Northern Michigan youth protect pollinators

Native American youth and other Northern Michigan teens are protecting pollinators like butterflies because honeybees are dying by the billions across the world

Monarch Photos by Author Lynn Rosenblatt

Other photos by Greg Peterson

The Zaagkii Wings and Seeds Project is the latest youth environment project founded by the non-profit Cedar Tree Institute in Marquette, Michigan in cooperation with the Marquette County Juvenile Court, Keweenaw Bay Indian Community (KBIC) and the United States Forest Service (USFS).

The teens spent the summer building butterfly houses that offer protection, rest and an egg laying environment to Monarchs and other butterflies. The white cedar butterfly houses are lined with bark with slits that allow entry and are slimmer and longer than birdhouses.

The teens potted 26,000 native plant seeds at the Hiawatha National Forest greenhouse that will be transplanted across Michigan’s Upper Peninsula including 2.5 miles along Sand Point, a Lake Superior beach that was the first Native American Brownfield site in the Midwest after being contaminated 90 years ago by a copper refinery.

Monarch Photo by Author Lynn Rosenblatt

Other photos by Greg Peterson

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This was the first summer of a four-year project that will include numerous efforts to protect pollinators. Called Colony Collapse Disorder, honey bees are dying by the billions across the world and experts say feral and commercial bee colonies have declined by 70 to 90 percent in the past 25 years.

Over the centuries, bees have faced challenges including deadly mites but what alarms experts is how quickly the hives are collapsing. Possible reasons include climate change, stress and pesticides.

Monarch Female photo (bottom left) from Wikipedia by Ken Harrelson

Monarch Butterfly Male photo (bottom right) from Wikipedia by Derek Ramsey

Wikipedia Honeybee Photos by Björn Appel, Wikipedia (Username Warden) and by Waugsberg

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“The mystery of the dying bees” by COSMOS Magazine:

http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/node/1087

The Zaagkii Project contributors and sponsors include the Marquette Community Foundation, the Negaunee Community Fund, the Negaunee Community Youth Fund, the M.E. Davenport Foundation, the Kaufman Foundation, the Phyllis and Max Reynolds Foundation, the Upper Peninsula Children’s Museum in Marquette, Mich. and the Borealis Seed Company in Big Bay, Mich.

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Contacts and Links related to the Zaagkii Project, the Cedar Tree Institute and related topics:

Keweenaw Bay Indian Community (KBIC) Contacts:

KBIC Tribal Chair Warren C. “Chris” Swartz Jr.
906-353-6623 ext. 4104
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KBIC Vice Chair Susan LaFernier
906-353-6623
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KBIC Natural Resource Department (NRD)

Todd Warner, Director of KBIC Natural Resource Department
Keweenaw Bay Indian Community
Ph: (906) 524-5757 ext. 13
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Evelyn Ravindran, KBIC NRD Natural Resources Specialist
906-524-5757 ext. 11
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KBIC NRD Staffers interviewed:
Katie Kruse, NRD Environment specialist
Char Beesley. Environment Specialist
Kit Laux, NRD Water Quality Specialist
(906) 524-5757
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Kim Klopstein, one of the summer youth supervisors for the KBIC Summer Youth Program
906-201-0020
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United State Department of Agriculture (USDA) oversees United States Forest Service (USFS)
USDA USFS
Forest Service Eastern Region
626 E. Wisconsin Ave.
Suite 700
Milwaukee, Wis.
53202
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Jan Schultz, Botany & Non-native Invasive Species Program Leader
USFS Milwaukee
(414) 297-1189 (wk)
(414) 944-3963 (fax)
jschultz@fs.fed.us
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Jane Cliff, USFS Public Relations in Milwaukee
(414) 297-3664
jcliff@fs.fed.us
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Angie Lucas, contractor, Hiawatha National Forest Greenhouse Manager
(906) 228-8491
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Terry Miller, forest botanist
Hiawatha National Forest Office
Escanaba, Mich.
(906) 789-3319
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Deb LeBlanc, West Side Plant Ecologist
Hiawatha National Forest
Munising, Mich. Office
Does Monarch Workshops
(906) 387-2512 ext. 19
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Beekeeper Jim Hayward (Marquette Dentist by trade)
103 Buffalo Road.
Negaunee, Michigan
49866

