"Green wash" at Northern Michigan University
Plans to destroy a student environment and
research project
is at university that uses
slogan "Northern Naturally"
(Marquette, Michigan) - Northern Michigan University students are battling a university plan to bulldoze a four-year-old environment study project to build new dorms.
Northern Michigan University (NMU) student Michael Joko Rotter is leading a petition drive and other student efforts to stop the university from destroying the five acre Outdoor Classroom and Native Plants Research Area - that has received $24,000 in state and federal funding.
During the past week, Rotter started a petition drive and media campaign - collecting over 500 signatures and organizing several student organizations to battle the NMU administration plans to eliminate the Native Plants Project garden and research area.
NMU Student Michael Rotter is leading the fight to protect the Native Plants Project that has involved the blood, sweat and tears of hundreds of students
"We have spent the last four years working hard to make the area natural and educational," said Rotter, a 22-year-old NMU senior. "Native plants contribute to helping keep our waterways clean, building habitat for animals and other organisms, and contribute to a more sustainable lawn."
The five-acre native plants outdoor classroom has oak/jack pine savanna, a retention pond/wetland area, upland mesic forest and shrub types representing various northern Michigan habitats
.
"If NMU is going to use the slogan "Northern Naturally" to me this project is the epitome of that whole slogan," said project professor Dr. Ronald Sundell, director of the NMU Environmental Science Program.
NMU students put loving care into the five-acre Native Plants Project on the north side of campus (NMU Native Plant Project Photos by Professor Dr. Ronald Sundell)
"The project has been approved by the university under their former master plan that is now being revised - now they are saying they are going to put up new dorms - brick and mortar," said Dr. Sundell, who is active in several northern Michigan environment projects.
The students hope to convince "campus planners to preserve our native plants and make Northern green and not give it a 'green wash'," said Rotter, who is a member of the NMU EarthKeeper Student Team that has organized numerous environment projects including helping to recycle or properly disposed of over 370 tons of household hazardous waste on the past three Earth Days.
The project includes field sampling of vegetation, insects, birds, small mammals, reptiles, and amphibians); ecological modeling, plant identification, native plant propagation, restoration techniques; water quality and oil analysis plus weather and climate studies.
Literally hundreds of students from the student environmental science organization and NMU classes have assisted in the development of this site," Sundell said.
Over the past four years, hundreds of NMU students have worked hard to build the Native Plants Project that will soon become a beautiful part of campus if it's not destroyed by NMU dorm planners
"I think there are opportunities for the university to enhance their environmental science program and attract significant numbers of new students to NMU," Sundell said. "And it's things like the Native Plants Project that makes this attractive to potential students interested in environmental restoration and environmental sustainability."
Rotter has fostered support from the NMU Environmental Science Organization, Superior Geography Club, Sustainable Agriculture club, and the Students Against Sulfide Mining.
NMU students instrumental in creating and nurturing the Native Plant Project over the past four years are Mike Stefancic, a graduate who was part of the first planting; and Jason Woodhull, who trained by Stefancic and then passed the torch to Michael Rotter.
Thousands of students hours have gone into making the project a success and it includes The project includes field sampling of vegetation, insects, birds, small mammals, reptiles, and amphibians
"These students have helped out during the summers doing the planting, maintaining and developing of the site," Sundell said.
"This was the worst drought in the recorded history of the Upper Peninsula (U.P.) and with the help of Mike Rotter and other student volunteers we were able to add an additional 11,000 plants to the campus Native Plant Project this summer," Sundell said. "And during this dry summer the students maintained the part we had established - even under these harsh conditions it grew in size about one third of an acre."
"It takes a lot of care for these plants to become well establish - but once they are established they will need minimal maintenance," Sundell said.
If it's not destroyed, the project will help other environmental efforts in northern Michigan.
"You can't go a lot of places and find native seed - we are becoming a major seed source," Sundell said "We are planning to give the seeds to organizations across the central U.P. for restoration projects."
The Native Plants Project is coming of age and soon will add beauty to the campus.
Beautiful flowers are part of the project that is coming of age and will soon have many flowering plants in brilliant colors
"It may not look aesthetically pretty at the present because it takes time to be establish - but once established it will become an area of great beauty with all sorts of flowering plants and grasses in shades of white, yellow, pink and purple - it will be an amazing hill site that the campus can be proud of," Sundell said.
