguerite Gahagan was an early Michigan conservation journalist who founded The North Woods Call in 1953, following a career at The Detroit News. In 1959, Marguerite purchased ten wooded acres in Roscommon and moved herself and The Call to the site of today’s Gahagan Preserve. She was known as a hard-driving reporter who made weekly visits gathering the latest news from field stations of what was then the Michigan Conservation Department. The view from her cabin inspired her regular column “Pine Whispers” which chronicled the daily events of her woodland sanctuary. Much of her writing and composition was done right here at her cabin in the woods. Imagine Marguerite sitting at her typewriter, peering through the picture window of her small, remote cabin. This is how she saw the world. In 1969 she sold The Call to Glen Sheppard.
When Marguerite passed in 1997, she gave her ten-acre property and her cabin home as a nature preserve. She considered this tract of land a haven for wild animals, which she called her little people. It was her desire to see this property become a nature preserve to be enjoyed by everyone. The property consists of mature pine forests, cedar swamps and the beginnings of Tank Creek, which feeds into the South Branch of the Au Sable River. The preserve is affiliated with the Roscommon Area Recreation Authority and includes another fifty acres, which were acquired later.
The Cache
You are looking for a regular sized container filled with kid friendly trinkets, not the nearby bird house. Remember to bring your own writing instrument as pens and pencils tend to go missing.