Inside this issue:
Message From the President
Message From the Vice-President
IKES Identity Campaign
Visit With Gov. Granholm
Conservation Issues
Officers & Board members
Message
From the President
Greetings:
A long, long time ago (in 1961) the Dwight Lydell Chapter purchased 37
acres of land in Cannon Township. The land was beautiful with rolling
hills and a beautiful trout stream running through it. The land needed
vegetation so the members planted many trees and bushes to encourage
wildlife. The trees and bushes prospered and grew and soon covered the
property.
A few decades went by (around 1990) and some of the members decided
that a plan to help guide the conservation efforts on the property was
needed. The members contacted Tom Nederveld and he created a Forest
Stewardship Plan (FSP).
Today (2006) that plan is in the process of being certified by the
sate, which will not only continue to provide direction, it will also
qualify the chapter to apply for restoration dollars.
This plan breaks our property into management units, which give our
volunteers bite size pieces that can be reworked in a season or two. A
project like Teardrop Island is an example. On Teardrop Island the
non-native bushes and trees were removed two years ago. That fall and
the entire next year were devoted to holding our ground against a
resurgence of Autumn Olive. This year mulch was applied and the native
Michigan plant restoration began. Teardrop Island is a small portion of
Management Unit 12, which will be used to demonstrate practical
conservation and restoration practices for our own yards and
neighborhoods.
The area to the west of the building and east of the creek is
Management Unit 11. The Scot (or Scotch) Pine were planted 40 years
ago. They are not native and they are nearing the end of their life
span so the decision was made to remove them, spend the next year
controlling Autumn Olive and then replant native bushes and trees the
following year. That area along with the area directly west of the
building are pretty substantial projects, but as always our volunteers
have rallied around the activity and we are making wonderful progress.
Later this summer the plan will be certified and we will share it with
you at our social events. Until then be sure to take a walk around the
property when you can. Things are changing.
Enjoy the summer.
Lori
Message
From the Vice-President
By Dave Lester
It’s Not Easy Being Green (But It is Still Worth it)
This month, we continue our series on information prior to our Design Charrette for our new building and facilities.
We already talked about the Green Building standard from the U.S. Green
Building Council, the LEED Certification, where we would seek the
highest level, Platinum. If we receive this certification we will be
the first Platinum-Certified building in Michigan (if you want to
review this, go to www.usgbc.org)
We also want to go for another Green Building certification, Green
Globes. This Certification protocol started in Canada, and the Green
Building Initiative has brought it to the U.S. For more, go to
www.thegbi.org.
The highest level of certification for Green Globes is Four Globes, and
our thought is that we would like to be the first facility to be both
certified by the USGBC as Platinum, and by Green Globes as Four Globes.
One area where Green Globes currently differs from LEED is in the area
of using local and sustainable wood as a major building component.
LEED certification arose in the commercial building sector, and they
still embrace steel and synthetic building materials as the main
building source. But these are extracted materials based on mining and
petrochemical fabrication.
On the other hand, Green Globes, having evolved in Canada, gives more
emphasis to wood from sustainable sources as a preferred building
material.
Our feeling is that we would like to emphasize the use of locally grown
wood (including that from our own property) as a primary building
material, one that we can demonstrate to our neighbors and
stakeholders. The idea being that materials grown locally and
regionally can be utilized to reduce resources used in manufacturing
and transporting materials.
Enough for now. But remember, you are all going to get an invitation
this summer to the Design Charrette, and we hope you will join us in
designing a facility that we can all enjoy, and also use for Education
through Demonstration to show everyone what they CAN do on their own
properties and businesses.
Dave
IKES Identity Campaign
By Tom Watson
On May 22 about forty
students of Tam Bagby from the Kent Career Technical Center visited the
IKES property. The event was organized so that the graphic design
students could develop designs for various products the chapter may
use. During their visit the students fished with Bob Stegmier, explored
the property on a nature treasure hunt, began initial work on their
designs and enjoyed lunch prepared by Duane DeVries, Linda Arnold
Schuhardt and me.
On June 1, Duan DeVries, Lori Larsen, Linda Arnold Schuhardt and I met the students at KCTC where we judged their designs.
Their products included an updated web page, a new chapter logo,
letterheads, bookmarks, brochures, tee shirts, a kids’ activity book,
business forms and similar items. The work the students presented was
remarkably polished and professional, especially since they had only a
few days to work on their ideas.
