October 28, 2007
NMU President meets for an hour with students trying to save environment research project; Dr. Les Wong given ongoing petition with nearly 900 signatures to stop Native Plants Project from being uprooted to build dorms
Dr. Wong impressed with students knowledge, preparation: NMU is "producing young scholars who want us to do the right thing"
(Marquette, Michigan) - Students presented an ongoing petition with nearly 900 signatures to Northern Michigan University President Les Wong during a one-hour meeting today and left his offices with renewed hope to save an environment research project from being uprooted to build dorms.
The Native Plants Project will be destroyed to build dorms if the proposed NMU Master Plan is not changed.
NMU student Michael Rotter, a senior biology major spearheading the petition drive, and representatives of three other student environment organizations attended the meeting with NMU President Les Wong that lasted about an hour on Thursday (Oct. 25, 2007).
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
"I found the meeting encouraging," said Rotter, adding the students presented Dr. Wong with petitions signed by nearly 900 NMU students who hope to save the Native Plants Project from being destroyed to build dorms.
Five students met with Dr. Wong including Amber Masters, social chair for the Environmental Science Organization; Cory Howes, president of the Students Against Sulfide Mining; Eric Miller, president of the Superior Geography Club; and NMU senior Emily Wessels, an NMU senior and environmental science major.
"Dr. Wong seemed very supportive and open to our opinions - but no promises were made," said Rotter, a member of the Northern Michigan University EarthKeeper Student Team.
"We showed him maps of the area and we talked to him about future ideas for the study area," Rotter said.
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)
NMU President Wong has stressed the master plan is a proposal and a final decision has not been made.
Dr. Wong said he "was thoroughly impressed with the students' knowledge and preparation."
"Their ideas have merit and their proactive manner in helping me think through the issues was deeply appreciated," Dr. Wong said. "I'm proud of the role NMU played not only in their education but in producing young scholars who want us to do the right thing."
"I look forward to future meetings with them," Dr. Wong said.
Students are learning a great deal about the environment as the work inside and out on the Native Plants Project at NMU
Dr. Wong was presented with future plans for the Native Plants Project including planting white pine and red oak trees to protect students from bitter winter weather in an area of the five acre Native Plants Project that Rotter described as "a wind tunnel that channels the wind through the buildings."
"He really liked some of ours ideas to reduce the winds in the area during the winter and to rearrange the sidewalks for students to have better access to classes and other areas of campus," Rotter said.
Rotter said some of the white pine trees will be 10-feet tall when planted so there is an immediate effect that will provide increasing protection with the growth of branches.
Northern Michigan University students are trying to save their four-year-old Native Plants project that will be a valuable seed tool for other northern Michigan environment efforts and help attract students to the campus along Lake Superior in the Upper Peninsula if its not destroyed to make dorms
"Dr. Wong gave us some advice on who we can talk to in the administration about keeping out native plants study area intact," Rotter said.
"Dr. Wong was very open and very inviting to our ideas on the native plants area," Rotter said. "He could not guarantee us anything but it was very encouraging none-the-less."
Rotter said the students were given information on how to be put on the agenda of the December NMU Board of Trustees meeting to make a presentation about the native plants.
The students will continue the petition drive and other efforts to spare the Native Plants Project from being uprooted.
"Our next step is to continue to meet with members of administration and talk to the Board of Trustees and to continue collecting signatures on our petitions," Rotter said.
Students have gathered about 900 signatures in an attempt to stop NMU from removing the Native Plants Project that has received $24,000 in state and federal funding, said Rotter, who spent many hours protecting the plants from this summer’s drought and is spearheading the petition drive with help from other students.
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, and is expected to attract reptiles and amphibians
NMU President Wong said that "there is no clear consensus on the location of the residence halls and there is considerable opinion that any structure that impinges on the Native Plant Project would not have campus-wide support."
If the native plants project is taken off the chopping block, President Wong and other members of the NMU administration will prove the university is sincere when it uses the slogan "Northern Naturally" to promote the campus, Rotter said.
The native plants outdoor classroom will include a northern open pine barrens, a retention pond/wetland area, upland mesic forest and shrub types representing various northern Michigan habitats. The project has attracted insects, birds, and small mammals and is expected to attract amphibians and reptiles.
