Past Projects

Missaukee Conservation District would like to thank the following donors for making our
Annual Dinner a success:

• Americorps Program - Michigan Groundwater Stewardship Program (MGSP)

  Andy Vokes, Americorps Member, covered Missaukee, Crawford-Roscommon and Wexford Counties addressing the residential portion of the MGSP.  Home*A*Syst, the main educational tool used by Andy, was a voluntary, confidential self-assessment program individuals can use to evaluate their home and property for groundwater contamination and health risks free of charge.  Eight Home*A*Syst chapters cover essential topics every homeowner or resident should be aware of.  Each chapter contains key points, along with tables/worksheets to help identify and reduce home risks to groundwater.

  In addition to the Home*A*Syst Program, Andy also performed group presentations, free of charge, for schools, townships, lake association civic groups, Church groups, etc., on topics such as groundwater education, well and septic management, storing and using household hazardous products, safe pesticide and fertilizer use and storage, yard and garden care, abandoned wells and storm water management.  Length of presentations will vary according to group requests.

  This branch of the Americorps Program was removed from county offices on October 1, 2008 and will soon be available online for all Michigan residents. If you are interested in a Home*A*Syst hard copy, call Missaukee Conservation District, 231.839.7193.

• Friendly Garden Club Garden Walk - Saturday, July 14, 2007 The N.E.W. Missaukee Foot Trail was one of the five gardens featured this year. The gardens and trail are open for the public to visit, exercise or sit on the newly installed benches and watch the wildlife. Stop and visit the ever changing flower beds and increasing birds and butterflies.
   

• Project R.E.D takes place the third week in September
  Almost 500 Missaukee and Wexford County fifth grade students visited Many Blessings Dairy and Crooked Lake Campground to attend Rural Education Days. For the twelfth year students have been invited to the farm in Lucas for a guided tour and mini-sessions about the process required to produce milk. Sheep and horse sessions are also included in the tour.

This is the second year the students were invited to Crooked Lake for outdoor education. Students attended Fire Management, Christmas Trees, Water Safety, Groundwater Protection, Hopkins Creek Donkey Farm and Dog Gone Labs (dog training with Mark Romanack).

• The N.E.W. Missaukee Fitness Trail-

An additional one-quarter mile was added to the trail this fall; more than .5 mile will be
added spring 2009.

The N.E.W. Missaukee Fitness Trail is located at Missaukee County Offices,
6180 W. Sanborn Road, Lake City. Come walk the trail and enjoy!

Volunteers are always appreciated. Give our office a call and let us know what you are interested in! 

• Annual Dinner-
  One hundred fifty people attended the 58th Annual Dinner
  which took place Thursday, February 21, 2008
  at Timber Wolf Lake Camp, Lake City.
  Guest Speaker, Mark Romanack & his Black Lab, Mason
  presented "Dog Gone Labs".
                                                                                              
  Mark Romanack is an award winning outdoor writer, book author and television host who calls Northern Michigan home. He is Host of Fishing 411 "information" Television and Pro Staffer, Jay's Outdoor Magazine Television.
  
  Mason is a three-year-old black lab with extensive waterfowl and upland game hunting credits across American and Canada. The
  multi-media presentation "Dog Gone Labs" used video images to demonstrate what a well-trained lab and handler are capable of in the field.  Together Mark and Mason make up an educational and entertaining hunting team.

 Awards were presented to:

Vern & Angeline VandePol

Friend of Agriculture Award
Sponsored by Greenstone Farm Credit Services
 

Fox & Audrey Raden Family

Friend of Conservation Award
 

Donald & Gaylia Anger

Forest Steward Award

Sponsored by Chemical Bank West
 

Michele Bernier, Robert Kmiec,

Irene Law, & Beverly Lind
Volunteer Award

Sponsored by Citizens Bank, Falmouth

• No Dumping, Drains to Lake-                                                         

Stormwater management has become a concern in the City of Lake City. We partnered with the City as well as Lake City Schools to identify stormwater drains in combination with an education campaign.

