Bench and a Tree
Providing Senior-Friendly Benches in Michigan Parks
Bench and a Tree is a Michigan initiative dedicated to making nature more accessible to seniors by adding senior-friendly benches to Michigan parks. Inspired by a mother and daughter’s journey through aging, the program helps communities create welcoming outdoor spaces to the nearly 20% of Michigan’s population who are over the age of 65. Research shows access to the outdoors improves one’s health. Senior-friendly benches make access easier for those growing older.
What is a Senior-Friendly Bench?
- Shaded from the afternoon sun
- With arm rests to assist with transitions from sitting to standing
- Comfortable, to include back support with a seat 16-17” from the ground
- Alongside smooth paths to minimize chance of falls
- Placed on a foundation to prevent sinkage
- Parking lots nearby with accessible spaces
Collaborating with the Great Lakes Governors and Premiers Tree Initiative
In 2023, the Conference of Great Lakes St. Lawrence Governors and Premiers (GSGP) decided to lead an effort to plant 250 million trees in the Great Lakes region by 2033. Working community by community, the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Tree Initiative is forming collaborative partnerships to shade the Great Lakes region. With the financial support of the Bench and a Tree initiative, there will be senior-friendly benches beneath those trees when planted in Michigan parks.
Ottawa County Parks First to Participate in the Bench and a Tree Initiative
The Ottawa County Parks and Recreation Commission (OCPRC) recently purchased 127 acres formerly part of a sand mining operation. Adjacent to the Rosy Mound Natural Area south of Grand Haven, the Rosy Mound Expansion is scheduled to open in 2027. While 93% of the land will be preserved or restored to its natural habitat, the OCPRC is creating a half-mile, 8-foot-wide ADA-accessible loop that leads to a dune overlook with views of Lake Michigan. With the financial support of the Bench and a Tree fund and the GSGP Tree Initiative, all 12 benches along that path (including the two at the overlook) will be shaded, senior-friendly benches. A small Bench and a Tree plaque will be placed on all senior-friendly benches added as a result of the three-way collaboration. The long term goal is to make the park one of the first senior-friendly parks in Michigan with a Lake Michigan overlook.
Help Fund Senior-Friendly Benches in Michigan Parks
To help make Michigan parks more accessible to seniors, sponsor a senior-friendly bench. Your donation supports healthy aging by creating welcoming public spaces for seniors.
Coming soon, a direct link to the Ottawa County Parks Foundation specific to the Bench and a Tree initiative.
Thank you for your interest and support!
Why are Senior-Friendly Parks Important in Michigan?
How did the Bench and a Tree initiative get started?
Who is Funding the Bench and a Tree initiative?
The two women, Jane McKinney and Mary McKSchmidt, co-authored a book titled Miracle Within Small Things: A Mother and Daughter’s Journey Through Loss and Aging. As they shared their story with garden clubs in West Michigan, senior professional organizations, book clubs, and senior living communities, they discovered not only did the majority of people they met want to age in place in Michigan, they, too, found accessing the outdoors difficult as they got older. With the proceeds from the sale of their book, stipends from talks, personal donations from audiences and monies from Mary and her husband, the Bench and a Tree fund was created to increase the number of senior-friendly benches in Michigan’s parks. You, too, can contribute to the fund. Contact Mary for more information.
Who are the co-leaders of the Bench and a Tree Initiative?
Mary McKSchmidt
Mary McKSchmidt zigzagged from sports editor of a community newspaper to president within a Fortune 500 company to columnist, public speaker and videographer advocating for the cleanup and protection of Lake Michigan and, most recently, for providing senior-friendly benches in Michigan Parks. She is the author of three books, her most recent a book of poems published in 2023 with her mother, Jane McKinney, titled Miracle Within Small Things: A Mother and Daughter’s Journey Through Loss and Aging.
“The greatest gift I gave my mother and me was a senior-friendly bench shaded by a favorite tree in a favorite park while she was still alive. It brought us together on our respective journeys to find inner peace, to live with joy. What better way to share those journeys than on a bench under a tree?”
JB McCombs
JB McCombs earned a degree in forestry from Michigan State University, a law degree from the University of Michigan and a master’s in tax law from New York University. He taught tax law in Nebraska and Santa Clara, moving to Michigan in 1994 to work for the state’s treasury department. Over the last 25 years, he has helped organize small crews of volunteers who have cumulatively planted 1500 tree seedlings throughout mid-Michigan.
“Trees help me understand life in general, long-term thinking in particular.”
Are there other criteria that help make a park senior-friendly?
Yes. In addition to senior-friendly benches it is helpful if Michigan parks include:
- Bathrooms nearby
- Slope of path 2% to make it easier for pushing walkers & wheelchairs
- No bicycling or skateboarding on senior-friendly paths
- Shorter distance between benches: Secondary research says 25% of a mile. For Mary’s mother in her mid-nineties, it was 258 steps or 14% of a mile.
- Senior-living facility or community bus stop nearby
- Ample signage to minimize chance of getting lost
- On a short (less than a mile) loop path
- Interpretive signs to facilitate relationship with nature
- Well-lit parking lot, bathrooms, paths
No Cycling or Skateboarding
Nearby Bathrooms
Nearby Bus Stop
Well-Lit Pathways
When did the Bench and a Tree initiative start?
In 2026, armed with primary and secondary research on senior-friendly benches and space in parks, Mary McKSchmidt and JB McCombs began building a coalition of people and organizations to make the vision a reality. The first Michigan park is in Ottawa County, the county in which her mother lived for the last eleven years of her 98-year life.
Will the Bench and a Tree initiative eventually be expanded beyond Michigan parks?
Ottawa County’s Rosy Mound Expansion Plan
