2018 Isabella County Environmental Education Day

Friday was our 9th annual Environmental Education Day.  This event takes months of planning and requires the effort of dozens of people to be a success.  Six months prior to the date I start contacting a variety of government agencies and environmental organizations to participate.  My goal is to have around twenty different educational stations (including the Isabella Conservation District) set up for the students that attend.  This year the following groups participated:

• Michigan Department of Natural Resources (Law Enforcement and Wildlife Division)
• Isabella County Parks and Recreation
• Mt. Pleasant Parks and Recreation
• GreenTree Cooperative Grocery
• Elijah Elk Cultural Center
• Nature Discovery
• Ziibiwing Center of Anishinaabe Culture & Lifeways
• Chippewa Valley Audubon Club
• Pheasants Forever - Isabella County Chapter
• Chippewa River District Library
• Alma College Archaeological Project
• Central Michigan University Museum of Cultural and Natural History
• MSU Extension - Isabella County
• Mt. Pleasant Discovery Museum
• Chippewa Watershed Conservancy
• Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe - Environmental Team

Why do we need so many different activities? 

It's because of the number of students that attend.  We invite every third grade classroom in Isabella County to attend the Environmental Education Day.  This year 28 different classes were able to attend.  That meant that we had almost 600 students in attendance this year!  Luckily, the students don't all come at once.  Half of the students come for a morning session and the other half come for the afternoon - 300 students at one time is still whole lot of kids!  We need so many different activities to make sure the students have something to do the entire time they are at the event.

Here are a few scenes from Environmental Education Day.

Creating a "tree cookie" necklace with Isabella County Parks

Learning about Ojibwe culture with the Ziibiwing Center

Chippewa Watershed Conservancy Executive Director Jon Breithaupt talks preserves with students and chaperones

Everyone wanted photos!

Learning about the life span of materials from the CMU Museum staff

Reptiles always amaze

Every kid received a backpack from us (and elk antlers from the DNR)

Crafting a radish seed necklace with MSU Extension

Celebrating 100 year of elk in Michigan with the DNR

Learning about Anishinaabe culture from the Elijah Elk Cultural Center

Rocks and minerals at the Isabella Conservation District table - such a tactile experience!

Ask me about bees, please!

Searching for aquatic life

Saginaw Chippewa Environmental Team teaching about water quality

Just a few of the students - learning about archaeology from Alma College

Kids love to learn about and from Michigan Department of Natural Resources conservation officers

Bicycle-powered smoothies with GreenTree Grocery

Pheasant Forever had pheasant chicks on site - a huge hit with the students!

I'm on the Chippewa Watershed Conservancy Board

 

Over the past 4+ years, I have shared a few dozen posts about and probably hundreds of photographs taken at the Chippewa Watershed Conservancy's many preserves.  I have brought students to the preserves to learn more about science in the field.  I have led probably close to twenty public events in the preserves.  Last year I was honored to receive the Chippewa Watershed Conservancy's Robert (Bob) Ball Award for my contributions to the Conservancy's mission of protecting natural habitat and open space.

Now a new chapter of my relationship with the Chippewa Watershed Conservancy begins.  Over the past year or so several members of the CWC Board of Directors have asked if I would be willing to serve on the Board if a spot opened up.  Recently two positions have become available.  After meeting last week with CWC President John Mitchell, I accepted an offer to join the Board immediately.

My first meeting as a member of the Board is this Wednesday (15 MAR 2017).

I look forward to this challenge and can't wait to see the direction that the organization takes over the next few years.

To learn more about the Chippewa Watershed Conservancy please check out their website.

Year end gifts

My wife and I are fortunate.  We have all of the things that we need and we make enough money to have most of the things that we want.  We even have some money left over to give to organizations and causes that we believe in.  We used to make small donations to a number of national organizations, but in recent years we have focused our giving slightly larger amounts to local organizations.

If you are reading this blog, it is probably plain to see that we care a lot about nature and the environment.  If you have any spare money and are looking to make a donation here are a couple of organizations that I know will put the money to good use.