The project is located on a small hill between the new science building and the NMU Learning Resource Center on the north side of campus.
"There is other space on campus that Northern could use for housing and dorms," Sundell said.
This map shows the five acre project at NMU that is growing each year but now faces destruction to make way for dorms and other student housing
The National Weather Service automated weather tower for Marquette sits in the middle of the native plants area and would have to be moved if the site if developed for dorms. NWS weather instruments hang from the 30-foot tower.
"It's a perfect site for collecting the weather data because its sits in middle of an open area, surrounded by natural vegetation and is not close to buildings or sidewalks which can skew the weather data," Sundell said.
"It's hard to find an appropriate location in the city of Marquette to collect this weather data so our native plants site was one of the few locations available and a perfect site for this automated weather tower," Sundell said.
In a similar project, Rotter recently helped turn the NMU Lutheran Campus Ministry lawn into a Native Plant Garden that includes rocks from three of the Great lakes, dozens of Michigan plants, and a solar fountain.
On Friday, Oct. 5, 2007, just hours before getting the bad news from NMU, Rotter arranged to have a Lutheran pastor and a Zen Buddhist head priest conduct a blessing of the garden that encircles the Lutheran Campus Ministry house.
Two pastors conducted a blessing on the Lutheran Campus Ministry new Native Plants Garden on Friday Oct. 5, 2007 that was attended by LMC board members and LC students. (Garden Blessing Photos by Greg Peterson)
Prayers, incense, bells, and chants were part of the ceremony arranged by Rotter, who is a member of Lake Superior Zendo, a Marquette Zen Buddhist temple.
Stones from three of the Great Lakes are part of the Lutheran Campus Ministry Native Plants Garden that encircles the house and replaces the lawn.
Rotter held two student meetings this week to discuss ways to stop NMU from destroying the project.
"We had a really good turn out at the meeting with a majority of the audience in support of the project," Rotter said.
Pleas to university officials to reconsider the plan has fallen on deaf ears, Rotter said.
"We felt that the planning commission and the few administrators there did not take us seriously - they choose to argue against the project instead of hearing our concerns," Rotter said.
Students are learning a great deal about the environment as the work inside and out on the Native Plants Project at NMU
"Our next step will be to keep collecting signatures so by December when the proposal comes to the NMU Board of Trustees we can hand them copies of all the signatures and a letter from student leaders with our concerns," Rotter said.
Rotter is asking the public and students to inundate NMU administration officials with emails requesting that the Native Plant Project be spared.
People can email NMU President Les Wong at:
lwong@nmu.edu
The email of NMU Provost Susan Koch is:
skoch@nmu.edu.
"Their job is to help us obtain a good education and we think that it is essential that they keep educational opportunities like the native plant study area in tack," Rotter said. "The students want the study area, what we have to do now is make sure the administration hears our voices."
Rotter said the Native Plant Project has a wide range of long-term study and future "research value."
There are 45 two-meter research plots available to students and faculty for either undergraduate or graduate level research studies, Rotter said.
"The plots are currently being used for native plant propagation and seed source," Rotter said.
The students have received support and/or technical assistance (including memorandums of agreement) from numerous agencies including the Hiawatha National Forest (U.S. Forest Service) and the National Weather Service (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), the Superior Watershed Partnership, Upper Peninsula Resource Conservation and Development Council, The Nature Conservancy, the Seaborg Center's Upward Bound Math and Science Program and many members of the public and NMU students, faculty and staff.
Funding has been provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Great Lakes National Program Office ($18,000), Northern Michigan University (approx. $6,000 for water line/cedar edging) and recently the NMU Development Fund.
The five-acre Native Plants Project is located on the northside of the Northern Michigan University campus. (NMU Native Plant Project Photos by Professor Dr. Ronald Sundell)
Future projects being considered include small wind turbine and solar panel demonstration sites, areas set aside depicting uses of native plants by Native Americans, a greenhouse dedicated to native plants propagation and research; and established viewing areas, trails, and signs.
Rotter can be reached by calling 231-250-3061 or email: mrotter@nmu.edu
The NMU EK Student team can be reached by calling 906-475-5068 or email: earthkeeper@charter.net
The project professor Dr. Ronald Sundell can be reached by calling 906-227-1359 or email: rsundell@nmu.edu