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
The outdoor classroom is used to study ecological modeling, plant identification, native plant propagation, restoration techniques and water quality.
Dr. Sundell said that campus planners have other areas to build dorms instead of destroying the native plants area.
"We understand the work that has gone into the planting project, and that some of the plants may not do well if moved," said Dr. Wong, who has toured the project. "We want feedback on the big ideas."
Rotter is receiving support from student organizations including the NMU Environmental Science Organization, Superior Geography Club, Sustainable Agriculture club, and the Students Against Sulfide Mining.
Native plants help keep waterways clean, build habitat for animals and other organisms, Rotter said.
The student founders of the project hope to be able to show to their children what they helped start.
"I have always told my students that the project they started is part of a long term green-scaping of the campus," Sundell said. "The university has started an environmental sustainability committee to make our campus greener and address other issues like reducing our energy requirements, and less pesticide and fertilizer use."
Beautiful flowers are part of the project that is coming of age and will soon have many flowering plants in brilliant colors
"Our Native Plants Project is a prime example to the university committee and the general community on how to develop more sustainable systems on campus and the U.P.," Sundell said.
"In the plan they state this a would be a green corridor - this is already a green corridor," Sundell said. "If they carry through with the plan they have a building that would block that green corridor.
"The native plants are part of a current green corridor that stretches north from classrooms in the new science building to the existing dorms," Sundell said.
Hundreds of students from the student environmental science organization and NMU classes have assisted in development of the Native Plants Project site, Sundell said.
NMU students who have helped Professor Sundell develop and manage the Native Plant Project over the past four years are Mike Stefancic, Jason Woodhull and Michael Rotter. The three students each spent a summer managing the native plants including planting, maintaining and developing of the site 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.
Despite the worst drought in U.P. history the student volunteers added about 11,000 native plants to the project this summer, Sundell said.
"This Native Plants Project is valuable as an educational and research site and a native seed bank for future environmental restoration project in the central U.P.," said Sundell. "As the project moves forward NMU will become a major seed source for environmental restoration projects in the central U.P."
The Native Plants Project is coming of age and will add beauty to the campus including flowering plants and grasses in various shades of white, yellow, pink and purple, Sundell said.
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)
Student Michael Rotter can be reached by calling 231-250-3061
email: mrotter@nmu.edu
The NMU EK Student team can be reached by calling 906-475-5068
email: earthkeeper@charter.net
Project Prof. Dr. Ronald Sundell can be reached at 906-227-1359
email: rsundell@nmu.edu ***********************************
NMU President meets for an hour with students trying to save environment research project; Dr. Les Wong given ongoing petition with nearly 900 signatures to stop Native Plants Project from being uprooted to build dorms
Dr. Wong impressed with students knowledge, preparation: NMU is "producing young scholars who want us to do the right thing"
Students to explain effort to save the Native Plants Project at Lake Superior environment conference
(Marquette, Michigan) - Students presented an ongoing petition with nearly 900 signatures to Northern Michigan University President Les Wong during a one-hour meeting today and left his offices with renewed hope to save an environment research project from being uprooted to build dorms.
The Native Plants Project will be destroyed to build dorms if the proposed NMU Master Plan is not changed.
NMU student Michael Rotter, a senior biology major spearheading the petition drive, and representatives of three other student environment organizations attended the meeting with NMU President Les Wong that lasted about an hour on Thursday (Oct. 25, 2007).
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
"I found the meeting encouraging," said Rotter, adding the students presented Dr. Wong with petitions signed by nearly 900 NMU students who hope to save the Native Plants Project from being destroyed to build dorms.
Five students met with Dr. Wong including Amber Masters, social chair for the Environmental Science Organization; Cory Howes, president of the Students Against Sulfide Mining; Eric Miller, president of the Superior Geography Club; and NMU senior Emily Wessels, an NMU senior and environmental science major.
"Dr. Wong seemed very supportive and open to our opinions - but no promises were made," said Rotter, a member of the Northern Michigan University EarthKeeper Student Team.
"We showed him maps of the area and we talked to him about future ideas for the study area," Rotter said.
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)
NMU President Wong has stressed the master plan is a proposal and a final decision has not been made.
Dr. Wong said he "was thoroughly impressed with the students' knowledge and preparation."
