You wonder what they grew here. Maybe
it was corn. Pretty soon you forget about what might have been growing on this more
than 1,000 acres of land because you’re hung up wondering how much lumber it
would take to build 1.4 miles of boardwalk over man-made wetlands, and just then
a swan swoops in and sends out a splash and suddenly the lumber-count doesn’t
really matter either.
This is just pretty cool.
A few miles south of Detroit Metro Airport, tucked quietly in an already-quiet rural area of southwest Wayne County you’re wandering across Crosswinds Marsh, a man-made miracle that now serves as home to 240 species of birds and 40 species of mammals, not counting the humans who are wandering around wondering how they’d never heard of it before. Across the water you see another photo shoot. The local wedding/homecoming/graduation photographers love this place, almost as much as the muskrats do.
It's a funny thing, how this place came to be. Turns out, when developers destroy an acre of wetlands they’re required to replace it with 1.5 acres of wetlands. So when Detroit Metro Airport expanded back in the ‘90s, they swallowed up 200 acres of wetlands and bought up farmland to the south to compensate. They pumped in water to create a 300-acre marsh. Years later, here you are, standing on an endless boardwalk, marveling at the surroundings and half-wondering if Bird Guy with the binoculars is looking at blue herons or the prom queen over by the birch tree.
Wrapped around the entire property is a 4.5-mile trail designated for horseback riding, and trails through the surrounding woods invite you to leave the boardwalk and explore. At every turn, you find yourself wondering how you’d never heard of this before.
It’s easy enough to spend hours roaming the grounds of Crosswinds Marsh. Eventually, as you find your way back to your car, you might even wonder again what used to be growing here. It probably wasn’t apples, do you think?
No matter what, it wasn’t as good as this.
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