Lake Missaukee overflow feeds into the Mosquito Creek, which flows into the Clam River, which is part of the Muskegon River Watershed. The Muskegon River Watershed Assembly lists the Mosquito Creek sub-watershed as an area of critical concern for surface water runoff. It is important to the Muskegon River Watershed ecosystem to address the issues related to stormwater discharge.

Lake City's stormwater drains into Lake Missaukee untreated near several community parks where children and adults swim everyday in the summer.

Signs were attached to Lake City stop signs to remind us all of where our stormwater and runoff drains to. Door knob hangers with additional information were placed on approximately five hundred Lake City homes with the help of  Allyson Cooley-Brakeman's Environmental Science students and Carrie Bisballe's sixth grade class.

This project was made possible through a grant from the Fremont Area Community Foundation.

• Free Mercury Thermometer Collection - To prevent mercury from contaminating our environment. Missaukee Conservation District is offering a free fever thermometer exchange. Your old mercury fever thermometers will be replaced with new digital thermometers at no charge. "Mercury Safes" can be picked up at Jerry's Pharmacy in Foster's Supermarket, McBain Pharmacy, Missaukee County Health Department and our office. This offer is funded in part through a "Catch the Fever" grant from the Michigan Association for Local Public Health, and donations from McBain Pharmacy, Jerry's Pharmacy, Norman's Well Drilling and Missaukee County Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC).

Bring your mercury fever thermometer(s) to Missaukee Conservation District to exchange. We accept all of your mercury thermometers, but have a limit of 2 digital thermometers per household.

• Free Water Testing - Free water testing is offered once more for drinking water wells and will take place July 14 2008. Nitrates and triazines naturally occur in our groundwater, however it is possible for excessive amounts of these components to enter our groundwater system. Confidential results will be sent to your home in six to eight weeks.

• Annual Dinner -
  
  When: Monday, January 29, 2007 @ 6:00 PM
  Where: Timber Wolf Lake Camp
  Cost: $12.50 adults
             $10.00 10 & under
  Guest Speaker: Dr. Pat Rusz, Michigan Wildlife Conservancy's
                                  Director of Wildlife Programs
  Topic: Cougars/Myth or Reality
  Awards:

                      Groundwater Conservation Award - The Haskin Family
                                      Sponsored by GreenStone Farm Credit Services,
                                                                7597 S Mackinaw Trail
                                                                Cadillac, MI 49601
                                                                231.775.1361

  Friend of Conservation Award - Dean Sandell
                  Sponsored by Chemical Bank West
                                            1408 N Mitchell Street
                                            Cadillac, MI 49601
                                            231.775.8588

               Volunteer Recognition -
            Earth Team Volunteer, Beverly Lind, celebrated fifteen years with the District
            Volunteers - Paula Miceli, Michele Bernier, Marcia Wieringa, Dale Bogard,
              Lois Matteson, Linda Black, Jessica Davidson, Mary Beth Montague, John
              Kendziorski, and Sheila Gaeschke
                                  Sponsored by Citizens Bank of Falmouth
                                                        500 E Prosper Road
                                                        Falmouth, MI 49632
                                                        231.826.3306
  
  For more information regarding cougars in Michigan, click on the following links:
  Michigan Department of Natural Resources-
          http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7-153-10370_12145_43573---,00.html
  The Michigan Wildlife Conservancy-
          http://www.miwildlife.org/

• Enhancing Your Landscaping Knowledge Workshop
      When: Saturday, June 3, 2006
              Immediately following the Friendly Garden Club Plant Sale
      Where:  Old fire barn behind Subway, Lake City
      Topics Covered:

  • Landscaping in Urban Settings
        Linda Black, Master Gardener

  • Benefits of Native Plants in Your Backyard
        Alix Cleveland, USDA Forest Service

  Enhancing your Landscaping Knowledge Workshops targets (but is not limited to) property owners with less than five acres made possible by a grant from the Department of Natural Resources, Forest, Mineral and Fire Management, Urban and Community Forestry Program with funding from the USDA Forest Service, State and Private Forestry.

