Hi First name / subscriber! Enjoy the November edition of the Muskegon Conservation District Newsletter. Below you will read about the upcoming spring seedling sale, new grants, the buck pole, and more!
If you have anything that you would be interested in reading about please contact us via email at muskegoncd@macd.org.
It is hard to believe another busy year here at the Muskegon Conservation District has come and gone! Since 1938, the district has been hard at work conserving, protecting, and restoring the natural resources of West Michigan and providing environmental resources to landowners. In response to the community’s needs the District has increased our capacity to treat invasive species, including Hemlock Woolly Adelgid, diversified our educational offerings and completed several native plantings and restoration projects. Below is a quick snapshot of our year:
• Treated 17,730 trees for Hemlock Wooly Adelgid on private land in Muskegon and Oceana counties and various Muskegon County Parks with support from a Sustaining Our Great Lakes grant.
• Hosted a stream clean up event for Ryerson creek with support from a MiCorp grant.
• Hosted educational workshops on topics such as mushrooms, doe management, native perennial plants and foraging. Reached 4,500 people at all educational events in 2024.
• Treated and/or removed 183.5 acres of invasive species including Japanese Knotweed, Phragmites, Chinese Yam, Oriental Bittersweet and more!
• Sold nearly 36,000 native plants and trees sold to area residents
• Collected data to support updating the Mona Lake Watershed Plan
• Implemented Wildlife Habitat projects in cooperation with the MDNR including tracking nest habitats of endangered turtles with support from the Fremont Area Community Foundation Ice Mountain Fund and Oak Savannah Restoration with support from the National Turkey Federation.
• Conducted dry weather screening monitoring in urban communities to ensure safe water quality to residents
• Stabilized of 150 feet of shoreline along the Muskegon River
• Conducted Spring and Fall Macroinvertebrate Sampling in four Muskegon County Drains, White River Watershed and Mona Lake Watershed.
• Refreshed our web site—check it out today if you have not already – muskegoncd.org
It may surprise you to know that we accomplished all of this and more with minimum state government funding that covers only 3% of our operational costs, and we do not receive county or federal funding. The District is reliant on grants, contractual work, and generous donations from people like you to continue our daily operations and support crucial natural resource programs.
Will you consider a gift to the Muskegon Conservation District today? This is your opportunity to partner with us to conserve, protect, and restore local natural resources to ensure these outdoor spaces are preserved for future generations. Your tax-deductible contribution will go directly to on-the-ground conservation work in West Michigan and help us accomplish our goals for 2025. You can help keep the district legacy going in one of the following ways:
• Donate online at muskegoncd.org
• Write a check to “Muskegon Conservation District” and mail it back in the envelope provided to 4735 Holton Road Twin Lake, MI 49457
Thank you for your support! Please feel free to call our office sometime soon and learn how you can take part in conserving our local natural resources.
Sincerely,
The MCD Staff
Melanie Knapp Chelsey Lawton Sabrina Huizenga
Executive Director Field Operations Supervisor Invasive Species Manager
Our spring seedling sale is fast approaching! If you’re not looking forward to the doom and gloom of winter in Michigan, just think of all the seedlings you’ll be able to plant this spring!
This coming spring, we will have several species and varieties that weren't available in previous years. Some of these trees and shrubs include pawpaw, sugar maple, American hazelnut, tulip poplar, and several different varieties of raspberry and strawberry that were not available last year.
Are you looking for more wildflowers on your property? We will have seed mixes available for order as well! These will consist of a shady mix, a sunny mix, and a monarch mix, available in 1 oz, 4 oz, or 1 lb packages.
If you’re interested in planting fruit trees this spring, we will have eight different varieties of cherry, peach, pear, and apple trees. The varieties include Rubybush (apple), Northern Spy (apple), Bartlett (pear), Beurre Danjou (pear), Flamin' Fury PF 17 (peach), Loring (peach), Ebony Pearl (cherry), and Stardust (cherry).
Other items for sale during the spring seedling sale will include “Plant Native Trees” t-shirts and bluebird and wood duck-sized bird boxes.
Here are the important dates to remember for this spring:
February 1st: The website will be live for all online orders of seedlings, fruit trees, seed mixes, bird boxes, and t-shirts.
March 10th: The last date for pre-orders. This gives MCD enough time to organize your orders for a smoother seedling sale.
April 26th: The date of the seedling sale. On this day, you can pick up pre-orders and purchase any leftover stock available.
