"Rewild the U.P." is the theme for this year’s Celebrate the U.P.!, the Upper Peninsula Environmental Coalition’s 13th annual festival of everything that makes our peninsula a wonderful place to live. This year’s celebration will be held virtually via livestream on Zoom and Facebook Live from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. ET on Friday, March 11, and from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, March 12. The event is free and open to everyone.
Following a welcome and acknowledgement of Native American Lands at 5 p.m. by Horst Schmidt, UPEC president, and Evan Zimmermann, UPEC vice president, Friday’s activities kick off at 5:15 p.m. with a talk on Native American treaty rights by Whitney B. Gravelle, Chairwoman of the Bay Mills Indian Community. That will be followed by UPEC’s annual membership meeting (open to all) with updates on UPEC activities, including the announcement of the Environmental Education and Community Conservation grant winners for this year. At 7 p.m. Michigan Tech Professor John Vucetich will offer an update on Wolves and the Endangered Species Act. Alex Maier, documentary filmmaker, will cap off the evening with backpacking videos in the Trap Hills along the North County Scenic Trail in the western U.P.
Beginning at 9:30 a.m. Saturday morning, a group of speakers will highlight the Next Generation of Environmental Education in the U.P.
LATE CHANGES TO THE SATURDAY PROGRAM:
- Poetry reading by M. Bartley Seigel will now last from 12 - 12:15 p.m. instead of 12 - 12:45 p.m. on Saturday
- NEW: Discussion of the war in Ukraine by led by Nadija Packauskas, 12:15–12:45 p.m. Saturday. "Free Lance Human Being" is the title Nadija Packauskas gave herself 40 years ago and despite multiple degrees, extensive travel and impressive job titles it is still the title she uses today. What does it mean to be human in the face of aggression? How are the Ukrainians defying the giant? How are they standing against the unprovoked invasion by Putin of their beloved, free, sovereign, independent, democratic nation and why we should stand with them. Join the cofounders of Yoopers for Ukraine: Lithuanian American Nadija Packauskas; Adalina Oronova, Fulbright Ukrainian scholar at Michigan Tech; Nazar Gora, Ukrainian Michigan Tech student; Zenia Vorodis, Russian student at Tech; and Nadija's 91-year-old father Vytautas Packauskas, who fled the Russians in WWII, as they lead a round-robin discussion on how Putin's recent actions should ignite and unite us to become activists against the most critical and looming humanitarian disaster of the 21st century. We are in a new world.
- Additional participant in the panel discussion "Rewilding the U.P.: Wolves" (Saturday, 1 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.), Kerry Beheler, representing the group Hunters for Wolves, will present "Real Hunters Don’t Kill Wolves." Hunters for Wolves advocates for healthy ecosystems, scientifically and ethically managed to protect our wildlife for present and future generations.
Other members of the 1 p.m. panel are Michigan Tech Professor John Vucetich; Nancy Warren, National Wolfwatcher Coalition executive director; Molly Tamulevich, Humane Society Michigan State director; Dr. Nichole Biber, elementary school librarian and LTBB (Waganakising) Odawa Tribal Citizen; and Jeff Towner, certified wildlife biologist and UPEC board member.
At 2:30 p.m. Saturday afternoon Jenn Hill -- Marquette City Commissioner, candidate for State Representative, and energy policy advocate -- will talk about moving the U.P. away from a dependence on fossil fuels.
This year’s Celebrate the U.P.! is capped off by an update on proposed Wilderness designations on the Ottawa National Forest at 3:30 p.m. Saturday and an open discussion with the audience at 4:30 p.m.
Celebrate the U.P.! will stream live on the UPEC Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/upenvironment/live and on Zoom:https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86075269466?pwd=OFZCTk1ERHdJSEJOUlNWbW5UaTA3QT09
Passcode: 2022
For a complete schedule, visit https://upenvironment.org/2022-celebrate-the-up.
Recordings of the presentations will be available later on the UPEC Livestream Facebook page.
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