"Their ideas have merit and their proactive manner in helping me think through the issues was deeply appreciated," Dr. Wong said. "I'm proud of the role NMU played not only in their education but in producing young scholars who want us to do the right thing."
"I look forward to future meetings with them," Dr. Wong said. Students are learning a great deal about the environment as the work inside and out on the Native Plants Project at NMU
Dr. Wong was presented with future plans for the Native Plants Project including planting white pine and red oak trees to protect students from bitter winter weather in an area of the five acre Native Plants Project that Rotter described as "a wind tunnel that channels the wind through the buildings."
"He really liked some of ours ideas to reduce the winds in the area during the winter and to rearrange the sidewalks for students to have better access to classes and other areas of campus," Rotter said.
Rotter said some of the white pine trees will be 10-feet tall when planted so there is an immediate effect that will provide increasing protection with the growth of branches. Northern Michigan University students are trying to save their four-year-old Native Plants project that will be a valuable seed tool for other northern Michigan environment efforts and help attract students to the campus along Lake Superior in the Upper Peninsula if its not destroyed to make dorms
"Dr. Wong gave us some advice on who we can talk to in the administration about keeping out native plants study area intact," Rotter said.
"Dr. Wong was very open and very inviting to our ideas on the native plants area," Rotter said. "He could not guarantee us anything but it was very encouraging none-the-less."
Rotter said the students were given information on how to be put on the agenda of the December NMU Board of Trustees meeting to make a presentation about the native plants.
The students will continue the petition drive and other efforts to spare the Native Plants Project from being uprooted.
"Our next step is to continue to meet with members of administration and talk to the Board of Trustees and to continue collecting signatures on our petitions," Rotter said.
Students have gathered about 900 signatures in an attempt to stop NMU from removing the Native Plants Project that has received $24,000 in state and federal funding, said Rotter, who spent many hours protecting the plants from this summer’s drought and is spearheading the petition drive with help from other students.
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, and is expected to attract reptiles and amphibians
NMU President Wong said that "there is no clear consensus on the location of the residence halls and there is considerable opinion that any structure that impinges on the Native Plant Project would not have campus-wide support."
If the native plants project is taken off the chopping block, President Wong and other members of the NMU administration will prove the university is sincere when it uses the slogan "Northern Naturally" to promote the campus, Rotter said.
The native plants outdoor classroom will include a northern open pine barrens, a retention pond/wetland area, upland mesic forest and shrub types representing various northern Michigan habitats. The project has attracted insects, birds, and small mammals and is expected to attract amphibians and reptiles.
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
The outdoor classroom is used to study ecological modeling, plant identification, native plant propagation, restoration techniques and water quality.
Dr. Sundell said that campus planners have other areas to build dorms instead of destroying the native plants area.
"We understand the work that has gone into the planting project, and that some of the plants may not do well if moved," said Dr. Wong, who has toured the project. "We want feedback on the big ideas."
Rotter is receiving support from student organizations including the NMU Environmental Science Organization, Superior Geography Club, Sustainable Agriculture club, and the Students Against Sulfide Mining.
Native plants help keep waterways clean, build habitat for animals and other organisms, Rotter said.
The student founders of the project hope to be able to show to their children what they helped start.
"I have always told my students that the project they started is part of a long term green-scaping of the campus," Sundell said. "The university has started an environmental sustainability committee to make our campus greener and address other issues like reducing our energy requirements, and less pesticide and fertilizer use."
Beautiful flowers are part of the project that is coming of age and will soon have many flowering plants in brilliant colors
"Our Native Plants Project is a prime example to the university committee and the general community on how to develop more sustainable systems on campus and the U.P.," Sundell said.
"In the plan they state this a would be a green corridor - this is already a green corridor," Sundell said. "If they carry through with the plan they have a building that would block that green corridor.
"The native plants are part of a current green corridor that stretches north from classrooms in the new science building to the existing dorms," Sundell said.
Hundreds of students from the student environmental science organization and NMU classes have assisted in development of the Native Plants Project site, Sundell said.
NMU students who have helped Professor Sundell develop and manage the Native Plant Project over the past four years are Mike Stefancic, Jason Woodhull and Michael Rotter. The three students each spent a summer managing the native plants including planting, maintaining and developing of the site 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.
Despite the worst drought in U.P. history the student volunteers added about 11,000 native plants to the project this summer, Sundell said.
