By Doug Cowherd

Imagine, thirty people sitting around the campfire, high on a hillside overlooking several hundred acres of gorgeous meadows, woods, ponds, and wetlands. The stars come out, one by one. Later the full moon rises over the distant trees.

It's a LeFurge Woods Full Moon Campfire. Every month when the moon is full, the Southeast Michigan Land Conservancy hosts this event at their spectacular nature preserve in Superior Township, just east of Ann Arbor.

The scene is mostly adults of all ages, but a few parents attend with their kids. My six-year old daughter, Marianne, absolutely adores LeFurge campfires. She and her "campfire pals" love to roast marshmallows, make s'mores, catch lightning bugs, and listen to the songs of frogs and crickets.

The kids also enjoy hiking the trails that wind through the tall meadow grass, especially after night falls, when they can use their flashlights.

Older folks drink a beer, roast corn, and eat whatever shows up on the food table. There's pleasant talk with welcoming people who've come from as far as Detroit and Jackson to enjoy this special night at this special place.

You never know what will happen around the campfire. I've gazed at the moon and Mars through a telescope, sung with guitar players, and examined cicadas with bug experts.

Much to her delight, Marianne and I always stay up "way too late" on our campfire excursions to LeFurge Woods. Thrilled and exhausted she falls silent, then asleep, in the car on the way home.

These nights enjoying the wonders of nature with my daughter remind me of a compelling reason to preserve open space near where people live, rather than just in spectacular, but distant, places: kids deserve to grow up with nature in their lives.