Huron to Erie Waterways for Wildlife Project
Spring Newsletter 2007

EARTH DAY 2007

Join in, learn, celebrate, sustain! For a selection of Earth Day events in the Huron to Erie corridor, stop by Regional events. Visit the Wildlife Habitat Council's Earth Day online for national events, ideas and resources.

'Earth Day Every Day!' Poster Contest 
Inspires and Honors Students

Megan Knittel's winning entry in the 2007 "Earth Day Everyday!" poster contest shows 11 different ways to "Love Our Earth" in our everyday lives.

United States Steel Corporation's Great Lakes Works, located south of Detroit in the communities known collectively as "Downriver," helped inspire and honor area students in April with an "Earth Day Every Day!" poster contest. U.S. Steel is a member of Wildlife Habitat Council, and the Great Lakes Works is active in the WHC Huron to Erie Waterways for Wildlife Project.

ST. CLAIR COUNTY RIVER DAY – JUNE 9, 2007

The Huron to Erie Waterways for Wildlife Project is teaming up with Dome Petroleum Corporation's St. Clair Liquid Petroleum Gas Terminal and the Pine River Nature Center to convert about 3 acres of lawn into a mini-prairie. The native plants will help protect water quality in the Pine and St. Clair rivers by reducing run-off, and also will provide habitat for native plants, insects and birds. 

The St. Clair Liquid Petroleum Gas Terminal achieved WHC certification in 2006. The wildlife team has been active in managing a portion of the Pine River floodplain and in reforesting upland areas on-site. The new prairie planting is accessible to the public and will play a long-term educational role for passers-by. The Pine River empties into the St. Clair River from the Michigan side, about half way between Lake Huron and Lake St. Clair.

Volunteers will carry out much of the prairie planting as part of St. Clair County’s 2007 River Day on Saturday, June 9. This annual event is a celebration of the region’s rivers and an opportunity for residents to care for and enjoy them. Other events include boating safety education, clean-ups along several streams, and fishing and canoeing opportunities. 

For more information about River Day or to volunteer, contact Sheri Faust at 810-987-53060 or e-mail riverday@stclaircounty.org.

[For a report on this and other events in the region, click here.]

PHRAGMITES WORKSHOP

In February, landowners, volunteer stewards, and professionals from Ontario and Michigan gathered together at a workshop to learn from some of the most knowledgeable people in the field about controlling Phragmites in the Lake Huron to Lake Erie corridor.

Phragmites australis, or common reed, is a tall, grassy wetland plant with plume-like flower heads that has invaded shorelines, wetlands, and road-side ditches up and down the corridor and throughout much of northeastern North America.

The invasive Phragmites is a European genetic strain of a species that occurs in northern lands around the globe. However, the genetic strain that is native here in Michigan and Ontario is smaller and far less aggressive than this invader. There have been no samples of the native Phragmites found in southeast Michigan, and it also is rare at Long Point, Ontario, according to Ernie Kafcas, wildlife biologist, Michigan Department of Natural Resources, and Scott Petrie, Research Director, Long Point Waterfowl and Wetlands Research Fund. 

Petrie and Kafcas spoke at the February workshop, along with Rick Johnstone, certified forester and president of Integrated Vegetation Management Partners, Inc. Johnstone worked with a private-public partnership in the Delaware estuary to coordinate a Phragmites control program of regional scope.

Presentations are available online. One point of agreement among speakers and audience members was that there is no one-time solution to Phragmites invasion: Follow-up spot treatments will be needed for at least several years and likely longer.  

The native genetic strain of Phragmites, foreground right, is lighter in color, shorter and much less aggressive than the invasive strain, behind and left. Both spread mostly by sprouting from long roots or root fragments. Photo by Long Point Waterfowl and Wetlands Research Fund.

CREATURE FEATURE: BLANDING’S TURTLE (Emys blandingii)

Blanding's turtle need clean, shallow waters. Photo by Jennifer Anderson-Cruz.

If you see this turtle within the counties of the Lake Huron to Lake Erie corridor, speak up! Blanding’s turtle is a Michigan species of special concern, and the Michigan Natural Features Inventory (517-373-1551) does not have its occurrence well documented in our area. Although much of the corridor shoreline has been hardened, Blanding’s turtles have been seen on river islands and may occur elsewhere in pockets of natural shoreline.

Spring is a great time to look for Blanding’s turtles. They start getting active in April, and are most active – and most easily seen – during the mating and nesting season in May and June. 

The Blanding’s turtle’s shell is about 6 to 11 inches long, often black with yellowish spots. Look for a bright yellow chin and throat, a long neck, and a notched upper jaw that makes these turtles appear to be always smiling. Look for them basking on cool, sunny days.

Blanding’s turtles are found in clean, shallow waters with a soft bottom and abundant plant life. They nest in open, sunny areas with moist but well-drained soil. The greatest threat to Blanding’s turtle is habitat loss and degradation. Maintaining wetlands and buffer vegetation to protect water quality are both important.

Of course, never collect this or other wild species. They’re so much more interesting in the wild, plus it’s illegal to collect or harm them.

[Information from: Lee, Y. 1999. Special animal abstract for Emys blandingii (Blanding’s turtle). Michigan Natural Features Inventory, Lansing MI. 3 pp. This and other abstracts are available from MNFI publications.] 

Stop by the Wildlife Habitat Council Spotlight to read more events, member news and updates from around the globe.