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19th
Century Naturalist
Bela Hubbard
Portrayed by Kyle Bagnall,
CNC Manager of
Historical
Programs
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A Spring Tradition
Looking Back at
the
2007 Maple Syrup Season
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Watch the rivers break
winter's icy grip!
Spring 2007
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Need
Quicktime to view?
Venturing
Out?
What plants and animals can I find at Chippewa Nature
Center?
Download one of the following checklists to
make your visit fun AND educational!
Articles by Janea Little, Chippewa Nature Center Senior
Naturalist:
Outreach Programs
Interested
in having one of our naturalists speak to your group? A
wide variety of topics are available. Please call
989.631.0830 for full descriptions.
Bela Hubbard Programs:
Ephraim
Williams Program:
Ephraim
Williams arrived at “The Forks” of the Tittabawassee and
Chippewa Rivers in 1828 to reopen a trading post as an
agent of the American Fur Company. For the next twelve
years, Ephraim and his brothers were prominent traders
in the Saginaw Valley at the very end of the fur trading
era. Step back in time as Kyle Bagnall, Manager of
Historical Programs at Chippewa Nature Center, presents
a costumed, first-person program based on the life of
Ephraim Williams. You’ll hear tales of this renowned
pioneer family as they were caught up in the War of
1812, established a farm in an unbroken forest, traded
with Native Americans and built the first sawmill in the
Saginaw Valley.
Recommended
Reading
-
Rites of
Conquest – For those who seek a better understanding of
the history of Michigan’s Native Americans, this book
provides an excellent overview of Native American history
through European contact, the fur trade, treaty making,
reservation establishment and into modern times.
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Where Two Worlds Meet
– This book uses images of Great
Lakes fur trade era artifacts and period illustrations to
investigate the importance of the fur trade and how people
from two different worlds exchanged goods and ideas, changing
both cultures forever.
- Winter World, by Bernd
Heinrich – How animals, particularly the golden-crowned
kinglet, survive the winter. A fabulous read!
- Caterpillars of Eastern
North America – At last, a full-sized field guide to
caterpillars! Use it for more than a field guide, though,
because it is chock-full of natural history and behavioral
information.
- Forest and Thicket, Swamp
and Bog and any other book by the late John Eastman –
These books are not field guides, but are loaded with
information on ecological interactions, folklore and other
facets not easily found in other sources.
-
Songs
of Insects, by Lang Elliott and Wil
Hershberger. Includes
a wonderful CD of the songs of katydids, grasshoppers,
crickets and tree crickets from (mostly) eastern
North America
.
Has wonderful natural history information and
practical tips such as which species will continue to sing
when under the glare of a flashlight.
-
Field
Guide to Insects of
North America, by
Kenn Kaufman.
Practical,
easy-to-use guide, albeit focusing on the more common
species. Wonderful photographs Kaufman-style (altered to
highlight the key ID features).
-
Spiders
of the North Woods, by Larry Weber.
The “North Woods” series doesn’t technically
include southern Michigan, but still, a beautiful guide to most of the spiders of
this area. Packed
full of interesting information on spiders, from
web-building to mating behaviors.
Why Plant
Native?
Now, more than ever, people want to know what small,
simple steps they can take to live a "greener" life.
Choosing native plants offers important earth-friendly
advantages over exotic nursery stock.
Plants
propagated from native genotypes are easier to establish
in your home landscape than non-native plants. Once
established, they require no irrigation and no
chemicals, and their natural hardiness makes it less
likely that you’ll need to replace them. Also, given a
little space of their own, many native plants act a lot
differently when "tamed." Plants that would be in
serious competition in the wild suddenly become free in
your garden to show off their attributes, and can put on
a show to rival any cultivated species.
Native
plants also help keep the ecosystem in balance,
providing the food, shelter and cover that wildlife
needs to survive. Many exotic plant species not only
fall short on this critical function, but can also
become harmfully invasive, choking out or hybridizing
their native neighbors.
That bring
us to the diverse beauty that natives provide. If you
like exotics, you’d better really like them.
Since so many of them are invasive, they may well take
over the landscape, leaving you nothing else to enjoy.
Plan to
attend Chippewa Nature Center's Native Plant Sale in
May. Even if you don’t purchase plants at CNC, it’s a
great opportunity to get advice on what you should
buy. You’d be surprised to learn how harmful many
"common" nursery plants can be—to your garden and
to the larger ecosystem. Learn more about the
Native Plant Sale.
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