April 2019 e-news

April e-news

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In this issue:

April 15 Program: Restoring Soil Communities
presented by Mike Klug

April 15: Native Plants Lite Workshop for New Members

April Native Plant Education Garden (NPEG) Volunteer Sessions

March Program Recap:
From the Field: Reflections on the Importance of Public Land
Jesse Lincoln, Michigan Natural Features Inventory

May 20: Native Plant Exchange

Community Events:
• May 4 - Calvin Native Plant Sale
• May 4 - Kent Conservation District Native Tree Sale
• May 25 - Kent Conservation District Native Plant Sale
• Through April 27 - Bees: An Exhibition at Calvin College

Garden Walkabouts

Note about Ranger Steve Mueller

Wild Ones River City Shop online at CafePress

Please scroll down for details.

If you lose your Wild Ones River City Chapter email communications, you can find a link on our website home page in the right sidebar that directs you to the e-news archives.

Please add communication@rivercitywildones.org to your contacts list.

UPCOMING PROGRAM
Restoring Soil Communities

April 15 • 6:30 pm
Calvin College Bunker Interpretive Center
1750 East Beltline Ave SE, Grand Rapids MI 49546

This month’s presentation from Kalamazoo Wild Ones member, Mike Klug, is all about soils and stewardship. We’ll hear about their current condition, causes of degradation, and impacts of current soil management on the soil microbial and animal communities. He will also discuss potential solutions that include reduction of soil erosion, increasing soil organic matter, and alternatives to our food production system.

Mike is Professor Emeritus of MSU. He spent 35 years at MSU’s Kellogg Biological Station as a Microbial Ecologist. During his tenure, he conducted research on soils, lake and marine sediments and the gastrointestinal tract of insects. He and his wife Carol reside on 80 acres in Southern Barry Co. They have propagated and planted thousands of native plants on their property. They are also avid organic gardeners and grow diverse crops of fruits and vegetables.

Native Plants Lite Workshop for New Members!
Monday, April 15, 2019 • 5:30–6:15 pm

The Education Committee is offering a pilot program for all NEW Wild Ones River City members called Native Plants Lite! Attend and get all the tools you’ll need to get started on your amazing journey of gardening with native plants.

This workshop will take place from 5:30–6:15 pm immediately prior to the next regularly scheduled Chapter meeting on Monday, April 15, 2019 at the same location as the Chapter meeting, the Bunker Interpretive Center (BIC) on Calvin’s campus at 1750 East Beltline Ave SE, GR, MI 49546.

On hand will be the Education Committee as well as members of Wild Ones River City Chapter offering brief presentations and answering your questions. If you are a new member of Wild Ones River City (February 2018 to the present), and you would like to attend this workshop, please send your RSVP to education@rivercitywildones.org for an invitation (if you haven’t already received one) and a new member booklet at the workshop.

We are all eager to give you all the tools you’ll need to get started on this amazing journey of gardening, not just for you, but for all for the birds and pollinators, that share our space, and form the basis of the food web of which we are all a part!

NOTE: Existing members of Wild Ones River City Chapter may also attend if they’d like to. However, we can only prepare new member packets for the new members.

Hope to see you next month on Monday, April 15, 2019 from 5:30–6:15 pm!

Marty MacCleery, Education Chair
education@rivercitywildones.org

Check out our list of 2019 Programs online or download the 2019 Programs pdf.

2019 Program Schedule

April is here at last so you know what that means...spring clean-up in the Native Plant Education Garden! This is always a fun time at the beginning of the year to meet new members and catch up with long-time members while we work together to remove last year's abundance of growth. Seeing the new green sprouts and buds begin to emerge is a hopeful time for us all, especially after this challenging winter!

Volunteer in our Native Plant Education Garden!

New chapter members are warmly welcomed to join in helping in the garden during the spring, summer and fall months! It is a fantastic opportunity to learn more about native plant identification, planting and maintenance techniques, pollinator viewing and the camaraderie of like-minded folks!

APRIL VOLUNTEER SCHEDULE

Location: 920 Cherry Street, GR - in front of the beautiful Inner City Christian Federation (ICCF) building, in the heart of the bustling East Hills neighborhood. Park in large lot on the east side of ICCF.

