We Believe Michigan can be Even More Beautiful.
Every mile we drive is a first impression of the town, the state, and the people who live here. Michigan is already extraordinary. It is also full of places nobody has gotten to yet: bare medians, tired entrances, roadsides waiting for someone to plant something.
These places belong to all of us. So does the responsibility to care for them.
Exit off M-14 on Barton Road
In one of the most affluent neighborhoods in our entire state, residents drive by this weedlot daily.
With very little effort and funding, an entirely different vista emerges.
More than a Non Profit.
A Statewide Civic Movement.
A Labor of Love. An Institution.
Interstates, state highways, county roads, rails-to-trails, city streets. If it is a parkway (or next to one, or visible from one) and someone wants to make it more beautiful, MPP will find a way to make it happen. The work is local. The standard is statewide.
Charity begins at home. We serve people in their own neighborhood on the corner they already know, and can enjoy every day after it is finished.
No reinvented wheels
Kiwanis, Rotary, Lions, Scouts, schools and congregations are well-oiled machines already receptive to worthy projects that are feasible, fruitful, and easy to maintain. We bring them such projects, with the realistic plan and the way to find resources.
Addition and subtraction
Two kinds of work, always: the addition of plantings and landscaping, and the subtraction of litter.
Imagine What's Possible
Native trees. Wildflower shoulders. Entrances a town is proud of. A sponsor's name on a mile that stays beautiful. Children who planted something taller than they are.
It began on the drive up north to my grandmother's house in Escanaba.
I would put down the book I was reading and just stare as the land rolled by every season, year after year. When I was old enough to drive, I went looking into all the places I had wondered about. I could not imagine any other state holding a candle to this one, and I was certain every other Michigander felt the same.
I came back to Michigan in 2004 with my California-born wife, started a business, bought two and a half acres in Pinckney, raised a garden and planted an orchard, and started a family. And I kept driving. I also kept noticing that our roadsides could be improved.
In 2010 I started asking a question I could not resolve: why couldn't someone plant native trees, shrubs and meadows along the roads that millions of us travel every year? White pines and red pines. Cedars and tamaracks. Redbuds, serviceberries, willows.
I am skeptical when people talk about a calling, and yet I can find no other word for it. The idea has persisted long enough that I have to follow through and just do it. That is where the Michigan Parkways Project stands today and why I am asking how you can help.
Deno Prokos, Founder — Pinckney, Michigan
PAENINSULAE NOSTRAE FIANT HORTI PULCHRI
Let our peninsulas be beautiful gardens.
MISSION
To amplify the beauty of Michigan's public roadways.
VISION
As the Michigan Parkways Project expands and endures, it will include and involve all who are already working to improve Michigan landscapes, maintain its scenic beauty and share our goals of public service, showcasing the natural vistas of our state for residents and visitors alike.
VALUES
Ethical and transparent work in service of the Michigan public. Non-partisan by charter, and structured to remain so.
There's a Place for Everyone
You do not need money to belong to this. You need an afternoon, a skill, a truck, a classroom, a corner you drive past every day.
Residents
Adopt that place you drive right past. You know you want to!
Students
Service hours that stay planted. Bring your friends and get involved with your community through an enduring gesture.
Businesses
Sponsor a corridor, freeway entrance or exit, or any place you want to improve - including near your own business.
Municipalities
Bring us a place to fix, we use a model and process that invites giving and participation.
Schools
Plant a living classroom. Study the rich variety of our native flora. Learn to appreciate and care for our surroundings.
Churches
Service Clubs
Landscapers
Families
Retirees
Volunteers from a congregation, one Saturday afternoon. Memories you will see regularly for years. What grows from a mustard seed?
Enlarge your Adopt-a Highway project. Adopt a freeway entrance. Improve your town or neighborhood one tree at a time.
Michigan has an abundance of outstanding landscape professionals. This is a chance for their business to be part of a dream project with lasting impact.
Plant something your children and grandchildren can point to for years.
The most experienced and reliable volunteers we have. Often looking for worthwhile projects to improve their own neighborhood.