In all we chose twelve products and these were burned to a disk. Over
the summer we will review their ideas, suggest changes and then select
some or all for our future use. The students of the winning designs
were given a one-year student membership in the Izaak Walton League, at
a cost of $7.20 each. For well under $100 we now have designs for a
number of products we can use, something that would have cost many
times this amount should we have hired a professional to produce the
designs. In addition we may get some new family memberships that may be
generated from this project.
The winning students were:
Rory Chappell
Nichole Gibson
Andrea Howard
Tiffany Jones
Thomas King
Amber Landauer
Jasmin Lopez
Kristin Patrick
Tyler Priest
Ashley Prue
Danielle Taylor
Katie Wilk
Visit with Governor Granholm
by E. John Trimberger
I had the privilege and
honor to represent the Izaak Walton League at a coffee and briefing at
the Governor’s residence on June 9, 2006. About 40 individuals from
various conservation and environmental organizations around Michigan
were in attendance. In addition, the Governor had several of her staff
members there as well as DEQ Director Steve Chester and DNR Director
Becky Humphries and several of their staff.
The Governor talked about the fact we were again making progress on
conservation and environmental issues after having new Directors and
key people in place following the last administration. She reviewed
several of the positive things that have happened and outlined her
hopes for the future.
She vividly pointed out the current legislature was not inclined to act
on anything coming from her administration and closely followed their
party’s leadership. She suggested the most positive thing the groups
could do was to support candidates, whether Democrat or Republican, who
understand our issues and may vote on them in a bi-partisan manner.
I did not know all of the individuals in attendance, but I may well
have been the only person representing an organization that was not on
a payroll. I think this shows we are being recognized as an important
organization in Michigan despite our size, finances, etc. And, several
DEQ and DNR staff thanked us for our interest in conservation and
environmental affairs and our willingness to comment on them to their
Departments and the Legislature.
Asian Carp Barrier
From the Michigan Wetland Action Coalition
On June 15, 2006, Congress passed and the President signed the $94.5
billion Emergency Supplemental Appropriations bill. The bill contains
$400,000 to operate and maintain the Asian carp barrier. It also
contains small changes to current law to allow the U.S. Army Corps to
reprogram money for the operation of the demonstration barrier without
having to go to Congress.
The electric barrier serves as the last line of defense against the
Asian carp, a non-native species that is migrating up the Mississippi
River and threatening to enter Lake Michigan through the Chicago
Sanitary and Ship Canal.
This is a big victory for the Great Lakes. It means that the Asian carp
barrier can be operated and maintained while Congress tries to pass
legislation that would permanently authorize the entire barrier
system--both barrier’s I and II. The barrier was at risk of being shut
off because the Army Corps was running out of funds.
While the supplemental legislation ensures that both barriers will
remain in operation for the time being, permanent funding for their
operation and completion of a necessary backup power supply is still
needed. To secure the barriers’ permanent operation, Congress must pass
legislation to provide the authority and funding for the permanent
authorization of both barriers.
Who's Who in the Chapter
Note:
Board meetings are held the last Tuesday of each month. Weather
permitting, they are held at the chapter club house. During winter
months meeting locations may change. If you are interested in attending
a meeting, please contact a board member to confirm the meeting
location. Meetings start at 7pm promptly and end at 9pm or sooner.
Officers
President, Lori Larsen 874-7549
VP, Dave Lester 304-3380
Secretary, Steve Williams 676-3956
Treasurer, Fred Eyer 363-0253
Board Members
Josh Conran 291-0257
Duane DeVries 532-9151
Mike Grimshaw (231)797-5319
Jay Huston 942-2530
C. J. Tasma, 887-8542
Mike Zoppa 874-9605
Barb McGuirl 874-7740
Linda Schuhardt 363-7001
Maurie Houseman 974-6828
Tom Watson 874-7254
Conservation Chair:
• John Trimberger 866-8475
Membership Chair:
• Bob Stegmeier 866-4769
Lodge Rental:
• Dave Long 874-0873
Groundskeeper:
• Bob Harshman 454-8745
Ike's Caps $8 and Sport Shirts $20 available.
Call Bob Stegmier at 866-4769
Great gift items!