April 11, Thursday (10 am–Noon)

April 30, Tuesday (10 am–Noon)

Intended work: Cut and remove last year's herbaceous growth, raking, some edging of beds, weeding, determine areas to be planted in May.

Tools: Please bring if you have—gloves, pruners, shovel, rake, kneeling pad or knee pads, weed collection tubs (the big rubber trugs are nice for this), there will be some tools on hand to lend out.

A restroom is available at the ICCF building on site. Please bring drinking water. Snacks will be provided!

If you have questions: Please contact me at the email below (rather than replying to this email) as that goes back to Communication Chair, Ruth Oldenburg and she will just need to forward it to me. Thank you!

See you in the garden!

Amy Heilman, Garden Chair
gardenchair@rivercitywildones.org

MNFI ecologist, Jesse Lincoln showing a slide of Lake St. Clair
completely covered with the invasive plant Phragmites.

March Meeting Recap
Compiled by Ruth Oldenburg

From the Field: Reflections on the Importance of Public Land
Presented by Jesse Lincoln, Michigan Natural Resources Inventory (MNFI)

Wild Ones and guests were treated to a presentation by Jesse Lincoln, an ecologist from MNFI on March 18.

Jesse reflected on his 3 year old son, “How do I develop his value system,” in particular towards nature.

He showed a slide of Lake St. Clair completely covered with the invasive plant Phragmites. Yet, unspoiled communities do exist in Michigan—for in example Marquette and Drummond Island.

MNFI’s mission is: “To guide the conservation of Michigan's biodiversity by providing the highest quality scientific expertise and information.Their vision is: “To be the authoritative source of information on biodiversity that is widely used to conserve Michigan's unique natural heritage for current and future generations.”

MNFI is headed by Michigan State University but is funded by The Dept. of Natural Resources. (DNR)

In his work, Jesse uses circa 1800 maps created by the General Land Office. The early surveyors divided the state in to townships, marking 4 trees on each corner. He showed us a circa 1800 map of the Lower Peninsula. On MNFI’s website you can download an 1800 map of your county and the website will soon have the state map available for download. Link for circa 1800 Kent County map pdf.

Natural Communities are made up of complex describable components. MNFI looks at soils, landforms, ecological processes, and threats.

MNFI Documenting:

Rating – how good is it?

Size
Condition (invasive sp., anthropogenic disturbance)
Landscape rank
Overall rank

Description

Canopy composition and structure
Tree size and age
Understory shrubs
Herbaceous vegetation

Jesse feels so lucky to work for MNFI as he gets an encompassing look at Michigan.

So how can he teach his son?

Take him to public land.
Teach him the narrative.
Help him understand. (People care if they understand.)
Help him make a connection. (People care if they have a connection.)

The DNR set aside 400,000 acres in the 60s to preserve the land and so people could have hunting areas. Jesse’s job is to survey Michigan’s public lands and inventory them.

How is the inventory done?

Dividing the land according to texture using aerial photographs.
Walking each section
Recording what is there
Making recommendations

Understanding a site’s narrative guides him where to prioritize.

Jesse made an example of the Muskegon River floodplains. He described it as “hellish land”—deer dying of Ebola, stinging nettle rampant, elm and ash borer damage—but it is also beautiful and sequesters nutrients. The area has Oak-Pine Barrens and Wild Lupine, the host plant of the Karner Blue Butterfly.

How to convince the DNR to manage this area?

Improve habitat and for turkey hunting
Courtship and displaying sites for woodcock
Grass, forb and brush components found in area
Savanna edges will provide habitat for eastern cottontail rabbits.

Another example is Lake Erie’s algae bloom crisis. Non-native mussels change the competition of bacteria in the shallow (up to 8 ft.) water. Big agriculture is poisoning the water with ditches that speed up the water before it can be filtered naturally.

Public land helps protect the Great Lakes. Politics have affected land management. Goal needs to be preservation of public lands—hunters and non-hunters need to partner to preserve the last vestiges of true nature.

Solutions:

Create a recreation-use passport
Honor the intend of DNR land – hunting
Form an education network
Celebrate hunting
Reach out to inner city youth
Anchor people to a place

Parting thoughts from Jesse:

Develop a new political party with a eco-centric agenda
Decision-making should be shaped by watersheds
Dis-incentivize sprawl
Perverse incentive to expand government and deplete native cover via expanding tax base.