"This Native Plants Project is valuable as an educational and research site and a native seed bank for future environmental restoration project in the central U.P.," said Sundell. "As the project moves forward NMU will become a major seed source for environmental restoration projects in the central U.P."
The Native Plants Project is coming of age and will add beauty to the campus including flowering plants and grasses in various shades of white, yellow, pink and purple, Sundell said.
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)
Student Michael Rotter can be reached by calling 231-250-3061email: mrotter@nmu.edu
The NMU EK Student team can be reached by calling 906-475-5068
email: earthkeeper@charter.net
Project Prof. Dr. Ronald Sundell can be reached at 906-227-1359
email: rsundell@nmu.edu
Posted on 10/28/2007 3:24 AM Comments (0)
October 24, 2007
Students convert Lutheran Campus Ministry lawn into eco-friendly Native Plants Garden
Rainstorm ends briefly for Blessing of the Garden ceremony
(Marquette, Michigan) - A "Blessing of the Garden" ceremony was held recently at Lothlorien - the Northern Michigan University Lutheran Campus Ministry house near Lake Superior.
Performing the ceremony was Rev. Jon Magnuson, director of Lutheran Campus Ministry (LCM) at Northern Michigan University (NMU) in Marquette, MI; and Rev. Tesshin Paul Lehmberg, head priest of Lake Superior Zendo, a Marquette Zen Buddhist temple.
The Lothlorien lawn has been turned into a native plants garden that includes rocks from three of the Great lakes and a solar fountain.
A heavy rain poured the entire day almost causing the ceremony to be moved inside, but the sun came out for 20 minutes and the rain resumed just as the blessing and a tour were completed.
The LCM house name, Lothlorien, comes from Lords of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien.
The garden includes numerous different plants from Michigan and others from the Boreal border regions of the northern United States including Black Eye Susan and aster, dogbane, bluestem, and Sensitive fern.
Prayers, incense, bells, and chants were part of the ceremony that included a tour of the garden by NMU Student Michael Joko Rotter, who is a member of Lake Superior Zendo.
"Lothlorien is a magical kingdom part of what Tolkien called Middle-earth - where time passes differently," said Rev. Jon Magnuson, a Lutheran pastor, who founded the NMU EarthKeeper Student Team. Many of the campus ministry students belong to the interfaith NMU EK Student Team.
"One of the first images of the Old Testament around the beauty of God's creation is a garden," Rev. Magnuson said.
"Our natural native plants landscaping - our Lothlorien garden - is a sign of a new way of living with the world," Magnuson said. "It honors the indigenous and native plants of our region."
The garden and the name of the LCM house reflect the way the students feel about nature.
"Lothlorien came into being first as a song," Rev. Magnuson said. "The garden will need little - if no artificial watering - no fertilizers and will be a haven for birds and other small creatures."
"There is going to be a solar fountain - the fountain represents the water of Lake Superior and the waters of our baptism," Magnuson said.
A fountain in the garden is going to be converted to solar power in the spring of 2008 and the sun will charge a battery allowing the water to flow in cloudy weather.
"In the back of the house there are rocks from the Lake Superior watershed," Rev. Magnuson said. "The pebbles represent the different worlds of the individuals who make up the region - and the people in the Great Lakes basin," Magnuson said.
Rotter, who manages the garden, said the students hope neighbors will enjoy the beauty of the native plants and use it as an example for their lawns.
"We hope this will allow people to learn about the amazing diversity of out native plant communities and inspire people to learn the benefits that native plants have, such as requiring a third less water, and no pesticides or fertilizers," said Rotter, a Zen Buddhist member of the NMU EK Student Team.
"The Zen garden represents our interconnected lives in nature,: Rotter said. "The stones from each of the great lake watersheds represent the flow of water, the substance that gives us life, and shows us how all of us are ‘downstream' and depend on our connection to the earth for life."
Rotter said the "garden represents the hope of the future."
"It's a powerful symbol of the future of people living in the environment," Rotter said. "Hopefully as the garden grows the area near the house will help us return to our original nature and realize the dynamics of nature and the role we play."
"Native plants are important parts of the ecosystem but because we have introduced new horticulture and many different types of plants, and sprayed our lawns with chemicals and destroyed areas with lawn mowers - we have lost our sense of being part of nature," Rotter explained.
