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Steve Keto
Natural Areas & Preserves Manager Western Michigan University Steve Keto’s passion for ecological services can fill a whole forest canopy.
Since 2012, Keto has overseen 5,000 acres of Western Michigan University land within the city of Kalamazoo, including Kleinstuck Preserve, the Asylum Lake Preserve and prairie lands, and woodlots across WMU’s campus. To walk through the woods with Keto is to walk with a boisterous, breathing nature identification textbook. In his eyes, each plant has a personality, each animal a story. He points across Asylum Lake at two distant swans and casually says, “Oh, I know them.” He’s been known to rescue a lost baby waterfowl and drive it in the front
Brian Powers
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