Fort Custer Recreation Area is a 3,033-acre protected landscape in southwest Michigan that blends lakes, forest, river corridor, and extensive trails into a year-round public destination. Its modern history began in 1917 as a U.S. Army induction and training center, later known during World War II as Camp Custer, before the Michigan Department of Natural Resources acquired it in 1971 through the Legacy of Parks program. Eagle, Whitford-Lawler, and Jackson Hole lakes and the Kalamazoo River shape the area’s character, supporting fishing and wildlife. Its oak barrens, oak-hickory forest, restored waterways, campsites, and varied trail systems make it both an important habitat refuge and a major recreation area.