The first-ever Muskegon Conservation District Buck Pole took place on November 15th. For those who are unaware, November 15th has signified the start of deer hunting in Michigan since 1925. Early in the history of a structured deer season in Michigan, November 15 through November 30 was the timeframe in which one could legally harvest a deer, regardless of the method of take. Over time, this shifted into what we now know as the firearms deer season in Michigan.
A tradition as old as deer hunting itself, buck poles serve a functional purpose. They provide a place for deer to hang and cool evenly, allowing the meat to remain fresh for longer while facilitating the process of rigor mortis, which alters the muscle structure and chemistry. This ultimately affects the flavor and texture of the meat when consumed. With the introduction of refrigeration, the necessity for a buck pole has decreased in today’s deer hunting practices. However, buck poles continue to represent a successful harvest and the sense of camaraderie that comes with hunting and deer camp.
We had a fantastic turnout with 40 attendees, and it was exciting to celebrate the achievements of our three successful hunters. A special thank you to The Gnarly Heifer for serving delicious burgers and to Aldea Coffee for providing warm coffee that kept everyone energized throughout the event.
We are also grateful to our sponsors for contributing great prizes, which added to the fun and excitement of the day. Your support made this event a memorable experience for everyone involved.
Thank you once again for being a part of our inaugural Buck Pole. We look forward to more successful events in the future!
MCD would like to extend a heartful thank you to all those that had helped with the tremendous undertaking of planting approximately 1,900 seedlings at Lake Harbor Park in Norton Shores this fall. The planting of these seedlings fulfilled a portion of an awarded Sustaining the Great Lakes Grant that helps to treat eastern hemlocks infested with HWA on Public lands in Muskegon County.
Including this fall planting, a total of 4,300 seedlings have been planted in Lake Harbor Park. Many of those can be found on the south portion of the park where much of the hemlocks have succumbed to HWA. The species that were planted includes several species of dogwood, sand cherry, white pine, red maple, white spruce, Douglas fir, and big toothed aspen. Many of these species were planted in order to help maintain root structures along the channel and beach portions of the park. This is due to the loss of significant amounts of hemlocks in those areas. Additionally, the conifer species were planted in hopes of jumpstarting the regeneration that may take place within the forest after the loss of so many hemlocks. This will also help to restore canopy cover within the park.
If you are looking for more opportunities to volunteer, please reach out to our office at 231-828-5097 or email us at muskegoncd@macd.org. If you’re interested in volunteering for our upcoming projects in 2025, be sure to keep an eye on MCD's social media for more information.
Muskegon Conservation District's Invasive Species Manager, Sabrina Huizenga, was recently awarded Conservation District Employees of Michigan (CDEM) Employee of the year for Region 7. This took place at the annual Michigan Association of Conservation Districts (MACD) Fall Conference. Sabrina works diligently in all that she does here at the Muskegon Conservation District. From education to invasive species management, she ensures that her best effort is given.
So if you see Sabrina out and about, congratulate her on her recent award and make sure to thank her for all the hard work she has done this past year!
Some other things to keep in mind for yard waste in Muskegon!
The City of Muskegon- yard waste and leaves can be picked up through November 30 (weather permitting). Yard waste must be in paper yard waste bags, cardboard boxes or rigid 35-gallon (or less) garbage cans. https://muskegon-mi.gov/city-services/public-works/sanitation/
The City of Muskegon Heights- "leaf season" begins Sept 1 through November 30 (weather permitting). Leaves will be picked up with regular garbage days. Leaves must be in paper bags or rigid containers. Leaves CAN NOT be raked into the gutter, street or alley! https://muskegonheights.us/city-of-muskegon-heights-citizen-handbook/
In Roosevelt Park, yard waste, including leaves, is picked up on Tuesdays on the same day as regular trash removal. Yard waste should be placed in paper landscape bags or a container for yard waste. Plastic bags and unapproved containers are not permitted. https://rooseveltpark.org/city-hall/waste-disposal/
The City of North Muskegon has multiple options for bagged pick up and loose leaf pick up through the city! Check out northmuskegon.org/residents/utilities/ for all of the information!
The City of Norton Shores has a designated area to dispose of leaves! Checkout their website at nortonshores.org/leaf-disposal for more info on locations, times and rules!.
Forest Controversies Article #364 November 2024 By Bill Cook
You’ve seen them in the movies and Halloween cartoons. They’re big. Their branches are bare and snarly. So, there lies the kernel of spookiness.
