Events

This is an all-day conference presented by the Fox Valley (WI) chapter of Wild Ones. Fee is $55.  If you attend in person, registration deadline is January 12.  If you attend on-line, deadline is January 26. https://www.towardharmonywithnature.org/register.html Doug Tallamy is giving keynote address.  Also speakers on climate crisis, companion plants, rain gardens, lawn alternatives, and garden art and hardscaping.

Many of the invasive exotic plants wreaking havoc in nature got their start in our gardens, and even today you can still buy plenty of those bad boys in nurseries. Dr. Sigrid Resh, coordinator of the Keweenaw Invasive Species Management Area (KISMA), will point out some of the troublemakers and suggest native alternatives that will add beauty to your garden and sustain wildlife. Her free Zoom presentation begins at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 9. Click here to register. You will receive an email confirmation, and on the day of the talk, you'll receive a reminder. KISMA provides education and outreach to property owners and managers to help identify and treat priority invasive species, including common and glossy buckthorn. Invasive species are not native to the ecosystem and are likely to harm the environment, economy, or human health. KISMA works in Baraga, Houghton, and Keweenaw Counties. Resh is a research assistant professor at Michigan Technological University's College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science. She earned her PhD in Forest Ecology from Colorado State University.

The Keweenaw Wild Ones are pleased to host a Zoom webinar by Kathleen Smith, "Manoomin (Wild Rice) Stewardship," at 6 p.m. Monday, March 28. The talk is free. To register, click here. Smith is the Gaa ganawendang Manoomin, or "She who takes care of the wild rice," a newly created position within the Division of Biological Services of the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission (GLIFWC). In her half-hour talk, she will give an overview of GLIFWC and discuss the cultural significance and ecology of wild rice, as well as how it is monitored and harvested. Smith will also speak on outreach education programs, including the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community rice camp, which anyone can attend. Wild rice is of great cultural significance to its member tribes, and GLIFWC works to ensure the preservation and enhancement of wild rice in ceded territory lakes. Smith works with 11 member tribes in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota,  implementing the GLIFWC Ceded Territory Manoomin Stewardship Plan. She provides research, education, and outreach services to partners and works with tribal members to ensure treaty rights are exercised. Top photo: A member of the Leech Lake Band of the Ojibwe Tribe harvests rice on Mud Lake, September 2015. USACE photo by George Stringham

Keweenaw Wild Ones president Marcia Goodrich will give a virtual talk, "Why Native Plants?" at 6 p.m., Tuesday, April 26. Her presentation is free and sponsored by the Michigan State Extension Master Gardeners program. To attend, register in advance. Marcia will discuss the value of native plants, focusing on their critical role in America's ecosystems and the benefits natives bring to homeowners and communities. She will also include examples of native gardens, sources for buying native plants, common misconceptions, and more. Marcia has served as president of the Wild Ones Keweenaw Chapter since it was chartered in November 2019. She has been an avid native gardener for over 15 years and is in the process of re-landscaping the gardens surrounding the Houghton home she shares with her husband, two cats, and a dog.

Biologist, pollinator conservationist, and award-winning author Heather Holm will be the featured speaker April 30 at the Fifth Annual Keweenaw Native Plant Symposium. She will be joined by two experts on Michigan's native plants with distinctly different perspectives on our state's beautiful wildflowers. This free symposium will be hosted on Zoom. Click here to register. In her talk, "The Pollination of Native Plants," Heather leads us on a fascinating journey showcasing the development of different flower types and the presentation of floral resources to pollinators. Exploring the types of insect pollinators, their foraging behavior, and the floral features that attract pollinators, she will provide many examples of how native plants are pollinated and what pollinator is most effective and why. Heather informs and educates audiences nationwide, through her writing and many presentations, about the fascinating world of native pollinators and beneficial insects, and the native plant communities that support them. Her first book, Pollinators of Native Plants, was published in 2014, and her second book, Bees, published in 2017, has won six book awards including the 2018 American Horticultural Society Book Award. Heather's expertise includes the interactions between native pollinators and native plants, and the natural history and biology of native bees and predatory wasps occurring in the Upper Midwest and Northeast. Heather's latest book, Wasps: Their Biology, Diversity, and Role as Beneficial Insects and Pollinators of Native Plants, was published in February 2021 and has won five book awards. Also on the program is Carolyn Miller, botanist and plant recorder at Michigan State University, who will speak on "Michigan Native Plants: From their Habitat to My Home." She combs habitats throughout the state, her camera capturing as many plants as she can find. Her presentation includes a photographic tour of Michigan plants, from prairies, to bogs, to cedar swamps. Carolyn is the president of the Wildflower Association of Michigan, recording secretary for the Michigan Botanical Club, a master's student in biology at Miami University (Ohio), and serves on various environmental groups in the mid-Michigan area.   Michelle Wietek-Stephens will present “A Watched Seed Never Sprouts: Adventures in Starting a Native Plant Nursery in the U.P.” on her experiences starting the region's only all-native plant nursery. Michelle, a U.P. native and avid hiker, biker, and observer of nature, spent the first 15 years of her professional life as an environmental consultant. Then she moved with her husband and children to her family homestead near Marquette, where in 2020 she founded Designs by Nature�"Upper Peninsula Native Plants, LLC. Michelle will speak on her experiences opening a native plant nursery in the unique climate and culture of the U.P. in the middle of a pandemic; native plant selection appropriate for the U.P.; and what the future holds for her nursery. The symposium is sponsored by Keweenaw Wild Ones, the Sustainability Demonstration House at Michigan Technological University, the Keweenaw Garden Club, the Keweenaw Land Trust, and Michigan State Extension Master Gardeners.  

