Portage Library hosts National Parks Series with Ranger Valerie Martin

HOUGHTON -- The Portage Lake District Library is hosting "Junior Ranger Underwater Explorer Family Programs," a series of family programs presented by Isle Royale National Park Ranger Valerie Martin.

Children and their families will discover their National Parks and kids will earn their Junior Ranger Underwater Explorer badge. These programs offer adventures and activities that are suitable for families and kids age five to twelve. Programs include a short presentation followed by hands-on activities. Two more programs will be held this month:

Shipwreck Sleuths -- 6:30 p.m. Thursday, April 23. Kids will submerge themselves into the chilly waters of Isle Royale National Park to investigate a shipwreck. They will become an underwater archaeologist as they investigate a shipwreck site and examine artifacts. They will also find out if invasive species could affect this piece of history.

During a 2012 family presentation on Isle Royale at Portage Library, Ranger Valerie Martin introduces the concept of invasive species with an entertaining father-son game in which Dad is an invasive zebra mussel. (File video by Keweenaw Now)

Join the Kelp Crew -- 6:30 p.m. Thursday, April 30. Kids will descend into the cool waters of California's Channel Islands National Park and discover a forest under the waves. They will become a marine ecologist as they survey the species and determine if the kelp forest is healthy or not.

Valerie Martin has been a National Park Service Ranger and educator for over twenty years. She has spent fifteen summers sharing the wonders of Isle Royale with others.

Library presentations are free and everyone is welcome. For more information, please call the library at 482-4570 or visit www.pldl.org.

Michigan Nature Association to sponsor Spotted Knapweed Pull July 26

Spotted knapweed is an invasive plant that should be pulled before its seeds allow it to spread. (Keweenaw Now file photo)

CHASSELL -- The Michigan Nature Association invites volunteers to join steward Nancy Leonard, KISMA (Keweenaw Invasive Species Management Area) director Meral Jackson and crew for a Spotted Knapweed Pull at Keweenaw Shores II Plant Preserve at 11 a.m. on Saturday, July 26.

Help is needed in the ongoing task of removing the invasive Spotted Knapweed from the conglomerate shoreline in this Class C plant preserve. Afterwards, enjoy a picnic (bring your own) at a nearby roadside park. Bring along bug repellent, sunscreen, work gloves, hat, sturdy footwear and an asparagus cutterweeder if you have one. Additional tools, drinking water and snacks will be supplied.

Please RSVP if possible so leaders can determine how many tools will be needed.

To get there, follow M-26 about 10 miles east of Eagle Harbor and park along the side of the road where you’ll see an MNA sign. Please email nancy@einerlei.com to obtain more information and to RSVP.

Sen. Levin comments on Great Lakes invasive species study

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., co-chair of the Senate Great Lakes Task Force, made the following statement today about the release of a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers study into the movement of invasive species into the Great Lakes:

"I welcome the arrival today of the Great Lakes and Mississippi River Inter-basin Study prepared by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The report provides a framework for stopping the movement of destructive invasive species, including Asian carp, between the two basins. With a $7 billion fishery at stake, it is urgent that we do everything we can to curb the threat of invasive species, and this report will help Congress determine how to provide the most effective protections for the Great Lakes. I look forward to working with my colleagues and other stakeholders in achieving that goal."

According to an Associated Press article posted and updated today, Jan. 6, 2014, the report includes "construction projects in Chicago waterways that could cost more than $18 billion and take 25 years to complete."*

* See "Army Corps proposes alternatives to protect lakes" on theitem.com.

KISMA to offer information, control demonstration about invasive Japanese knotweed Sept. 24

HOUGHTON -- The The Keweenaw Invasive Species Management Area (KISMA) will sponsor a talk and a control demonstration about invasive Japanese knotweed on Tuesday, Sept. 24, in Houghton. The two events are free and open to the public.

Japanese knotweed is an extremely invasive, bamboo-like plant growing here in the Copper Country. (Photo © and courtesy Tom Heutte, USDA Forest Service, Bugwood.org.)

