If not you, then who? Your local conservation district needs citizen volunteers to serve on the conservation board and to take part in stewardship activities. Contact your local conservation district to find out how you can get involved. if you have questions or are interested, contact the Ontonagon County Conservation District at email: ontonagon@macd.org, the OCCD website: https://www.ontonagonconservationdistrict.com/ or on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OntonagonCD

Rockland Township — The August meeting of the Ontonagon County Conservation District was called to order at 7 p.m. Monday, Aug. 12. Directors Valerie Talsma, Sara Baciak, Charle Burger and Heather David were present. Also present were partners Mark Menigoz, USFS, and Anne Collins, NRCS and district manager Anne Kretschmann. Director Mike Jarvi joined after presenting the Community Forestry/Urban Forest Grant Partnership to Interior Township.

Board member Burger has really spearheaded the effort to build a coalition of partnerships with Ontonagon County townships and governmental units. With the agreement from Interior Township that Jarvi delivered, the OCCD has agreements from seven townships to partner with the conservation district.

There are three main objectives of the Community Forestry grant:

1) to inventory existing trees on community property such as cemeteries, parks, schools, office buildings, etc., owned by the townships.

2) Remove as many as 50 damaged, dying, safety hazard trees and plant two new trees for each one removed, site selected by our Forestry Technicians.

3) Provide education opportunities about the value of community forestry. OCCD is applying for the maximum grant of $225,000 and is committed to using locally sourced labor and vendors for the implementation of the grant.

The OCCD also finalized details on the Aquatic Invasive Species Prevention: “Clean Boats Clean Waters” grant with the US Forest Service: Ottawa National Forest. This grant commits the district to hosting “Clean Boats” boat washing events at major boat launches as well as educational programming. Talsma noted, in her review of the grant, that the MDNR Boaters’ Safety course that all six-grade students complete does not address the topic of AIS and “Clean Boats” and will see if the OCCD can piggy-back on that program in the two local school districts. OCCD will be seeking employees in summer 2025-26-27 to implement this grant.

Talsma met with Roger Labine, Water Resource Technician at Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, regarding surveying county sites and working to reestablish stands of Manoomin (Wild Rice, Zizania palustris) within Ontonagon County. LaBine is widely regarded as Michigan’s leading Manoomin expert. He worked for more than 50 years to restore the food staple after historic European colonization by-and-large removed the species from the landscape. Generations of habitat loss, degraded water quality, improper harvesting and climate change have further diminished the stands of this native grain. Labine and Talsma identified several sites within the county for study and possible establishment of sustaining stands of Manoomin.

Menigoz, USFS and the other board members concurred that a Manoomin project would be a good project to submit for the Ottawa National Forest Resource Advisory Committee Grant and charged Talsma with pursuing this. Collins, NRCS, strongly urged the board to involve the resource people at Keweenaw Bay Indian Community as well as the Lac Vieux Desert Band as they all have treaty rights within the county. Talsma also intends to incorporate strong educational and outreach activities for county residents, visitors and youth.

County residents can learn more about Manoomin and LaBine’s effort to get this species recognized as Michigan’s Native Grain at the OCCD annual meeting at 5 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024, at Rockland Township Hall. Labine has consented to be the Keynote Speaker and will share his stories of learning to harvest wild rice with his elders, his work throughout the Upper Great Lakes with reestablishing stands of Manoomin and the recognition of Manoomin as Michigan’s state native grain.

In other business of the conservation district, it was noted that no new candidates have submitted nomination forms for the two open seats on the Board. To be eligible for a board position, candidates must be 18 years old, a resident of Ontonagon County, interested in the stewardship of natural resources and willing to commit 2 to 3 hours a week to board activities.

Interested candidates have until close of business on Friday, Sept. 6 to file a nominating petition for the election that will take place at the annual meeting in November. If you have questions or are interested, contact the Ontonagon Conservation District at email: ontonagon@macd.org, the OCCD website: https://www.ontonagonconservationdistrict.com/ or on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OntonagonCD .

Ontonagon County Conservation District works to provide for the conservation, protection and restoration of natural resources within the county. The board participates in identifying and addressing conservation needs within the district through available resources and agency partnerships. Decisions relating to water quality, fisheries and wildlife habitat improvement and restoration, invasive species, climate resilience, local energy production, and resource extraction are examples of the types of resource issues that a board member might provide insight and advice. Board members serve as volunteers and attend the Regular Monthly Meetings.

The September meeting will be Monday, Sept. 9, at 7 p.m. at Rockland Township Hall and will include a budget hearing in a special session. Under the Michigan Open Meeting Act, the public is welcome to attend all board meetings and budget hearings.