Nature Coast CISMA, Florida

Nature Coast CISMA Webster, Florida

I had the extreme pleasure of being the guest speaker at the Nature Coast CISMA on Wednesday, March 18, 2015at the Cedar Hammock Lodge, in Webster FL. I learned of the groups activities while  reading about the group in February during “Invasive Species Awareness Week”, in Florida. I was so impressed with the idea and thought it would be a great idea for Michigan to adopt.  So interested in learning how and why they started the Awareness week, I contacted several of the events chairperson, either through email or phone. Keith Morin, Park Biologist, Crystal River Preserve St.Park  and I connected and shared our ideas, frustrations and sheer passion for preserving the areas we both love. Because of the conversation, Keith invited me to be the guess speaker at the March Nature Coast
CISMA meeting. I was honored, and the rest is history.

 Driving from manicured and trimmed settings of The Villages Florida, I was reminded of the natural beauty of Florida. Only an hour away from where I am in The Villages, and I was able to see open expansive farms, cattle ranches and even areas with inland lakes and open water.

I was the first to arrive.  I did not attend the morning workday session. Many of the members were working, that morning, within the area on prescribed burns, and/or hand- pulling or spraying for Caesar’s weed,Wandering Jew, the houseplant gone wild in Florida and spraying Sword Fern and sour orange trees.

While waiting for all to arrive,  I was able to view the beauty of the old Oak trees all dripping in Spanish Moss and feel the coolness they offered to the heat of the 89 degree day. I saw butterflies, heard the birds and actually felt a little intimidated. This is not the Florida I am comfortable with, I see palm trees, manicured lawns and roadways, I hear the constant drum of traffic noises. It was peaceful, cooling, and inspiring to see insects, hear numerous birds and experience the coolness offered by the canopy of trees. 

 I am glad that I did not venture out to take pictures while waiting for the group to arrive. I learned that I was not properly dressed for even walking around the Lodge. I wore sandals, something so appropriate for my lifestyle in The Villages, was not appropriate out here. It was pointed out to me, along the cement walkway to the Lodge, beautifully camouflaged among the fallen oak leaf litter, there it was. . .a juvenile  Ggymy Rattlesnake !!!! And yes they can impact a venomous bite, tiny yet fully equipped with fangs and venom.

Walking into the lodge, I was introduced to the members of the Nature Coast CISMA. While listening to their committee reports, recaps of the last meeting, and the nominating and voting in a new Steering Committee Chair, Operations Committee Chair, I felt right at home. I was thousands of miles from my home in Michigan, yet felt very comfortable with this group of concerned and passionate people here to ensure that the native Florida they know and love will be in existence for future generations.

I also learned, they experience the same trials in running a CISMA, of getting persons to volunteer, keeping them  active within the group, m$ney, m$ney and m$ney is always an issue for a volunteer group. Keeping the events staffed with volunteers, supplying the educational materials/handouts to  the ever increasing interested persons, and of course feeding the masses when they come to a workday project: different place, same issues.

I explained our challenges, our struggles and successes with OPIS and the now newly formed Oakland County CISMA. They appreciated that we too are as concerned with the environment and engaging people to maintain the integrity of Michigan’s native beauty.

I will be keeping in contact with this group. We shared numbers, emails, website addresses. I drove away with a sense that it is comforting to know there are individuals that have the same concerns and passions for Florida as I do for Michigan:  protecting  the precious resources of land, water and wildlife.  

Oakland County CISMA

Hello Everyone,

The Oakland County Co-operative Invasive Species Management Area or OC CISMA, has been formed!

A meeting hosted by Orion Township, and attended by 15 of the 19 grant partners created the Steering Committee on January 13, 2015. A grant was submitted by Orion Township to the MDNR for the Michigan Invasive Species Grant Program on behalf of these 19 partners on December 5, 2014.

The partners are as follows:
Addison Township
Charter Township of Bloomfield
Charter Township of Brandon
City of the Village of Clarkston
Charter Township of Independence
City of Keego Harbor
Michigan Nature Association
North Oakland Headwaters Land Conservancy
Oakland County Conservation District
Oakland County Intermediate School District
Oakland County Parks and Recreation Commission
Oakland Phragmites & Invasive Species (OPIS) Task Force
Charter Township of Orion
The Road Commission for Oakland County
Rose Township
Charter Township of Springfield
The Stewardship Network
Charter Township of Waterford
West Bloomfield Parks and Recreation Commission

The Parties established the OC CISMA to establish and document an organizational framework of collaboration and cooperation between the Parties to work toward addressing the effects of invasive species across jurisdictional boundaries.