Japanese knotweed and its relative, giant knotweed, are extremely invasive bamboo-like plants that occur in the Copper Country in Houghton/Hancock, on US 41 just south of Houghton, Calumet/Laurium, L'Anse, Lake Linden, and elsewhere in the Keweenaw. They are capable of pushing their way under streets and through pavement, as has happened in Bayfield, Wisconsin. They can also damage parking lots, sidewalks and foundations, resulting in extremely high repair costs. After escaping from yards and gardens, these out-of-place plants can quickly become an invasive pest in natural areas forming dense stands that limit other plants from growing among their crowded stems.

Close-up view of invasive Japanese knotwood. (Photo © and courtesy Tom Heutte, USDA Forest Service, Bugwood.org.)

A Japanese/giant knotweed information session will be held from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 24, in the Lakeshore Center's (old UPPCO Building) Community Room. Featured is guest speaker Pam Roberts, coordinator of Northwoods Cooperative Weed Management Area in Bayfield, who will highlight their group's work with knotweed education and control in northern Wisconsin.

Following the info session, a control demonstration will be held from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. in Michigan Tech's parking lots 21/26, located on the east side of Garnet Street, just south of Seventh Avenue. Ian Shackleford, Ottawa National Forest botanist and invasive species specialist, will demonstrate various control methods for knotweed. Pam Roberts and Bonnie Hay, Gratiot Lake Conservancy executive director, will share their experiences with knotweed control.*

This map shows the locations of the Japanese knotweed information session at the Lakeshore Center and the control demonstration that will follow in Michigan Tech's parking lots 21/26. (Map courtesy Janet Marr)

If you have any questions, feel free to contact Janet Marr, KISMA coordinator, at 906-337-5529 or email jkmarr@mtu.edu or Sue Haralson, Houghton Keweenaw Conservation District administrator, at 906-369-3400 or email sue_haralson@yahoo.com.

KISMA's Mission: The Keweenaw Invasive Species Management Area's mission is to facilitate cooperation among federal, state, tribal, and local groups in prevention and management of invasive species across land ownership boundaries within Baraga, Houghton, and Keweenaw Counties.

KISMA is funded by a Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) grant provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency through an agreement between the Houghton Keweenaw Conservation District and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Ottawa National Forest.

* Click here to learn more about Japanese knotweed and see more photographs.

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.

Updated: Volunteers help rid local beaches of invasive knapweed; presentation on invasives to be Sept. 29

By Michele Bourdieu

Botanist Janet Marr, left, helped McLain State Park with a project recently funded by the UP Resource Conservation and Development Council -- removing invasive spotted knapweed from areas of the Park in order to protect the beach from its spread. Here she is pictured with volunteers who helped collect these bags full of the invasive plant on July 30, 2011: from left, Marr; Jason Oyadomari, Finlandia University biology professor; Steve Albee of Hancock; Michigan Tech forestry student Alex Mehne; Chuck Mehne, Alex's Dad,visiting from Kalamazoo; and Lee Verberkmoes, McLain State Park superintendent. Marr will join Erik Lilleskov, research ecologist for the U.S. Forest Service, in a presentation on invasive species Thursday, Sept. 29, at Michigan Tech. Click on photos for larger versions. (Photos by Keweenaw Now unless otherwise indicated.)

HOUGHTON -- Janet Marr, contract botanist for the Houghton Keweenaw Conservation District, will join Erik Lilleskov, research ecologist for the U.S. Forest Service, in presenting "Invasive Species as Agents of Global Change," from 6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 29, in Noblet 143 of Michigan Tech's Forestry building.

The presentation -- free and open to the public -- will offer the opportunity to

• Explore the global impact of altered ecosystems
• Find out about invasive species in the Copper Country
• Learn how to identify invasive plants of the Western U.P. which threaten the biodiversity of the Keweenaw.
• Discover how you can help control their spread and protect our native plants.
  

This event is sponsored by the Lake Superior Stewardship Initiative, Michigan Tech Center for Water and Society, Keweenaw Land Trust and the Keweenaw Unitarian Fellowship.

Photos: Pulling Knapweed at McLain State Park

Volunteers assist Botanist Janet Marr, center, in pulling invasive spotted knapweed at McLain State Park on July 30, 2011.

Janet Marr, left, and volunteers pull invasive knapweed from a hillside area near the breakwater at McLain State Park. In the foreground, second from right, is Lee Verberkmoes, McLain State Park superintendent, who worked with Marr in securing funding from the UP Resource Conservation and Development Council for spotted knapweed mapping, control/removal, and restoration in this popular Lake Superior lakeshore park.

