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It might be winter, but you still belong out here! Winter is one of our favorite seasons to enjoy Grand Rapids’ amazing parks. All you need is a little creativity (and some thick socks).

1. Go on a Bird Hike at Mackay Jaycees Park

Bird hikes are one of our favorite ways to appreciate the natural world. Our conservation team has spotted a lot of birds in Mackay Jaycees Park this winter season, including a beautiful flock of cedar wax wings! If you’ve never birded before, we suggest checking out a birding field guide from the library to help identify different species. A pair of binoculars can also be helpful!

2. Look for Animal Tracks

Look for animal tracks and try to identify them! Our parks are full of wildlife and winter is a great time to learn to identify their footprints. This handy guide outlines common tracks in different Michigan habitats.

3. Cross Country Ski at Aman Park

It requires some gear, but Aman Park is a great spot if you like cross country skiing. Explore Aman Park’s winding trails, majestic trees, and invasive-free habitat.

4. Sled at Highland Park or Richmond Park

The hills at Richmond Park and Highland Park are legendary for a reason! They’re some of our favorite places to sled, but Grand Rapids has plenty of excellent sledding spots.

5. Make a Snowman at Lincoln Park

Lincoln Park’s beautiful grove of trees are stunning in the winter—and the perfect place to make a family of snow people. Grab your snow pants and see who can make the biggest snowball.

6. Ride Bikes at Bike Park

We love winter biking and Bike Park’s trails make winter park exploration a blast. If you’re new to winter biking, we recommend riding a bike with textured tires (mountain bikes are perfect); wearing good gloves, covering your ears, and even your mouth if it’s quite cold; and always wearing a helmet.

7. Join a Conservation Work Day

Conservation work doesn’t stop in the winter! In fact, cold weather is the perfect time to remove woody invasive species that threaten our native trees, shrubs, and plants. If you want to help our parks’ forests thrive, join the Friends team for a conservation work day! Shifts are just two hours and take place at different parks around the city.

8. Skip Rocks on the Frozen Pond at Richmond Park

Enjoy life’s simple pleasures: throwing rocks at water. When you’re done skipping rocks, go enjoy Richmond Park’s legendary sledding hill.

9. Take a Hike at Ball Perkins Park

Ball Perkins Park has miles of stunning wooded trails—three of which were built by Friends of Grand Rapids Parks! Enjoy Ball Perkins’ wetlands, scenic overlooks, and rolling hills.

10. Take a Luminary Walk at Luminaria at Huff Park

Mark your calendars—Luminaria returns to Huff Park on February 12, 2026. Stroll Huff Park’s beautiful boardwalk by candlelight and enjoy all that parks have to offer, even when it’s winter. We’ll provide hot cocoa, s’mores, a roaring fire, and great conversation. Our Luminaria events are always free, so we hope you’ll join us!

Enjoy Your Parks, All Year Round

Winter in Michigan is beautiful. We hope this list gives you ideas for getting out and enjoying all our parks have to offer. Friends of Grand Rapids Parks hosts a variety of community events and volunteer opportunities that give people a chance to work and play in nature. If you’re looking for more opportunities to enjoy the outdoors, we hope to see you out there!

Here at Friends of Grand Rapids Parks, we love cold weather. Why? Because there’s always work to be done and sometimes, snow makes that work a little easier—especially when it comes to conservation.

The Friends conservation program manages biodiversity in Grand Rapids’ parks and green spaces. This includes living organisms like trees, shrubs, grasses, flowers, mammals, birds, fungi, reptiles, amphibians, and insects. Biodiversity makes for healthy ecological communities and has been shown to improve human health!

A large part of our conservation work in Grand Rapids parks has focused on the removal of invasive plant species like buckthorn, bittersweet, garlic mustard, autumn olive, and more. Invasive species out-compete native species for nutrients and sunlight, can release toxins to the soil and water, and even choke the plants and trees we want to thrive.

In the fall and winter, our conservation volunteers cut woody invasive plants back and then apply an herbicide called glyphosate directly to the stump. Glyphosate kills the plant by affecting plants’ root systems.

This herbicide only affects the undesirable plant and not the native species we want to protect. That’s because, in fall and winter, the sap flows down into the roots to store for the winter, making application in the fall and winter the ideal time. Glyphosate even works on dormant trees and shrubs.

In spring, the direction of flow within the tree or shrub changes. Sap pushes upward to feed young leaves and flowers, so the herbicide is less effective.

More Benefits to Winter Conservation Work

As much as we love fighting our way through brush, navigating natural areas is easiest in the winter when many of those plants have died back. Plus, some woody invasives keep green leaves for far longer than native plants, so working in the winter makes them easy to spot.

Winter is also a great time to avoid trampling native plants, like Virginia bluebells—a threatened species in Michigan. Although prairie species can be invigorated by some disturbance, as they are adapted to herds of bison, many of our forest species are vulnerable to people stepping on them. Forest species are vulnerable, especially when they’re flowering. For example, a trillium can take up to seven years to bloom. If squished, it will not be able to reproduce.

You Belong Out Here—Even in Winter

Fresh air, exercise, and vitamin D are good for you all year round. In winter, when it can feel harder to get outside, they become even more important. We love conservation work because it’s also a great way to get outside and exercise in a way that also feels productive and like you’re making the world a better place. Our conservation work days are also a great time to meet and connect with others in our community. Make a friend, protect an ecosystem—it’s all in a day’s work!

Want to Learn More About Winter Conservation? Join Friends for a Conservation Volunteer Workday!

If you’re interested in conserving the biodiversity in Grand Rapids’ parks, join us for a conservation workday! We’re out here, even in the snow! Our volunteers have a blast cutting down woody invasive species, learning more about conservation, and getting to know each other. There are plenty of opportunities to get involved on both weekdays and weekends. We encourage you to explore our conservation volunteer opportunities and make a difference that will benefit the parks for years to come.