The four-part series will cover invasive species that can be found across the state in forests and in the Great Lakes. These include sessions on sea lamprey, ornamental invasive plants, beech tree disease and swallow-wort vines.
Joanne Foreman is DNR’s Invasive Species Communications Coordinator. She said the hour-long webinars will highlight some of the state’s efforts to combat invasive species and each event will feature a Q and A session with experts.
With summer activities on the horizon, Foreman said it’s important for people to be aware of what’s going on in the environment.
“Some of these invasives are impacting some of the areas that we love, whether it’s our waters, our forests, or our open spaces, that invasive species are having an impact and they might be changing the environments that we’re used to,” Foreman said.
Foreman said everyone can help prevent the spread of invasive species. For example, she recommends people wipe or brush off any seeds they, or their pets may be carrying on their gear or paws before leaving a hiking site.
As for water activities, she said people should take similar precautions.
“There are aquatic weeds and ants that are invasive as well as little critters and sometimes when we take our boats, our gear, or even our waders into those waters we may unknowingly be picking up some of them or their offspring,” she said.
She suggests people follow a ‘clean, drain, dry’ method to preventing spread from one location to another.
The first of the four webinars’ kicks-off on April 24 at 9:00 a.m. and will focus on sea lampreys, which the DNR calls “Vampires of the Great Lakes.” The monthly series will run through July 13.
Webinar schedule (Descriptions provided by Michigan DNR)
- Vampires of the Great Lakes: A review of the binational sea lamprey control program, 9 a.m. Tuesday, April 25.
- The eel-like sea lamprey, often depicted as the poster child for invasive species in Michigan, is perhaps the scariest inhabitant of the Great Lakes. With rows of teeth in its circular mouth, this parasitic fish attaches itself to larger sportfish and literally sucks out their blood and internal fluids! Ross Shaw, communications and policy associate with the Great Lakes Fishery Commission will share more about the fascinating history of this species and the multifaceted control program that keeps populations in check.
- To infinity ... and beyond (beauty)! Highlighting a statewide ornamental invasive plant outreach program, 9 a.m. Thursday, May 25.
- Did you know that many invasive plants found in natural areas today originally arrived as ornamental garden plants? Some garden professionals and community members have committed to stop selling and using ornamental plants with invasive tendencies by signing on to the Go Beyond Beauty program. Shelly Stusick, program specialist at the Northwest Michigan Invasive Species Network will share the benefits of partnering with local nurseries, garden centers and concerned citizen groups to provide ornamental invasive species education.
- Life’s a beech! Another disease is threatening Michigan’s majestic giants. 9 a.m. Wednesday, June 14.
- Plenty of Michigan’s beech trees are stressed by beech bark disease, and now a microscopic worm is attacking through their leaves. Simeon Wright, Michigan Department of Natural Resources forest health specialist, takes an in-depth look at beech leaf disease. Join him to discover the potential impacts of this emerging disease, what’s being done to address it, and how to spot the symptoms of beech leaf disease on your trees.
- Can this moth help save monarchs? Swallow-wort biological control efforts in Michigan, 9 a.m. Thursday, July 13.
- Classical biological control returns with a showdown between invasive swallow-wort vines and Hypena opulenta, a defoliating moth that only develops on invasive swallow-worts. Marianna Szucs from the Department of Entomology at Michigan State University will explain how invasive swallow-wort vines, kin to native milkweed plants, are disrupting the life cycle of monarch butterflies and discuss the complexity of research efforts to establish Hypena opulenta as a swallow-wort biocontrol agent in Michigan.