(906) 475-7582
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Carole Touchinski, Marquette & Negaunee community foundations
(906) 226-7666
http://www.mqt-cf.org
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Rev. Jon Magnuson, Zaagkii Wings and Seeds founder & Executive Director of non-profit Cedar Tree Institute (CTI)
(906) 228-5494 (hm)
(906) 360-5072 (cell)
(906) 226-5072 (alt. home phone)
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Links:
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United State Forest Service (USFS) celebrating wildflowers website:

http://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/index.shtml

http://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/pollinators/index.shtml
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Cedar Tree Institute - non-profit in Marquette, Michigan:
http://www.cedartreeinstitute.org
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Keweenaw Bay Indian Community:
http://www.kbic-nsn.gov
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Marquette County Juvenile Court:
http://www.co.marquette.mi.us/probate.htm
http://www.co.marquette.mi.us/courts.htm
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Marquette County Juvenile Coutr & Project WEAVE:
http://www.reclaimingfutures.org/?q=locations_marquette
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Borealis Seed Company
Big Bay, Michigan
Run by mother-daughter team of Judy Keast and Suzanne Rabitaille cultivating about 5 acres of a 20-acre spread three miles south of Big Bay, Michigan.
http://www.ltbbodawa-nsn.gov/index.html
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Upper Peninsula Children’s Museum
http://www.upcmkids.org/
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Monarch Watch::
http://monarchwatch.org/

Monarch Author Lynn M. Rosenblatt
http://www.monarchbutterflyusa.com/Magic.htm

Numerous Monarch related links:
http://www.kidsgardening.com/pollinator/curriculum/resources.php
http://www.insecta-inspecta.com/butterflies/monarch/index.html
http://www.nhptv.org/natureworks/monarch.htm
http://www.learner.org/jnorth/monarch
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Wikipedia on Monarchs:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monarch_Butterfly
Female Monarch photo:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/63/Monarch_In_May.jpg
Wiki May 2007 Photograph of a Monarch Butterfly by Kenneth Dwain Harrelson

Male Monarch Photo by Derek Ramsey (Ram-Man) at the Tyler Arboretum
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/Monarch_Butterfly_Danaus_plexippus_Male_2664px.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Ram-Man
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Bees disappearing around the world:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollinator_decline
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bees_and_toxic_chemicals
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_Collapse_Disorder
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pesticide_toxicity_to_bees
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imidacloprid_effects_on_bee_population
http://www.burtsbees.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ContentView?contentPageId=531&catalogId=10051&storeId=10001&langId=-1
http://www.polinator.org/
http://www.vanishingbees.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diseases_of_the_honey_bee
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endangered_arthropod

Wikipedia Honeybee Photos by Björn Appel, Wikipedia Username Warden.
Edit by Waugsberg (cropped)
A honeybee on an apiary, cooling by flapping its wings in Tübingen-Hagelloch.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c5/Honeybee-cooling_cropped.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/df/Honeybee-cooling.jpg

Wiki Bee photos by Waugsberg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dc/Biene_88a.jpg
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Biene_88a.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b8/Bienen_im_Flug_52e.jpg
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Keweenaw Peninsula: Michigan’s Copper Country:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copper_mining_in_Michigan
http://www.unr.edu/sb204/geology/westernh.html
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West Virginia White Butterfly & killer Garlic Mustard Seed plants:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Virginia_White
http://www.cbgarden.org/blog/index.php/tag/west-virginia-white-butterfly/
http://leapbio.org/west_virginia_white.php
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5a/3402_white_WV_ws.jpg

West Virginia White, Pieris virginiensis on wild mustard Photo by Randy L Emmitt
http://www.rlephoto.com/butterflies/white_wv01.htm
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Butterflies/Moths:
The Butterfly Site:
http://www.thebutterflysite.com/
Children’s butterfly links:
http://www.monarchbutterflyusa.com/Links.htm
Butterfly Encounters:
http://www.butterflyencounters.com/
Butterflys and Moths of North America:
http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org
Opler, Paul A., Harry Pavulaan, Ray E. Stanford, Michael Pogue, coordinators. 2006. Butterflies and Moths of North America. Bozeman, MT: NBII Mountain Prairie Information Node. http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org
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Deciduous forests:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deciduous
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Viceroys:
Viceroy Butterfly mimics Monarchs
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viceroy_butterfly
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/55/Viceroy_Butterfly.jpg
Wikipedia Viceroy photo by Piccolo “Pic” Namek
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:PiccoloNamek