On February 15, 2015, the results will be given by the MDNR to the Parties. Funds can be dispersed as early as April 1, 2015. Several of the Parties have started an Action Plan for winter of 2015, to hit the ground running when the funds are dispersed.

If you reside in one of these communities and would like to be part of this newly formed organization, and would like to join in with their efforts, please contact OPIS at www.oaklandphragmitestaskforce.com.

As a private homeowner, business owner, property owner, learn how you can eradicate invasive plants from your property and waterways. It is possible to regain our land from these invasive plants.

Winter has arrived! Polar Vortex or Alberta Clipper?

Polar Vortex  vs.  Alberta Clipper,

Baby It's Cold Outside!!!!

It is being blamed on the Polar Vortex. New buzz words for cold, frigid and nasty below freezing temperatures.  Some remembering cold winters being blamed on the Alberta Clipper. Are they one and the same? How do we turn them off?

Each system is responsible for frigid temperatures, fierce winds and snowfall. While they are both centers of low atmospheric pressure, a polar vortex is an actual cyclone, albeit a very large one.

 The Alberta clipper forms, moves across North America from west to east, and then breaks up. Whereas the polar vortices are just "there," all the time, drifting, ebbing and flowing, strengthening and weakening. So, the polar vortex doesn't "form, then sweep, then disband." It's always up there at the North Pole within a certain area, and when the conditions are right it expands or "spills" down into Canada and the US.

The Alberta clipper is fast-moving; the polar vortex, not so much. The "Alberta" part of the name is obviously a reference to its origin in the area of Alberta, but the "clipper" part is a reference to the fast-moving sea vessels. The polar vortex doesn't move so much as it just changes shape. And how fast it changes shape depends on what happens to those forces that are keeping it penned in.

The Polar Vortex usually retreats in mid March but can extend into May, opening the door for warmer air and Spring. The winter of 2014, a Polar Vortex nightmare,  set many records here in Michigan. Let's hope the winter of 2015 will not be following with that trend.

NORTHERN POLAR VORTEX, WITH CENTERS OVER SIBERIA AND CANADA

Just in Time for the Fall Autumal Equinox

 Don't tell the flowers, but today is the Fall (Autumal) Equinox. Yesterday, as I was going through the garden, these remaining flowers were there for my enjoyment. Anemone, still offering pollen for the bees, the last day lily, Tiger Kitten,purely for my enjoyment, Echinacea or  Cone flowers, with their seeds hidden within the drying seed head, food for the Chickadees and Goldfinches this winter. The Rebeckia, with its vibrant yellow color, soon to match the slowly changing trees.

September 22, 2014, Monday at 10:29 PM EDT is the Fall Equinox. This is the time when the sun will cross the celestial equator-the imaginary line in the sky above the earth's Equator-from north to south, and a new season begins.

7:19 AM  was sunrise, the last fleeting hours of summer . . . .
7:32 PM will be sunset, 12 hours and 12 minutes of daylight...... fall arrives at 10:29 PM in total darkness.

In Latin, Equinox means equal night, but in reality the Equinox doesn't always have to be exactly 12 hours of daylight, we have 12 minutes more daylight this fall on this day, then we do night. So not until Friday, March 20, 2015,  the Spring or vernal Equinox, will we again experience equal night or so we think. 
But by then we are so desperate for more light and longer days, after the shorter days of fall and even shorter days of winter, we appreciate the beginning of equal day and night leading to the long days of summer. . .

The two days of the year for the Equinox, fall and spring, the earth tilts neither toward or away from the sun, it is perpendicular to the sun's rays. Every other day of the year, the earth tilts 23.5 degrees, again, either towards or away from the sun, depending on Spring or Fall. So maybe we can blame the tilting of the Earth for some of our crazy unbalanced days.

Go out and enjoy the remaining hours of Summer.... get ready to enjoy the days of fall, with the remaining flowers, vibrant trees and animals preparing for the short days of winter.