The October 5, 2007 blessing happened a couple hours after Rotter received the bad news about the nearby five-acre Native Plants Project that he manages on campus with other students.
NMU planners are proposing that the four-year-old Outdoor Classroom and Native Plants Research Area be uprooted to build dorms, however the university president says final decisions have not been made. --- related links: --- Lutheran Campus Ministry at Northern Michigan University: Lothlorien House Marquette, Michigan http://www.lakesuperiorinterfaith.com http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/news_press_release,207119.shtml http://www.elca.org/campusministry/celebrate100/pdf/essays.pdf --- The Cedar Tree Institute: http://www.CedarTreeInstitute.org 906-228-5494 --- Thrivent Financial for Lutherans: http://www.thrivent.com/ Michigan Chapters: https://service.thrivent.com/apps/FraternalOnline/public/RegionalFinancialOffice?action=GetChapters&RegionalFinancialOfficeId=283 --- The Central Upper Peninsula Chapter of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans: http://www.lutheransonline.com/servlet/lo_ProcServ/dbpage=page&gid=00018000001064232660724081&newsletter_id=20071078409678118401111555&mode=display&expanded=1 http://www.lutheransonline.com/servlet/lo_ProcServ/dbpage=page&mode=display&gid=00018000001064232660724081 Judith Ann Quirk, president Marquette, MI 49855-3335 906-228-6729 juqu@charter.net --- Victory Lutheran Church at K.I. Sawyer: Victory Lutheran Church 315 Explorer K.I. Sawyer, Michigan Church: 906-346-7405 Pastor: 906-346-3407 Cell: 906-360-6623 --- Lutheran World Relief: http://www.lwr.org/ --- Greater Ishpeming Pioneer Kiwanis Club wheelchair ramps project: http://www.kdfonline.org/kdf-board.htm http://www.co.marquette.mi.us/humanservices/COA%20Manual/community_organizations.pdf --- Michigan Kiwanis Club: www.michigankiwanis.org --- Find a Kiwanis club: http://www.kiwanis.org/FindaClub/tabid/84/Default.aspx/
Posted on 10/24/2007 7:44 PM Comments (0)
Northern Michigan University President to meet with students who have collected nearly 900 signatures to save an environment research project from being uprooted to build dorms
Students will explain effort to save the Native Plants Project at Lake Superior environment conference
(Marquette, Michigan) - Students have collected nearly 900 signatures on petitions they will present to the Northern Michigan University president during a meeting Thursday in hopes of saving an environment research project from being uprooted to build dorms.
Meanwhile, the Northern Michigan University (NMU) students will travel to the western edge of Lake Superior next week to make a presentation on the four-year-old Outdoor Classroom and Native Plants Research Area during a conference of international environmental professionals.
The Native Plants Project will be destroyed to build dorms if the proposed NMU Master Plan is not changed.
NMU student Michael Rotter, a senior biology major, said he and other students leaders will meet with Northern Michigan University (NMU) President Les Wong at 1 p.m. Thursday (Oct. 25, 2007).
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
NMU President Wong stressed the master plan is a proposal and a final decision has not been made.
Students have gathered over 860 signatures in an attempt to stop NMU from removing the Native Plants Project that has received $24,000 in state and federal funding, said Rotter, who spent many hours protecting the plants from this summer's drought and is spearheading the petition drive with help from other students.
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)
NMU President Wong said that "there is no clear consensus on the location of the residence halls and there is considerable opinion that any structure that impinges on the Native Plant Project would not have campus-wide support."
Rotter said students are hoping that President Wong and other NMU officials will understand the importance of the Native Plants Project and change the master plan.
"I hope that once he sees the petition - President Wong will take a stand with his students that this is a project that must stay and be actively supported by the school administration," said Rotter, a member of the Northern Michigan University EarthKeeper Student Team.
Students are learning a great deal about the environment as the work inside and out on the Native Plants Project at NMU
"We will be asking President Wong and others in the administration will they support the Native Plants Project," said Rotter.
If the native plants project is taken off the chopping block, President Wong will prove NMU is sincere when it uses the slogan "Northern Naturally" to promote the campus, Rotter said.