Plant sale info:  https://keweenaw.wildones.org/2022-plant-sale/ Order now and pick up on July 9 and July 10.

Customers picked up their plant orders.

Keweenaw Wild Ones and guests are invited to a guided visit to the Lake Glazon Natural Area,  about eight miles past Eagle Harbor on M-26. Jill Fisher will be our leader. The Lake Glazon Natural Area includes about 26 acres with 1,100 feet of shoreline on Lake Superior and encompasses the marshy west end of Lake Glazon. It is located on the north shore of the Keweenaw Peninsula between Great Sand Bay and Dan's Point. The property is permanently protected by the Keweenaw Land Trust and stewarded to benefit native wildlife and for low-impact public use. This project was developed over many years with the support of community partners including the Keweenaw Community Forest Company, Copper Country Audubon, the Upper Peninsula Environmental Coalition, and many private foundations and individual donors, including the previous landowners, who offered the property at a significant discount. Jill, a botanist and member of Wild Ones, is program manager for the Keweenaw Land Trust.  

Enjoy the budding native gardens at the Marsin Center as they relax into their fall glory. We'll gather at 5:30 p.m., when botanist Jill Fisher will give us a tour of the grounds. A Keweenaw Land Trust site, the Marsin Center is both an event venue and a plant lover's paradise, with wetlands, lakeshore, and elegant formal gardens featuring native plants. Afterward, we'll share a potluck meal as we hold our regular monthly meeting. Members will receive directions and an invitation via email and are welcome to bring a friend. Hope to see you there!  

Karena Schmidt, Keweenaw Bay Indian Community ecologist, will lead a guided tour of the tribe's Debweyendan Indigenous Garden (DIG) in L'Anse. This will be a great opportunity to learn about incorporating natives into a landscape that supports plants, people, and the planet. These expansive gardens were developed to help promote food sovereignty: growing and harvesting vegetables and other plants in ways that support healthy living and reverence for the earth. Initially, the five-acre DIG included 20 11-by-30-foot plots cultivated by community members; that number has since grown to 47. Among the vegetables grown are the three sisters�"corn, beans, and squash. The garden also features sunflowers, potatoes, sweetgrass, sacred sage, milkweed, and sacred tobacco (asema). DIG also includes 120 fruit trees such as elderberries, nannyberries, and aronia (chokeberries), plus cane fruits like raspberries and blackberries. A wildlife hedgerow provides habitat for pollinating insects, birds, and wildlife. While DIG provides fresh, healthy food, that's only part of its role in the community. "The whole garden is about deepening our kinship with plants and returning respect to the earth," said Schmidt. For more information on Debweyendan Indigenous Garden, see this story map, "Debweyendan." More information on carpooling and directions to the site will be available later.  

Join Keweenaw Wild Ones for a free presentation on rain gardens from 2 to 3 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 30, at the Keweenaw Storytelling Center, 215 Fifth Street, Calumet.

Sally Richie, Master Rain Gardener, will discuss rain gardens' benefits, their design, and how to build your own. Learn how they improve wildlife habitat and water quality, one garden at a time.

Preregistration is not required to attend. However, workshop materials will only be supplied to those who register by Oct. 25. To sign up, please fill out this Google form. (https://forms.gle/FRraU5UuprgY2ax76)

The workshop is cosponsored by the Keweenaw Storytelling Center.

Register here for this Zoom presentation. Many gardeners know the impact deer can have on their favorite plants, from hostas to tomatoes to trilliums. Chris Webster, professor of quantitative ecology and forest management at Michigan Technological University, will provide an overview of how white-tailed deer can also profoundly influence native plant communities. Direct effects include loss of leaves, buds, and flowers resulting in stunting, reduced plant reproduction, and eventually death. In addition, deer foraging can cause other dramatic changes, including shifts in competitive relationships, a rise in invasive species, and changes to the balance of nutrients in the soil. On the other hand, in plant communities that coevolved with deer, the absence of deer can actually lead to declines in native plant diversity. Webster is the 2020 recipient of the Provost’s Award for Sustained Teaching Excellence at Michigan Tech. His research interests include exotic species, landscape ecology, forest restoration, plant community response to herbivory, and wildlife habitat relationships. Please register in advance for this Zoom presentation. You will receive and email with the link and a reminder before Chris's talk.  

The Keweenaw Storytelling Center, run by a WOK member, held a Festival of Trees and invited several nonprofits to each decorate a tree. Several members got together and decorated with a variety of ornaments relating to the Wild Ones mission (dried native plants, insect and bird ornaments, milkweed fluff). Visitors later "voted" for their favorite trees by donating money. We don't yet know how much money we raised.

Members and partners are welcome. We'll have a silent auction of Wild Ones swag, making of name tags, and...a Dirty Santa gift exchange.  Gift exchange cost should be approximately $15, and be prepared to fight for the gift you want!    Please bring finger foods to share.  (Cookies are welcome!).   Members have received invitations, with RSVP information.