Arbor Day, April 25, 2014

Arbor Day April 25, 2014  Plant a tree native to your area. Help feed, house wildlife. Help clean our air, filter our water and shade us on a warm sunny day.  You'll do more than plant a seedling in the ground; you'll plant roots for tomorrow. One gift. One Tree. One Planet. Hello Everyone, Did you know that trees provide life-giving benefits to everyone on our planet? They regulate our climate, filter our water, give us shade and shelter, provide a home to millions of plants and animals, and even help support local economies. This Arbor Day, you can support forests around the globe when you give to our Plant a Billion Trees program. Established in 2008 to restore Brazil's Atlantic Forest, we're now working to restore vital forests the United States and China as well -- forests that are essential to the livelihood of people and nature around the globe. Forests like Longleaf and Shortleaf Pine forests, the forests of the Central Appalachians, and Mississippi River Bottomland Hardwood forests in the United States, where our work has resulted in great successes. The West Virginia Flying Squirrel, native to the Central Appalachians, is no longer endangered as of 2013, thanks to efforts to restore its forest habitat. Or the forests of the Yunnan and Sichuan Province -- forests that are home to the iconic panda and Yunnan golden monkey -- where Plant a Billion restoration efforts will connect small fragments of trees to create a larger habitat for these species, as well as support local communities with jobs and training in forest management. Trees give us life -- they provide us with clean water, air and food -- all of the things we need to thrive. Celebrate Arbor Day this year by giving back to the forests that give so much to us. Sincerely, Bill Toomey Conservation Lead for Plant a Billion Trees The Nature Conservancy PHOTO: Longleaf, planted pines and native grasses at The Nature Conservancy's Green Swamp Preserve, North Carolina © Mark Godfrey/TNC. Nature.org | Where We Work | How We Work | Science in Action | Donate | Photos & Videos | About Us Find Us On: The Nature Conservancy Holds High Charity Ratings Our Ratings | Terms of Use | Privacy Statement Copyright © 2014 | The Nature Conservancy 4245 North Fairfax Drive, Suite 100, Arlington, Virginia 22203-1606 Questions or Comments? Call us toll-free at (800) 628-6860 Change Email Address | Request Password | Unsubscribe

"Why Native Plants" Doug Tallamy

Douglas W. Tallamy is the author of Bringing Nature Home. He is professor and chair of the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware in Newark, Delaware.
Tallamy has taught insect taxonomy, behavioral ecology for nearly three decades. His research has focused on better understanding the many ways insects interact with plants and how these interactions determine the diversity of animal communities.

Bringing Nature Home, Tallamy's book is an invaluable resource and read for anyone trying to sustain wildlife with native plants.

"All plants are not created equal, particularly in their ability to support wildlife. Unless we restore native plants to our suburban ecosystem, the future of biodiversity in the United States is dim. We can no longer hope to coexist with other animals if we continue to wage war on their

 homes and food supplies." Doug Tallamy

After reading Bringing Nature Home, I made the decision to fight invasive alien plants as if my life depended on it. I still have a love affair with daylilies, but I have chosen to plant over seventy five percent of our garden in native plants. Choosing not to use pesticides, removing the invasive buckthorn trees shading the native plants found growing within the forest floor, removing the phragmite plants in the surrounding wetlands and planting more native plants in our garden, my husband and I are enjoying the following list of birds, insects and animals within the boundaries of our yard.

1. Cardinals
2. Blue Jays
3. Morning Doves
4. Goldfinches
5. Robins
6. White-breasted Nuthatch
7. Hairy Woodpecker
8. Downy Woodpecker
9. Red-bellied Woodpecker
10. Bluebirds
11. House Finch
12. Dark-eyed Junco
13. Purple Finch
14. American Tree Swallow
15. House Sparrow
16. White Throated Sparrow
17. Eastern Towhee
18. Rose-breasted Grosbeak
19. Red-winged Blackbird
20. Mallards
21. Black-capped Chickadee
22. Tufted Titmouse
23. Ruby Throated Hummingbird
24. Baltimore Oriole
25. Ravens
26. Crows
27. Barred Owl
28. Cooper's Hawk
29. Blue Heron
30. Sharp-Shinned Hawk
31. Bats
32. Grey Squirrels
33. Red Squirrels
34. Chipmunks
35. Skunks
36. Raccoons
37. Possums
38. White Tailed Deer
39. Fox
40. Rabbits
41. Snapping Turtles
42. Frogs, Spring Peepers
43. Toads
44. Numerous Varieties Butterflies
45. Grasshoppers
46. Snakes
47. Walking Stick
48. Numerous Varieties Bees
49. Numerous Varieties Insects

Become empowered and part of the solution. Plant native plants, trees and shrubs. The success is up to each of us. One back yard at a time connected to a neighbors yard and another yard....

The Northwest Michigan Invasive Species Network and I want to share this information with you.  

Habitat Matters. 

Get Involved. 

When driving around your local area, take note of invasive plants. Report them to you local agencies, land conservancies and stewardship programs that are already involved. 

For Oakland County, Michigan click on: 

Oakland Phragmites & Invasive Species Task Force 

with your findings. 

OPIS Task Force through education is actively engaging township governments, private homeowners, large landowners to the reasons why it is important to remove Phragmites and other invasive plants.