In the 1982 film “Poltergeist”, a seemingly sentient tree, with evil overtones, was brushing the bedroom window of the five-year-old character Carol Anne. In the darkness, the effect was ominous, portending an unpleasant near future. And then in another story, a headless horseman pursues Ichabod Crane through a forest of threatening trees. This 1820 short story has been repeated and modified numerous times. The creepy forest is almost an American icon. As a forester, I unnaturally focus on the question of “What species are those trees?” In my mind, they are bur oaks or, possibly in some cases, chestnuts. Most of the big old chestnuts disappeared from the American forests over a century ago. So, for the most part, I’m going with bur oaks. Now, bur oak has an interesting natural history. Best known, maybe, is its role in “oak openings” of the eastern prairies. Prone to regular fires, few trees could survive on these rich soils that now grow corn and soybeans. Bur oaks have thick corky bark, even on saplings. This this nearly fireproof coat protects the trees from all but the most severe wildfires. The crown pattern of large trees appears crooked and bent, with fewer branches than most trees, rendering a morbid look to those with accommodating imaginations. As settlers migrated across these broad prairies, the open stands of large bur oak provided the scant shade that sheltered them from the scorching summer sun. The grandmother trees, often over 300 years old, lofted expansive crowns held high by stout branches gnarled by the perpetual prairie winds. Church picnics and many a marriage proposal undoubtedly occurred under this shade. Where these stands of “oak openings” were not plowed under, they now exist hidden among invading tree species that survive only due to the cessation of the “cleansing” prairie fires. The Midewin National Tall Grass Prairie, in Illinois, has restored some of the original prairie but has failed to release the monster oaks from the “non-native” usurping tree species, such as hickories, cherries, and walnuts. Yet, if you look carefully, the old oak openings can be seen, although the old veterans are now dying of old age, with few or no saplings for the future. However, bur oaks also grow on bottomland soils, sometimes with associates such as butternut, silver maple, sycamore, gum, and others. They can be seen in our northern forests, too, often along waterways and isolated patches among wetlands. There are several giant bur oaks among the northern hardwoods on the Dunbar Forest of the eastern Upper Peninsula. “Islands” of bur oak mixed with aspen and balsam poplar also occur on the forest edges of Minnesota and within the patterned peatlands north of the Red Lakes. The more common white oak can sometimes be mistaken for bur oak. Michigan oak savannahs and oak barrens are uncommon habitats where prescribed fires are employed to maintain these special conditions. While white oak may dominate, bur oaks may be present as well. Bur oak twigs will have ridges and flanges of protective bark. White oak will not. Both oak species have leaves with blunt lobes, but the bur oaks have deep sinuses midway down the leaf, cut nearly to the mid-vein. Most hardwood forests with monster-sized trees can appear spooky, especially on a dark night aglow with a full moon or in a crepuscular dense fog. Any forest dominated by oaks stimulates particularly vivid imaginations of paranormal threats lurking just behind the next massive trunk. However, the twisted and purled canopy structure of bur oak is, by far, the scariest. If you’re lucky enough to visit an open stand of bur oak, it’s fun to engage in an evening of ghost stories over a flickering campfire under the creaking branches and whispering breeze. The telltale sounds and smells of a moldering autumn night might just shiver your timbers in the manner that caught young Carol Anne. You never know, perhaps something really is there?
We are actively seeking to partner with landowners interested in addressing invasive species and enhancing local ecosystems through restoration efforts.
Invasive species pose a significant threat to our native flora and fauna, often outcompeting local plants and disrupting the balance of our natural habitats. Through targeted treatments and restoration projects, we can work together to improve the health and diversity of your land, benefiting both the environment and the local community.
Our team offers expertise in identifying invasive species and implementing effective management strategies tailored to your property’s needs. Additionally, we can assist with the restoration of native plant communities, which can enhance biodiversity, improve wildlife habitats, and increase the aesthetic value of your land.
If you are interested in exploring invasive species treatments and local restoration options, I would love to discuss this further with you. Please feel free to reach out to our office at 231-828-5097 or muskegoncd@macd.org. We can schedule a time to meet and assess your property’s specific needs.
Thank you for considering this opportunity to make a positive impact on our local environment. We look forward to the possibility of working together to restore and protect our natural resources.
Yes, you read that correctly! As of last month MCD has been informed of the receipt of TWO new local grants! Both of which will help enhance natural resources within the White Lake area.
