Beaver Island Michigan

A letter has gone out from the Conservation Resource Alliance to Beaver Island property owners, requesting permission to treat invasive species on their property. The language is a little hard to grasp (for me, at least!) but the goal is a good one.
This is an attempt to spend money designated for this island by a large Sustain Our Great Lakes grant awarded to the Conservation Resource Alliance. On Beaver Island, it targets about thirty invasive species that were noted by the survey done by the Nature Conservancy a few years ago. Phragmites is on the list, as well as Spotted Knapweed, Wild Parsnip, Autumn Olive and several other invaders that threaten our natural spaces. There are brochures available in the Community Center that provide good information on many of these plants.
The team is attempting to treat roadsides (33 feet each way from the center of the road), utility corridors (under power lines and around utility poles) and a few other select areas. This does not cost us anything...but they cannot treat these areas without your permission.
Please feel free to call me, or stop in at the hardware to talk to me if you have any questions or misgivings. This is the last year that these grant monies will be available. If they aren't used, they are lost! I'm hoping we can do some good here with this gift.

Cindy, Is there away for people who are off island to do this?

Jim

Cindy, I received my letter today and will be returning the form with my permission ASAP, although I'm sorry to see several plants I always enjoy seeing on the invasives list!

Jim, you should receive a letter even off island. I'm not sure what database they are working from; when I send letters, I get the mailing list from Charlevoix GIS.
I know, Joyce, it is a long list, and some of the invasive plants are quite lovely. Unfortunately, they don't "play well with others" and inhibit the growth of our own native species. If it is any consolation, they are mostly targeting roadsides and utility corridors where the spread is usually most aggressive and where the invasive species can do the most harm to our eco-system.

Letters are coming back, with permissions given! Thank you for taking this opportunity seriously.

Permission slips are in the mail and at the hardware store. Thanks for all the follow-through, Cindy! This is a great gift to island property owners who choose to participate.

We will be working to get our operation certified organic, which means that herbicides are not acceptable. How do things work in this case?

I would suggest that you not sign for treatment. Private property including roadways and utility corridors will not be treated without permission.

Yesterday, I received an e-mail from an islander relating his experience with losing a field down state to Autumn Olive. He said neither man nor beast could penetrate it. He was surprised to find Autumn Olive on the list and present here. It was introduced to Beaver Island and Brad and I now fight it in Vesty's fields. It is not wide spread yet.

The recent discussion of control of invasive species led me to explore the reviled Autumn Olive. I soon learned that the plant is a heavy producer of desirable fruit.

foragersharvest.com/autumnberry-autumn-olive/‎

Perhaps making that fact better known might contribute to its control.
Autumn Olive belongs to the genus Hippophae which also includes sea buckthorn, one of the current trendies among the culinary avant garde.

Known edibiity does seem to have led to limiting island stands of invasive, feral asparagus. On the other hand turkeys, another introduction, seem to be doing well despite their tastiness.

By the way, young phragmites stalks are also edible.

Matthew, every plant on our "invasives" list certainly has merit. No plant is inherently evil. A non-native plant is not automatically considered "invasive." To earn that title, it has several other characteristics, including - but not limited to - rapid growth and spread, no natural enemies or natural controls and the means of unfair competition for light or nutrients. In the case of Autumn Olive, it quickly moves into our woodlands, and it takes over. In a single season, this aggressive plant can wipe out our Spring Beauties, Trillium, Dutchman's Breeches and many other beautiful, native woodland plants...some of which are already protected or endangered. Many plants on that invasive list are medicinal, edible or just plain beautiful. In a suburban back yard, they would be a welcome addition. Here on Beaver Island, unfortunately,they are a threat and a nuisance to our native plants.

It should be noted that while autumn olive fruit (and many other invasive plants) can be eaten or have medicinal purposes, overall their negative impact on native plants and wildlife is a huge problem that is best avoided despite minor benefits.

The process of saving a plant for eating its fruit and, potentially, cultivating something like autumn olive can still lead to problems as the birds will eat and disperse the fruit before it is ripe enough for people to pick it. It is also very difficult to get every last fruit off of one of those thorny buggers. Cutting up phragmites plants to get to the edible part will create numerous little cuttings that can then float away and start new colonies.

I think people are better off eating the fruit of an autumn olive right before they cut it down with their chainsaw and then planting a native plant that has tastier berries and helps wildlife out. For example, any of the native serviceberries (aka saskatoons, another trendy fruit), American hazelnut, American elderberries, etc. Or even something like Aronia, a pretty nondescript plant native to Beaver Island that is "the King Kong of anti-oxidant berries":

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/06/0 ... -benefits/

http://michiganflora.net/species.aspx?id=2427

(yes, the common name chokeberry is not very, ummm, appealing. Pass the sugar please)

These same concepts apply to larger invasive species like feral hogs as well. Fun to hunt and eat but they absolutely destroy native wildlife habitat.

I hope people participate in the final year of this project. I was the original writer and project manager for that grant before moving on to a different job. The work being done will help protect the unique and special communities of plants and animals on the island. Over here on the mainland, we don't have the opportunity to rid ourselves of most invasive species as they just show up from next door. The island environment is a gift in that regard.

I've been told that over 400 property owners have taken advantage of this offer, so far. If you have considered joining and permission slips are on the counter, please send them in. Planning meetings are taking place shortly and maps need to be prepared. Thanks!

Great response!!!

The 2015 invasive treatment year is about to begin. Cindy Ricksgers has been busy wearing many hats and attended the Charlevoix meeting recently with the DNR, Little Traverse Conservancy (LTC), tribal partners, BIA, The Nature Conservancy, Wildlife and Wetlands Solutions, and CRA staff. Maps are being processed where permission has been granted and permits issued. Treatment crews will be out later in May and again in August when the treatment time for control of certain plants is most advantageous. Cindy will be posting public meetings dates prior to treatment.

If you are a property owner who borders a Little Traverse Conservancy preserve and have not responded to the permission to treat letter, would you please contact Cindy Ricksgers ASAP? In order to provide a protective buffer for LTC property and enhance control, it would be beneficial to have surrounding landowner's permission to treat the list of selected invasive species. Thank you for considering this request.

Thank you to everyone involved in the grant writing, administration, application, etc., Keeping Beaver Island pristine is a noble goal.