• Pests on Ornamentals Plus Tree and Shrub Identification
     When: Thursday, June 29, 2006
      Where: Maple Grove Park
      Topics Covered:

  • Pests on Ornamentals and How to Control
    Dr. Duke Elsner, Agricultural Agent, MSU Extension

  • Tree & Shrub Identification
    Larry Thompson, Retired Horticulturalist, University of Illinois
    and current Missaukee Conservation District Board Member

    Pests on Ornamentals plus Tree and Shrub Identification targets (but is not limited to)  property owners with less than five acres made possible by a grant from the Department of Natural Resources, Forest, Mineral and Fire Management, Urban and Community Forestry Program with funding from the USDA Forest Service, State and Private Forestry.

• 2005 Log Cabin Raffle - A new 28X40' log cabin raffle was unveiled at the Annual Dinner, October 11, 2004. Missaukee Conservation District raffled a log cabin on 3.5 acres located at 7380 S. Forward Road, McBain, MI (1/4 - 1/2 mile south of Falmouth). 3500 tickets were available for $50 each.  The winning ticket was drawn October 17, 2005. Missaukee Conservation Club Raffle License #78737.

  ---

• Annual Dinner  Monday, October 17, 2005
  Timber Wolf Lake Camp, M-66, Lake City
   

  • Program "What's Meth got to do with Conservation?"
    Program by Mitch Stevens, MI State Trooper
     

  • Awards were given, fantastic dinner, directors elected, terrific program, door prizes given, Dairy Tour posters voted on, and the winning log cabin raffle was drawn by Sheriff Bosscher.

$12.50 adults, $10 children 10 & under,
registration and payment due by October 13th

tickets available at the door
$15 adults, and $12.50 children

• Native Plant Workshop   -  October 8, 2005 Benefits of landscaping with native plants and a native plant sale are highlights of this workshop. Maple Grove Building, Davis Street, Lake City.

  Lavender Hyssop	Big Blue Stem
  Wild Columbine	Swamp Milkweed
  Butterfly Weed	Sky Blue Aster
  Smooth Blue Aster	Wild Senna
  Buttonbush	Lanceleaf Coreopsis
  Purple Coneflower	Boneset
  Bottlebrush Grass	Blue Flag Iris
  Junegrass	Cardinal Flower
  Great Blue Lobelia	Lupine
  Wild Bergamot, Beebalm	Switch Grass
  Purple Prairie Coneflower	Mountain Mint
  Swamp Rose	Culver's Root
  Giant Ironweed

• 2004 Annual Dinner

What an evening we had planned at Timber Wolf Lake Camp on Monday, October 11. Michael Glenn Monroe, Artist and Illustrator of children's books arrived at 5:00 for a book signing.  Dinner started at 6:00 with Birds of Prey as the evenings entertainment. It was inspiring to hear the Bald Eagle cry.   Guest speaker, Jesse Gabbard of Michigan United Conservation Club, presented "Birds of Prey" featuring live birds. This presentation was sponsored by a grant from the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs and Traverse Area Arts Council.

Dinner guests cast their votes to determine the winning Dairy Tour Poster. Missaukee and Wexford fifth grade students were invited to attend Many Blessings Dairy Tour. Each class is then asked to create a poster about their experiences during the tour. The winning class received a cow party. McKinley Elementary, Mrs. Hunt's class is the winner of a cow party with ice cream floats.

• Native Plant Sale -  was held at Maple Grove Park across from Lake City Middle School, in 2004, during Festival of the Pines. Vern Stephens from "Designs by Nature" gave a presentation at 11:00 and was there to answer your landscaping questions. Woodland, rescued and native plants were for sale. An afternoon of invigorating plant talk is always exciting.

• Crooked Lake Project -

  McBain Rural Agricultural School and Missaukee Conservation District met on 5-24-2004 at Crooked Lake Campground to spread wood chips on pathways for hikers and bikers to enjoy this camping season.

   

2003 National Association of Conservation District Annual Poster Contest Winners for Missaukee County.  Congratulations to .....

  Thank you for helping our students appreciate Dairy Farmers!