Huron to Erie Waterways for Wildlife Fall 2009 Newsletter

Evergreen: A Celebration of Conservation in a Changing World
WHC's 21st Annual Symposium, Nov 9-10, 2009, in Baltimore. Keynote speaker Peter Raven, Ph.D., Director, Missouri Botanical Garden and one of the world's leading botanists and advocates of conservation and biodiversity. Late registration closes Oct 30! Register now!

Congratulations to the 17 Wildlife at Work programs in the Lake Huron to Lake Erie region that will be certified and recertified this year. WHC received about 270 applications, a bumper crop. In the Huron to Erie region, 4 new programs will be certified and 13 existing programs will re-certified. Check back for more on these programs!

Two programs in our region have been nominated for awards: DTE Energy’s River Rouge Power Plant is a contender for Corporate Habitat of the Year, one of four nominees among 155 programs eligible. New member ITC Transmission’s corridor program at Stony Creek Metro Park is up for the Prairies for Tomorrow Award, which is co-sponsored by Pheasants Forever.

Awards and certifications will be officially announced at WHC’s Symposium, Nov 10.

Fall is a great planting time for perennials, shrubs and trees! If your wildlife team is thinking of installing new native plants, now is a great time. Perennials (herbaceous plants whose roots survive year to year), shrubs and trees can all be planted until about three weeks before the ground freezes; that’s about until the end of November in southern Michigan and Carolinian Ontario. You won’t see growth this fall; the plants’ job right now is developing their root system. Don’t worry about frost: native plants have been there and done that. Plants in the ground this fall will be established and ready to grow in the spring, supporting the insects and other herbivores that support the rest of the food web.

Jerusalem artichoke: A garden vegetable that benefits wildlife! 

Jennifer Anderson @ USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database

Most of the plants in our vegetable gardens are non-native and are not much use to the native insects on which songbirds and other wildlife species depend. Not so for Jerusalem artichoke, Helianthus tuberosus, a close relative of sunflowers. Jerusalem artichoke (also called “sunchoke”) was grown by Native Americans for its edible roots, which are similar to potatoes though described as nuttier and sweeter. Meanwhile, Doug Tallamy, author of Bringing Nature Home, lists the Jerusalem artichoke’s genus, Helianthus, as a top one to support butterfly and moth caterpillars – the primary food source for most nesting songbirds. Thanks to Marc Zupmore at DTE Energy for noticing the wildlife value of this vegetable.