Grayling Service Center

About the Program
The DTE Energy - Grayling Service Center program is located in Grayling, Michigan, and encompasses .5 acres. The site consists of natural gas storage, transmission, distribution and sales facilities that are bordered by forests, a lake and the Au Sable River. There is a 200-square-foot pollinator garden on-site. By creating additional habitat suitable for pollinators, the team is increasing the amount of available habitat and is also enhancing connectivity to the other areas on-site, such as the other pollinator garden and the wetlands. The plant species planted in the garden have specific relationships to the life cycles of mid-eastern United States butterflies.

Practices and Impacts

• In 2019, the team installed a 200-square-foot pollinator garden and conducts regular monitoring. The plants chosen are native to the region and will hopefully be able to survive the cold winters of northern Michigan. The location was chosen so that visitors could see the garden on arrival, as well as folks who drive by, to help increase awareness and education of pollinator habitats. A bee hotel was included near the pollinator garden in 2021 to provide nesting space for mason, orchard or horn-faced bees.
• Wood duck nesting boxes were recently installed within the wetland.
• The team attends project development meetings and monitors the wetland and pollinator garden through photo documentation.