Alex Mehne, left, Michigan Tech forestry student active in the Botany Club, invited his Dad, Chuck Mehne, who was visiting from Kalamazoo, to join the group of volunteers at the McLain State Park knapweed pull on July 30, 2011 -- a father-and-son shared effort for a Saturday morning in the Keweenaw! Alex also assisted Janet Marr with her garlic mustard removal campaigns in area neighborhoods this summer.

Steve Albee of Hancock helps Janet Marr carry a bag of knapweed up the hill to be disposed of by McLain State Park. Note protective gloves volunteers like Alex Mehne, at left, are wearing. "Spotted knapweed has a substance that is an irritant, and gloves, long sleeve shirts, and long pants should be worn," Marr advises.

Spotted knapweed on the beach at McLain State Park. This invasive plant loves dry areas and must be pulled straight up to remove the roots. It also grows along roadsides all around the Keweenaw and spreads rapidly. (Photo © and courtesy Janet Marr)

The restoration aspect of the McLain State Park knapweed removal project will include planting more of this protective dunegrass. (Photo © and courtesy Janet Marr)

Picnic and knapweed pull at Bete Grise Preserve

Members of the Houghton Keweenaw Conservation District and the Stewards of Bete Grise Preserve met for a knapweed pull, picnic and presentation by Janet Marr on Aug. 1, 2011, at the Bete Grise Preserve. They collected several bags full of the invasive plant, growing mostly along the Gay-Lac LaBelle Road. Pictured here, from left, are volunteers Evan McDonald, Chuck Brumleve, Gina Nicholas, Mark Klemp, Sue Haralson (in front of Mark), Anton Pintar, Paul and Anita Campbell, Joanne Thomas and Nick Wilson. The event was also sponsored by the Rapid Response Invasive Plant Intervention Team of the UP (RRIP-IT-UP) and organized by Sue Haralson, Houghton Keweenaw Conservation District administrator.

Gina Nicholas and Chuck Brumleve, both residents of Bete Grise, pull spotted knapweed plants along the Gay-Lac LaBelle Road at the Bete Grise Preserve.

After a potluck picnic at the Bete Grise Preserve beach, volunteers listen as Botanist Janet Marr demonstrates the best way to loosen the roots of invasive knapweed with a narrow tool. "The smaller the blade the better (that'll help assure less disturbance to the ground and exposure of seeds from the seedbank)," Marr explains. At far left is Cynthia McDonald (not pictured above), who also joined the group.

Janet Marr displays a sample of Centaurea (a relative of spotted knapweed) during her presentation at Bete Grise.

Despite the attractive flowers, this plant, Hypericum perforatum (commonly called St. John's wort), is also invasive.

Janet Marr displays some Hypochaeris radicata, also known as a false dandelion, or hairy cat's ear.

Learn more about these invasive plants and what you can do to help protect the ecology of the Keweenaw from their spread by attending the presentation by Janet Marr and Erik Lilleskov from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 29, in Noblet 143 of Michigan Tech's Forestry building.

Volunteers invited to pull invasive species at Bete Grise Preserve Aug. 1

HOUGHTON -- The Houghton Keweenaw Conservation District (HKCD), Stewards of Bete Grise Preserve and Rapid Response Invasive Plant Intervention Team of the UP (RRIP-IT-UP), invite volunteers to join them for a Spotted Knapweed pull and picnic on Monday, Aug.1, at the Bete Grise Preserve.

"Our goal is to pull Spotted Knapweed and any other invasive species we find at the preserve, followed by lunch on the beach and a presentation by Botanist Janet Marr on Invasive species in our area," says Sue Haralson, HKCD administrator.

Program:
Meet at the Bete Grise Preserve Parking Lot
9:30 a.m. -- 11:30 a.m. Pull invasive species
12 Noon -- Lunch
12:30 p.m. -- Presentation on Invasive species by Botanist Janet Marr

If you wish to join the picnic, please bring a dish to share, beverages, place settings, chairs / blankets.

Directions: From US 41, take Lac La Belle Road 9.5 miles toward Gay to the BGP parking lot on the left.

