McClure Conservation Area is a Weldon Fork place, not a boat-ramp shortcut

McClure Conservation Area is a small Mercer County place with a better story than its size suggests. The public area is tied to the Weldon Fork of the Grand River, an unchannelized stretch that cuts through the conservation area for about a mile.

The original 232-acre tract came from Leafa McClure, with the land officially transferred to the Conservation Department in 2007 after the death of her son, J.W. McClure of Trenton. A small west-side purchase in 2008 brought the area to roughly its current size. The place now joins a family name, a river fork, and a state-managed landscape.

McClure is also a restoration note. The management plan describes old open land, non-native cool-season grasses, logged and grazed woodland, and a goal of moving open ground toward native prairie and forested ground toward more diverse woodland. The work is practical, not pretty-word nature copy: crop agreements, food plots, prescribed fire, disking, mowing, tree removal, and woodland management.

The river part needs a careful read. McClure is river-oriented, but it is not a boat-ramp shortcut. There is no boat ramp, and erosion makes access from the Weldon Fork to the area very limited. For a visitor, that changes the plan. This is more of a hunting, bird-watching, mushroom-hunting, sightseeing, and careful angling place than a simple launch-and-float stop. Check MDC’s map and area rules before going.