Marquette, MI - Northern MI teens in are continuing their mission to protect pollinators during 2009 by helping butterflies & restoring native plants to areas of the Upper Peninsula.
Billions of these bees are dying across the world in a syndrome called Colony Collapse Disorder & its not clear why - although human impact on the environment are among the suspected causes. A world without bees would mean world without food as was dramatically pointed out in the Jerry Seinfield 2007 comedy Bee movie. Bees go on strike causing plants across the world die - that means no food, no flowers, no trees - the death of civilization. After bees, the next best pollinators are butterflies.
Marquette, MI area teens & Native American youth spent the summer of 2008 building butterfly houses - that are longer & slimmer than birdhouses & are lined with bark.
Teens participating in the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community Summer Youth Program built & painted the houses at the tribes Natural Resource Department along Lake Superior.
KBIC Natural Resource Department Director Todd Warner said the Zaagkii Project is a good way for youth to become aware of their connection to natural resources & nature.
The butterfly houses offer protection to butterflies that can enter thru tiny slits.
Butterfly houses also offer rest to migrating monarchs & can be used for reproduction.
Marquette teens have planted or distributed 26,000 native plant including at the Hiawatha National Forest greenhouse in Marquette.
In the spring of 2009 some of the plants will be planted at several areas across northern MI including at Sand Point - a beach that the KBIC has been repairing from the effects of copper mining. About 100 years ago, the mine dumped copper processing waste into Lake Superior polluting miles of shoreline. KBIC capped the pollution & the native plants will be used to attract wildlife & restore the ecosystem. The Zaagkii Project was founded by the non- profit Cedar Tree Institute in Marquette that has sponsored numerous environment projects. The Zaagkii Project is sponsored by the CTI, Marquette County Juvenile Court, KBIC & the United States Forest Service.
Future videos will include a look at a bee farm in Marquette County that fascinated Zaagkii Project teens who learned about the importance of pollinators.
Contributors Inlcude: Marquette Community Foundation, Negaunee Community Fund, Negaunee Community Youth Fund, M.E. Davenport Foundation, Kaufman Foundation, Phyllis & Max Reynolds Foundation, Upper Peninsula Children's Museum, Borealis Seed Company in Big Bay, Mich. Im Greg Peterson, Zaagkii TV
KBIC Tribal Chair Warren C. Chris Swartz Jr.
906-353-6623
KBIC Natural Resource Department (NRD)
Todd Warner, NRD Director
Evelyn Ravindran, NRD Natural Resources Specialist
906-524-5757
Kim Klopstein, KBIC Summer Youth Program
906-201-0020
United State Department of Agriculture United States Forest Service Eastern Region Milwaukee, WI.
Jan Schultz, Botany & Non-native Invasive Species Program Leader
414-297-1189
Angie Lucas, contractor Hiawatha National Forest Greenhouse Manager
906-228-8491
Hiawatha National Forest Office
Terry Miller, forest botanist Escanaba, MI
906-789-3319
Deb LeBlanc, West Side Plant Ecologist Munising, MI.
Monarch Workshops
906-387-251
Beekeeper Jim Hayward Negaunee, MI
906-475-7582
Cedar Tree Institute
906-228-5494
http://www.cedartreeinstitute.org
Marquette County Juvenile Court:
http://www.co.marquette.mi.us/probate.htm
http://www.co.marquette.mi.us/courts.htm
Marquette/Negaunee community foundations
906-226-7666
http://www.mqt-cf.org
Borealis Seed Company Big Bay, Mich.
http://www.ltbbodawa-nsn.gov/index.html
Upper Peninsula Children's Museum
http://www.upcmkids.org
Bee Movie created in 2007 by Jerry Seinfeld & DreamWorks Animation
http://www.beemovie.com
Monarch Watch::
http://monarchwatch.orgMonarch Author Lynn M. Rosenblatt
http://www.monarchbutterflyusa.com/Magic.htm
Austin, Texas Honeybee video courtesy: Johnnie Hargrave
Photos by Richard Burkmar; Paul Billiet & Shirley Burchill
Wikipedia photos by (Usernames when real name not available): Tübingen-Hagelloch, Björn Appel, Warden, Debi Vort, Kristof Van der Poorten, John Severns, Waugsberg, Kenneth Dwain Harrelson, Derek Ramsey, John O'Neill
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollinator_decline
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_Collapse_Disorder
Zaagkii Blog:
http://zaagkiiproject.wordpress.com
Zaagkii news:
http://www.miningjournal.net/page/content.detail/id/519835.html?nav=5001
http://www.saulttribe.com/index2.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_view&...
http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/archive/28395844.html
http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/home/content/28284129.html
http://nativetimes.bizweb5.tulsaconnect.com/index.php?option=com_content&...
http://indiancountrynews.net/index2.php?option=com_content&do_pdf=1&i...
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what an awesome project and way to get involved !!!
1000kats 2 years ago 4
its cool how you put the bee movie in there...keep up the great work.
littlewaitress 3 years ago 3