We thank Jesse for his thought-provoking presentation! His son has a good teacher who will undoubtedly instill in him the love of nature and the land.

To read more about Michigan Natural Features Inventory visit mnfi.anr.msu.edu

Mark your calendars for our Annual Native Plant Exchange
Members swap their own native plants!
May 20 • 6:30 PM
Held in conjunction with our May field trip at
Izaak Walton League
5641 Myers Lake Ave, Rockford, MI 49341
A Fresh Look at Spring Ephemerals Through an Artist’s Eyes
Presented by Georgia Donovan, local artist
More information to follow!

Members Marti MacArthur, Nancy Bedell, and Gabrielle Tremblay Sullivan
modeling their Wild Ones aprons at the 2018 Calvin Plant Sale.

Community Events

CALVIN COLLEGE ECOSYSTEM PRESERVE
Annual Spring Native Plant Sale
May 4 • 10 am–2 pm (rain or shine)
Bunker Interpretive Center
1750 E. Beltline Ave SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546
616.526.7601 • preserve@calvin.edu
calvin.edu/go/preserve
Wild Ones River City Chapter will have an educational display and members available to help with plant selection and to answer questions about native plants.

KENT CONSERVATION DISTRICT
Annual Native Tree and Wildflower Sales
2019 preorder sale catalogs available online.
NATIVE TREE AND SHRUB SALE
Saturday, May 4 • 10 am–3 pm
BROWSE N’ BUY and PICKUP ORDERS
Tree and Shrub pre-orders due to office: April 13
NATIVE WILDFLOWER SALE
Native Forbs, Grasses, and Sedges
Saturday, May 25 • 10 am–3 pm
BROWSE N’ BUY and PICKUP ORDERS
Wildflower pre-orders due to office: May 4
Presentation April 11, 6 pm:
Restore Community in Your Yard with Native Plants, $10 donation
3260 Eagle Park Dr. NE, Grand Rapids, MI 49525
616.942.4111 x100 • administrator@kentconservation.org
kentconservation.org
Wild Ones River City Chapter will have an educational display and members available to help to answer questions about native plants at the May 25 sale.

Download the 2019 Native Plant Vendor List

BEES: AN EXHIBITION
Through April 27
Calvin College Covenant Fine Arts Center
Art Gallery 1 & 2
1795 Knollcrest Circle SE
Grand Rapids, MI 49546-4404
Artists David Hooker and Craig Goodworth are interested in memory, place, ritual, landscape, community, and process. Both explore these ideas by looking to the natural world. Themes of bees and beekeeping are central to their work and to this exhibition.

Lynn Dandridge's beautiful garden during her August 2017 Walkabout.

Garden Walkabouts

Wild Ones River City Chapter is seeking hosts for "Walkabouts"—informal tours of home gardens and landscapes managed by members. We'd like to visit gardens of ALL sizes, small to large!

Walkabouts last about two hours, with guests coming and going.
Hosts select the day and time.
Walkabouts will be held rain or shine.
Walkabout dates will be announced via our regular email communications.

NOTE: This is not a garden “inspection.” (We all deal with weeds! If you choose to offer refreshments (not required or expected) keep it very simple.

First scheduled Walkabout is August 10, 1–3 pm at member Keasha Palmer's home - 6346 Woodwater, Belmont.

If you are interested in hosting a Walkabout, download the form here. Return your completed form to any board member at a general meeting, or mail to Marty Arnold, 2319 Lake Michigan Dr. NW 49504. If you have questions, please contact Marty, president@rivercitywildones.org or call 616.791.4534.

Valuable, long-time member and presenter Ranger Steve (Mueller) has a Caring Bridge page to update those interested in his cancer progression. Current treatment is not adequately effective. He hasn’t posted for a couple years and some people previously notified did not receive notice of his recent post. If interested use this link: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/Stevemueller

Wild Ones River City Shop at CafePress

Visit https://www.cafepress.com/rivercitywildonesshop to purchase our logo merchandise such as men's and women's apparel, hats, aprons, mugs, totes, and more! Proceeds help further our mission of promoting the use of native plants in the landscape.

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