Keweenaw Invasive Species Management Area to hold Planning Meeting March 20

Botanist Janet Marr, second from left, leads a group of volunteers in pulling invasive garlic mustard from a site in Laurium in May 2011. (Photo courtesy Janet Marr)

HOUGHTON -- The Keweenaw Invasive Species Management Area (KISMA) will hold a Planning Meeting from 9 a.m. to Noon on Tuesday, March 20, in the Community Room of the Michigan Tech Lakeshore Center, 600 E. Lakeshore Dr., Houghton. The meeting is open to anyone having an interest in controlling invasives.

The Houghton Keweenaw Conservation District is partnering with the US Forest Service, Ottawa National Forest, to provide for a Cooperative Weed Management Area covering Baraga, Houghton and Keweenaw counties. Funding for this project is from the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.

The preliminary agenda is as follows:

1. RRIP-IT-UP summary: 2010 and 2011
2. Review draft of KISMA Memorandum of Understanding
3. Develop work plan for 2012. What infestations would you like to see treated?
4. What educational efforts do you recommend?
5. Are you aware of an invasive species area in need of a survey?
6. Plans for Spring 2012 garlic mustard work.

Bonnie Hay of Gratiot Lake proudly displays a bag of garlic mustard she pulled from a property in Laurium in May 2011. (Photo by Keweenaw Now)

For more information contact the Houghton Keweenaw Conservation District (HKCD) Office at 906-482-0214.