Updated: Volunteers needed to identify, pull invasive garlic mustard before it spreads

Garlic mustard, an invasive species, has small, white, four-petaled flowers like these. (Photo by Chris Evans)

HOUGHTON -- A garlic mustard removal effort will take place at 10 a.m. Tuesday, May 24, at Michigan Tech parking lot Number 26 -- the student/commuter lot on Garnet Street.

Volunteers are needed for pulling this invasive plant, mapping out its population, helping botanist Janet Marr photograph plants and action, searching in nearby woods for additional plants, and searching the hillside in eastern Houghton near another garlic mustard site to see if plants have spread.

"As some plants have started to flower, we decided that a pull pretty soon would be a good idea," Marr noted.

Botanist Janet Marr gave a presentation on invasive species at the Houghton Keweenaw Conservation District (HKCD) annual meeting in March 2011. Here she is pictured with HKCD's display and brochures at the meeting. The display was prepared by Sue Haralson, HKCD administrator. (Photo by Keweenaw Now)

Marr, who has been alerting the community to the dangers of the garlic mustard invasive species with posters and information from the Houghton Keweenaw Conservation District, said so far the population in this area is very small so none of these tasks should take very long.

"The Houghton Keweenaw Conservation District would like for you to be on the look out for garlic mustard," Marr said. "This extremely invasive plant may be coming to a Copper Country forest near you."

If you wish to volunteer for the garlic mustard pull on May 24 at Michigan Tech, please contact Janet Marr at 906-337-5529 or jkmarr@mtu.edu.

What is garlic mustard?

It's a non-native, extremely invasive plant that has just begun to show up on the Keweenaw Peninsula and has the potential to be a worse invasive species than spotted knapweed! Garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) is currently known to be at three sites in Houghton, one in Hancock and one in Laurium.

Second-year leaves of the invasive garlic mustard are heart-shaped to triangular, 1-3 inches wide, coarsely toothed on the edges. They give off a garlic odor when crushed. (Photo by Steven Katovich, U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service)

Garbage bags, some tools, gloves, and a brush to clean off shoes when done (to make sure you're not transporting seeds) will be provided at the garlic mustard pull on May 24. You may want to bring shoes to change into and put your boots/shoes in a plastic bag to clean more thoroughly at home if they get muddy. If you have any tools please bring what you have.

Why should we care about garlic mustard?

Out-of-control garlic mustard affects everyone who spends time in the woods (hunters, hikers, birders, bikers, loggers, foresters, photographers, and others). In addition to growing in yards, along roadsides and other disturbed sites in full sun, garlic mustard can totally dominate shaded forest floors within just 5-7 years! It can crowd out native plants, including many tree seedlings. This green invader also adversely affects native insects and other wildlife. Property owners' and land managers' pocketbooks (and townships, counties, etc.) are also affected by costs of garlic mustard control. Therefore, early detection of garlic mustard sites, when it's still early enough to do something about them, helps us all.

What does garlic mustard look like?

In the spring, garlic mustard plants send up flowering stalks with clusters of four-petaled white flowers. These soon develop into erect slender seed pods that will produce numerous seeds. Stem leaves are alternate, triangular, and toothed. Crushed leaves and stems often have a garlic smell. Spring is the easiest time to spot this biennial plant that may grow up to four feet tall. For more identification tips, excellent photos, and other info about garlic mustard, visit these sites: http://www.misin.msu.edu/facts/detail.php?id=22
and
http://dnr.wi.gov/forestry/publications/pdf/FR-350.pdf.

Flowering stalks of garlic mustard grow 1-4 feet tall. Seeds are small, produced in a row inside the capsule, and black when ripe. A plant may have up to 3000 seeds. Cutting plants a few inches above the soil surface just after the flower stalks have elongated but before the flowers have opened can be effective in preventing seed production and may kill garlic mustard plants. (Photo by Chris Evans)

What can you do?

If you see garlic mustard in Houghton or Keweenaw County, please contact Sue Haralson at the Houghton Keweenaw Conservation District (HKCD) at 906-482-0214 or sue.haralson@mi.nacdnet.net to report the location. If you have identification questions, you may contact Janet Marr at 906-337-5529 or jkmarr@mtu.edu.

Visit the City of Hancock Web site for a poster you can share to alert people to the dangers of invasive garlic mustard.