Working alongside members of several Ojibwa tribes, at-risk teens with the U.S. Forest Service-sponsored Zaagkii Wings and Seeds Project in Michigan's Upper Peninsula will continue protecting pollinators during 2010 by helping to build the first-ever native species plants greenhouse on an American Indian reservation and hope to trace the Mexico Monarch migration.
During the summers 2008-2009, some 23 at-risk teens from Marquette, MI planted/distributed over 26,000 native plants seeds, helped transplant hundreds of native plant seedlings, hiked through remote forests with Zaagkii Project Native American college interns to learn importance and uses for native species plants, and have built and painted 36 mason bee houses and 18 butterfly houses with one of each placed by the USFS in The Peoples Garden at U.S. Department of Agriculture Headquarters, National Mall, Washington, DC.
The Zaagkii Project is sponsored by the nonprofit Cedar Tree Institute, Keweenaw Bay Indian Community (KBIC), the United States Forest Service (USFS) and Marquette County Juvenile Court.
The at-risk teens put in 1,786 hours of community service working on the Zaagkii Project.
In 2010, the youths will help the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community and the USFS build a native plants greenhouse near the shores of Lake Superior, the first time such a greenhouse has been built on tribal property in the U.S.
KBIC "is happy to be partnering with the Cedar Tree Institute and the U.S. Forest Service in trying to protect native plants and bring them back home," said KBIC Tribal President Chris Swartz Jr. "One day we hope (KBIC) will be regarded as pioneers to bring these native plants back here.
In 2010, Zaagkii youth will continue learning regional American Indian heritage, culture and language with Leora and Levi Tadgerson (Zaagkii Project interns from the NMU Department of Native American Studies). The brother/sister team are members of the Bay Mills Indian Community.
The Tadgersons are creating an ethnobotany project on the USFS website integrating traditional Anishinaabe (Ojibwa, Chippewa) language in identifying native plants and their cultural uses.
Leora Tadgerson will discuss the Zaagkii Project while making a presentation on Engaging Students through Community Action and Service on May 20-22, 2010 at the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association (NAISA) 2010 National Conference in Tuscon, AZ.
In 2009, the Zaagkii Project teens visited with three beekeepers in Marquette County, MI; helped plant and harvest native plants at three organic farms along the Lake Superior basin, studied pollinators at the Peter White Public Library and learned about annual Monarch migrations and its dependence on milkweed from The Butterfly Lady Susan Payant.
In 2008, KBIC youth built butterfly houses and in 2009 helped restore native species plants to 2.5 miles along Sand Point on Lake Superior, a tribal beach that was the first Native American Brownfield site in the Midwest after being contaminated 90 years ago by a copper refinery.
Zaagkii Project founder Rev. Jon Magnuson said a goal is to bring at-risk youth to Mexico to study the Monarch migration.
Magnuson said the Zaagkii Project thanks Larry Stritch, USFS national botanist in Washington, DC; and Jan Schultz, USFS Botany & Non-native Invasive Species Program Leader in Milwaukee.
Schultz has traveled to northern Michigan many times to meet with the teens.
The Zaagkii Project contributors include the Marquette Community Foundation, Marquette County Juvenile Court, the M.E. Davenport Foundation, the Kaufman Foundation and the Phyllis and Max Reynolds Foundation.
Larry Stritch
National Botanist USDA USFS Washington, DC
202-205-1279
lstritch@fs.fed.us
Jan Schultz, USDA USFS
Botany, Non-native Invasive Species
Special Forest Products Program Leader Milwaukee
414-297-1189
jschultz@fs.fed.us
www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers
www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/pollinators/index.shtml
Rev. Jon Magnuson, Zaagkii Project Founder
Nonprofit Cedar Tree Institute Marquette, MI
www.cedartreeinstitute.org
906-228-5494
906-360-5072
magnusonx2@charter.net
Illustrator Diana Magnuson
dianamagnuson@charter.net
www.dianamagnuson.com
KBIC
www.kbic-nsn.gov
Pres. Warren C. "Chris" Swartz Jr.
906-353-6623
Todd Warner, Director Natural Resource Department
906-524-5757
NMU Center for Native American Studies
April Lindala, Director
906-227-1397
alindala@nmu.edu
http://webb.nmu.edu/Centers/NativeAmericanStudies
Marquette County Juvenile Court
www.co.marquette.mi.us/departments/courts/juvenile_court/index.htm
Borealis Seed Co. Big Bay, MI Judy Keast, Suzanne Rabitaille
www.ltbbodawa-nsn.gov/index.html
U.P. Children's Museum
www.upcmkids.org
Music courtesy Chicago band Dragon Fire Parade (U.P. Roots) Andy Wicklund, Guitar; Tim Obert, Guitar; Peter Nemanich, Bass; Chris Hammond, Drums
pnemanic@gmail.com
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How to make a mason bee nesting block.by solitarybee4,093 views
THIS IS SO AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!
littlewaitress 2 years ago