Wings of Wonder
Wings of Wonder (WOW) is a raptor sanctuary and rehabilitation center located in Empire, MI.  WOW rehabilitates and releases injured raptors across northern Michigan.  In addition to rehabilitating raptors for return to the wild, WOW houses a flock of Ambassador Birds that WOW founder and executive director Rebecca Lessard uses in raptor education programs across Michigan. Rebecca and the WOW birds have been to Mt. Pleasant each of the past three years to celebrate International Migratory Bird Day at the Ziibiwing Center.  They will be back again on Saturday May 13th for the 2017 celebration.

Wings of Wonder operates entirely on donations and presentation fees - this year they seem to be struggling to meet their annual funding needs.  Every dollar that is donated goes directly toward the care of the Ambassador Birds and the care and rehabilitation of injured wild raptors.  Rebecca and the WOW board of directors (and volunteers) do an amazing job!  We are very happy to make an annual donation to support WOW.

To donate to WOW visit their website. 

 
Chippewa Watershed Conservancy
The Chippewa Watershed Conservancy is our local land conservancy.  Their mission is to protect natural habitat and open space in the counties of the Chippewa River Watershed (includes the Chippewa, Pine, and Coldwater River).  The CWC operates in five Mid-Michigan counties: Isabella, Clare, Gratiot, Mecosta, and Montcalm.  They currently protect almost 4,900 acres in those counties! That's about 7 1/2 square miles through a combination of privately owned conservation easements and Conservancy-owned preserves.

In addition to preserving land, the CWC works to educate the public about land and resource conservation, natural habitats, and the species that can be found throughout Mid-Michigan.  I donate my time as well as money - I lead many education walks such as this one coming up on New Year's Day.  I like giving to the CWC because I know that the money will be used in the local community.  You can even designate how you would like the CWC to use your money(operating budget/land acquistion/etc.).
 
To donate to the CWC visit their website.

Even if you don't donate to WOW or the CWC, please consider giving a small gift to another local conservation organization.  Groups such as these work in your neighborhood to protect and preserve local ecosystems and their inhabitants.  They often operate on a shoestring budget and every single dollar counts.

2017 MAEOE Conference in Mt. Pleasant!

 

I am currently attending the annual board member retreat for the Michigan Alliance for Environmental and Outdoor Education.

The board just voted to have the 2017 Annual Conference in Mt. Pleasant on the campus of Central Michigan University.  The tentative conference dates are Friday Oct 6th through Sunday October 8th.

Stay tuned for more details!

I'm a MAEOE Board Member

This past weekend I attended the annual conference of the Michigan Alliance for Environmental and Outdoor Education (MAEOE).  MAEOE is a statewide organization with the mission of "promoting environmental literacy through education" by helping educators "explore the interconnectedness of natural and human systems; take responsibility for long-term environmental sustainability; make personal choices that contribute to ecological and human health; think globally and act locally; and use MAEOE's resources to expand (their) environmental ethic personally, and with (their) students."

I have been involved with MAEOE since 2009, when I attended their annual conference held at the University of Michigan - Dearborn.  Since then I have attended five more annual conferences, missing only the 2012 and 2013 editionss.  I have also been a presenter on three occasions (2011, 2014, and 2015).

This year the outgoing Past-President inquired if I would be interested in running for a position on the Board of Directors.  After asking a lot of questions and and much deliberation, I decided to give it a try and filled out my application to run.  I was one of five candidates for three available positions.  One of other four candidates was an active (and well-liked) current board member seeking reelection - not surprisingly, he was reelected for another term. 

Somewhat to my surprise, when the votes were tallied I was announced as one of two new members of the board! 

What does that mean?  It means some hard work - the board works on issues such as conference planning, membership, and marketing.  It also means that over the next three years I get to help steer the direction that MAEOE takes as an organization and have a say in the direction of environmental education in the state of Michigan.  I have lots of questions - despite being a member for years, there is a lot that I don't know about the organization. 

I am quite excited about the possibilities and look forward to this new challenge.