One of the grants entails the revitalization of local parks in the Montague and Whitehall area. Specifically aiming to treat invasive species that are present as well as replanting these treated areas. This grant was awarded through the Community Foundation for Muskegon County. This grant will help improve the aesthetic value of these local areas while improving the habitat quality in these localized areas. This grant will also help to maintain the water quality within the area as many of these plantings will take place near or around areas where runoff may enter waterways. Along with this grant, MCD will be looking for volunteers to aid in the planting during the course of this project in 2025.
The second of the two grants focuses in on the flower creek watershed and was awarded through Agricultural Conservation Planning Framework. This grant aims to assess the needs for cover crop in the Flower Creek watershed. This area lies north of Montague. The area has been plagued with e. coli outbreaks in recent history, while still remaining a rarity as it is one of Michigan's southern most cold-water streams and able to support brook trout. This grant will aim to assess the needs for cover crop in specific areas utilizing areal imagery and GIS analytic techniques to determine what areas are at greatest risk for agricultural runoff and the ultimate pollution of the stream. This grant will help to ensure that future projects in this area are prioritizing the reaches of the stream that have the greatest amount of concern.
MCD would like to kindly remind the public that MCD-owned parcels open to hunting are currently closed to the public. This closure will remain in effect until January 13th, 2025. This is a safety measure, as we have active hunting taking place on these properties. Additionally, it is a legal requirement per the lease agreement signed by the hunters.
As a reminder, after January 12th, small game access permits will be available for these parcels. This will allow those interested in hunting small game during late winter on MCD properties the opportunity to do so. Furthermore, spring turkey permits will also be available. These permits will grant access rights to all parcels open to hunting. To obtain your permit, feel free to come into the office during our hours of operation (7:00 AM to 5:30 PM, Tuesday to Friday).
If you have questions please contact our office at 231-828-5097 or by email at muskegoncd@macd.org.
Produce Safety Updates, Traceability & Pre-Harvest, Agricultural Water and Upcoming Training Dates!
Alissa Conley
Produce Safety Technician
With the growing season winding down for most, here are a few produce safety updates to start thinking about. The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) has upcoming compliance dates for the Traceability Rule and the Produce Safety Rule – Pre-Harvest Agricultural Water. There are also upcoming PSA Grower Trainings available.
Upcoming Training Dates. The Produce Safety Alliance (PSA) Grower Training Course is a standardized curriculum that covers a wide range of information on produce safety, including a foundation of Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) and Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Produce Safety Rule requirements. It is recognized by FDA as one way to satisfy the training requirement of the FSMA Produce Safety Rule, written in provision 112.22(c).
Dates and Locations Include:
In person:
o Dec 5, 2024 Hart, MI
Remote (via Zoom)
o January 9th , 2025
o January 27th , 2025
o February 10th , 2025
o February 20th , 2025
o March 10th , 2025
Trainings are $100 for Michigan participants, and cost can be covered by your
Produce Safety Technician if funds are available.
Traceability Rule Updates. Section 204 of FSMA is the Traceability Rule in
which the FDA requires additional recordkeeping to be in place for certain
commodities. I have received a few inquiries from farms that buyers are asking
them about their plans for complying with the rule, although my focus is on the
Produce Safety Rule I am able to help with general traceability questions to my
best ability! I will start by including the Food Traceability List where you can see
if your farm has any commodities on the list, and we can go forward from there if
you determine you do need to comply. The compliance date for this rule is January 20, 2026.
Produce Safety Rule Updates. In May 2024 the FDA released the final rule for
pre-harvest agricultural water. This will affect growers who are covered under the
Produce Safety Rule and receive inspections from the Michigan Department of
Agriculture & Rural Development (MDARD). The final rule changes the approach
of depending on just testing water to the approach of completing an assessment to consider factors that could affect the quality of water sources that are used for pre-harvest purposes on the farm. These factors include but are not limited to: the
location of water source, the application method, crop characteristics, environmental conditions. See the full fact sheet with more details here.
Compliance dates for this pre-harvest agriculture water assessment are as follows:
Large farms: April 7, 2025
Small farms: April 6, 2026
Very small farms: April 5, 2027
If you have any further questions on anything mentioned above, please reach out via email at allissa.conley@macd.org or by phone/text at 989-295-5661. I plan to attend various grower meetings this season to further discuss pre-harvest water. My team will also have representatives at Great Lakes Expo, MPIC Annual
Meeting, Northwest Orchard and Vineyard Show and Southwest Horticulture
