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Invasives species grants awarded

MARQUETTE — The Michigan departments of Environmental Quality, Natural Resources, and Agriculture and Rural Development announced that 17 grant projects will share $3,507,907 in funding through the Michigan Invasive Species Grant Program.

Four projects are located in the Upper Peninsula, including one with the Kingsford-based Wild Rivers Invasive Species Coalition.

The initiative was launched in 2014 to help prevent and control invasive species, which can overtake and harm ecosystems, within the state.

The program targets four key objectives:

— Preventing new introductions of invasive species through outreach and education.

— Monitoring for new invasive species and the expansion of existing invasive species.

— Strategically managing and controlling key colonized species.

— Responding to and conducting eradication efforts for new findings and range expansions.

In the three years since the program was initiated by the Legislature, more than $11 million has been awarded in grants to local governments, nonprofits and institutions for on-the-ground management, education and outreach, and development of innovative methods for controlling invasive species.

“Funding provided through the Michigan Invasive Species Grant Program empowers our partners to make real strides in the fight against invasive species,” DNR Director Keith Creagh stated in a news release. “Collaboration like this is critical to safeguarding Michigan’s world-class woods and waters and ensuring these valuable natural resources remain healthy and accessible to current and future generations.”

This year’s award recipients include seven cooperative invasive species management areas, providing education and management assistance in 35 counties across Michigan. CISMA efforts range from treating invasive phragmites and removing European frogbit to helping identify invasive species and preventing their spread.

The Wild Rivers Invasive Species Coalition — which covers Dickinson and Menominee counties plus Wisconsin’s Florence, Marinette and Forest counties — will receive $162,000 for a Cooperative Invasive Species Management Area, or CISMA, Strategic Action Plan that focuses on education and outreach, increased monitoring and detection, continued control and management, and highlighting monitoring of invasives in area riverine systems.

The Alger Conservation District will receive $200,000 for the Central Upper Peninsula Cooperative Weed Management Area’s “Halting Invasives at the Hub.”

The project, which includes Alger, Marquette, Delta and Schoolcraft counties, will start and continue management of priority terrestrial non-native invasive species such as garlic mustard, knotweed and baby’s breath; control roadside invasives through a timed mowing program; survey and manage invasives at gravel pits to reduce infestation sources; sample lakes for aquatic invasive species; and conduct outreach to boaters and lake owners.

A total of $312,158 has been designated for the Three Shores Cooperative Invasive Species Management Program for Chippewa, Luce and Mackinac counties. The project, overseen by the Chippewa Luce Mackinac Conservation District, will provide prevention, detection, eradication and control of non-native invasives through outreach, education and strategic control efforts.

A minimum of 200 acres of invasives will be treated, with 100 miles of shoreline and 1,500 acres surveyed and monitored in the eastern U.P.

A project affecting Baraga, Houghton and Keweenaw counties and involving the Keweenaw Invasive Species Management Area and the Keweenaw Land Trust will receive $261,021. Proposed outreach and education is expected to foster community understanding, awareness and action to collectively help mitigate invasive species impacts across land ownership boundaries and ecosystems.

Other examples of how this year’s funding will be used include:

— Protecting hemlock and oak forests through improved detection and control methods to target hemlock woolly adelgid and oak wilt — a tree pest and a disease taking a toll on Michigan’s landscape and forest resources. Treatment of a recently discovered outbreak of oak wilt in Belle Isle’s rare wet-mesic flatwood forest also will be supported by the grant program.

— Increased prevention and reporting of invasive species through several efforts aimed at increasing citizen involvement. Professional development workshops will encourage teachers to develop and share lesson plans about preventing the release of exotic pets and plants. Anglers will be recruited as citizen scientists to monitor streams and report New Zealand mudsnail detections. More volunteers will be trained to share the “Clean, Drain, Dry” message at boat launches throughout Michigan.

— Protecting inland lake fisheries by releasing sterile male sea lamprey as an alternative to lampricide treatment. The approach will be tested in Michigan’s Inland Waterway, a nearly 40-mile-long chain of lakes and rivers stretching from just north of Petoskey to Lake Huron. Release of sterile male sea lamprey — both less expensive and less environmentally harmful than the chemical treatment — might be the first step in eradicating the aquatic invader from this important resource.

The DNR began accepting grant applications for this funding cycle last June. After the original call for pre-proposals, which yielded 45 applications seeking a total of $9.9 million, the department received 26 full proposals requesting more than $6.6 million in support. Grant applicants were asked to commit to providing at least 10 percent of the total project cost in the form of a local match.

More information about Michigan’s Invasive Species Grant Program is available at www.michigan.gov/invasivespecies.

Christie Bleck can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 250, or cbleck@miningjournal.net.

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