Viceroy:
http://www.nhptv.org/natureworks/viceroy.htm
Photo by William T. Hark
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Butterfly & endangered species hibernacula:
http://www.fws.gov/midwest/Endangered/lists/michigan-cty.html
http://www.naturenorth.com/summer/bgarden/bttgrdF.html
http://entweb.clemson.edu/museum/buttrfly/local/bfly12.htm
http://actazool.nhmus.hu/48/konvicka.pdf
http://earthcaretaker.com/naturalization/llamb.html
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Mourning Cloaks aka Morning Cloaks:
http://www.sierrapotomac.org/W_Needham/MourningCloak_060319.htm
http://www.bentler.us/eastern-washington/insects/mourning-cloak.aspx
http://www.ivyhall.district96.k12.il.us/4th/kkhp/1insects/mourningcloak.html
http://www.naturenorth.com/spring/bug/mcloak/Fmcloak.html
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Mason bees - bee houses in wood:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mason_bee
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6c/Osmia_rufa_couple_(aka).jpg
Photo of an Red Mason Bee couple (osmia rufa) by André Karwath of German Wikipedia also known as AKA (André Karwath):
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Aka

Mason Bees:
http://www.farminfo.org/bees/mason-bees.htm

http://www.everythingabout.net/articles/biology/animals/arthropods/insects/bees/mason_bee/
Photo by Kim Taylor of Bruce Coleman Inc.

http://www.masonbeehomes.com/bee_houses.php
http://www.pollinator.com/mason_homes.htm
http://www.insectpix.net/Homes_for_bees.htm
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Brownfield sites:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brownfields
http://ncrs.fs.fed.us/4902/focus/restoration/brownfield/
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Mass Mill - copper processing waste (stamp sands) cleanup:
(Search for KBIC in following document)
http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/tribalgov/ImprovingPartnerships.pdf
http://www.uprcd.org/projects.asp
http://www.upea.com/filesfordownloading/Baragadraft.pdf
http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/tribalgov/ImprovingPartnerships.pdf
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Dave Anthony & Northern Michigan University Center for Native American studies:
http://webb.nmu.edu/Centers/NativeAmericanStudies/SiteSections/Calendar/IEDSHighlights.shtml
http://webb.nmu.edu/Centers/NativeAmericanStudies/SiteSections/AboutUs/AboutUs.shtml
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Manoomin Project:
http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096416108
http://www.cedartreeinstitute.org/wildrice2007.html
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/news_press_release,215966.%20shtml
http://blog.americanfeast.com/indigenous_food
http://www.goodnewsdaily.com/show_story.php?ID=3500

Manoomin Project Videos:
http://blip.tv/file/549632
http://blip.tv/file/341528/
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Dreamcatcher:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreamcatcher_(Native_American)
http://www.dreamcatcher.com/home.php
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Northern white cedar:
http://forestry.about.com/library/tree/blntwh.htm
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Honeybee decline:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollinator_decline
http://www.masterbeekeeper.org/pdf/pollination.pdf

The Value of Honey Bees As Pollinators of U.S. Crops in 2000 by Drs. Roger Morse and Nicholas Calderone of Cornell University (2000) :

Colony Collapse Disorder (or CCD) is a poorly understood phenomenon in which worker bees from a beehive or Western honey bee colony abruptly disappear. While such disappearances have occurred throughout the history of apiculture, the term Colony Collapse Disorder was first applied to a drastic rise in the number of disappearances of Western honey bee colonies in North America in late 2006.
European beekeepers observed a similar phenomenon in Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Spain, and initial reports have also come in from Switzerland and Germany, albeit to a lesser degree. Possible cases of CCD have also been reported in Taiwan since April 2007.
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