Meanwhile - Rotter and NMU senior Emily Wessels, an environmental science major, will present information on the effort to save native plants from being uprooted to build dorms while attending the event entitled: "Making a Great Lake Superior 2007 - a conference linking research, education and management" on October 29-31 in Duluth, Minnesota.
The conference is hosted by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Great Lakes Sea Grant Network and the Lake Superior Binational Program. NMU is listed as one of several "working sponsors" because Dr. Sundell is one of the conference planners.
Northern Michigan University students are trying to save their four-year-old Native Plants project that will be a valuable seed tool for other northern Michigan environment efforts and help attract students to the campus along Lake Superior in the Upper Peninsula if its not destroyed to make dorms
The students have been on the conference agenda for months but recently updated their presentation when they discovered the new NMU master plan includes removing the five acre project to build dorms, said Professor Ronald Sundell, director of the NMU Environmental Science Program.
The students are scheduled to present their poster session explaining the project and answer questions from 5:10 - 6:30 pm (CT).
"This is an opportunity for the students to present research materials in a professional setting," said Dr. Sundell, co-chair of the conference watershed stewardship session.
"During the poster session the students will discuss the development and ecological monitoring that is taking place by students on our campus involving the Native Plants Project," Sundell said.
"The students recently modified their presentation to include the efforts to save the project."
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, and is expected to attract reptiles and amphibians
"Attending the conference is a great learning experience for the students because they will meet with many environment professionals from government, private industry and nonprofit organizations," said Sundell, who is giving a presentation at the conference on how universities should coordinate their environmental research and monitoring efforts within the Lake Superior ecoregion.
The native plants outdoor classroom will include a northern open pine barrens, a retention pond/wetland area, upland mesic forest and shrub types representing various northern Michigan habitats. The project has attracted insects, birds, and small mammals and is expected to attract amphibians and reptiles.
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
The outdoor classroom is used to study ecological modeling, plant identification, native plant propagation, restoration techniques and water quality.
Dr. Sundell said that campus planners have other areas to build dorms instead of destroying the native plants area.
"We understand the work that has gone into the planting project, and that some of the plants may not do well if moved," said Dr. Wong, who has toured the project. "We want feedback on the big ideas."
Rotter is receiving support from student organizations including the NMU Environmental Science Organization, Superior Geography Club, Sustainable Agriculture club, and the Students Against Sulfide Mining.
Native plants help keep waterways clean, build habitat for animals and other organisms, Rotter said.
The student founders of the project hope to be able to show to their children what they helped start.
"I have always told my students that the project they started is part of a long term green-scaping of the campus," Sundell said. "The university has started an environmental sustainability committee to make our campus greener and address other issues like reducing our energy requirements, and less pesticide and fertilizer use."
Beautiful flowers are part of the project that is coming of age and will soon have many flowering plants in brilliant colors
"Our Native Plants Project is a prime example to the university committee and the general community on how to develop more sustainable systems on campus and the U.P.," Sundell said.
"In the plan they state this a would be a green corridor - this is already a green corridor," Sundell said. "If they carry through with the plan they have a building that would block that green corridor.
"The native plants are part of a current green corridor that stretches north from classrooms in the new science building to the existing dorms," Sundell said.
Hundreds of students from the student environmental science organization and NMU classes have assisted in development of the Native Plants Project site, Sundell said.
NMU students who have helped Professor Sundell develop and manage the Native Plant Project over the past four years are Mike Stefancic, Jason Woodhull and Michael Rotter. The three students each spent a summer managing the native plants including planting, maintaining and developing of the site 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.
Despite the worst drought in U.P. history the student volunteers added about 11,000 native plants to the project this summer, Sundell said.
"This Native Plants Project is valuable as an educational and research site and a native seed bank for future environmental restoration project in the central U.P.," said Sundell. "As the project moves forward NMU will become a major seed source for environmental restoration projects in the central U.P."
The Native Plants Project is coming of age and will add beauty to the campus including flowering plants and grasses in various shades of white, yellow, pink and purple, Sundell said
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)
[IMG] http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee225/YOOPERNEWSMAN/NMUNativePlants8.jpg [/IMG]
Student Michael Rotter can be reached by calling 231-250-3061email: mrotter@nmu.edu
The NMU EK Student team can be reached by calling 906-475-5068email: earthkeeper@charter.net
Project Prof. Dr. Ronald Sundell can be reached at 906-227-1359email: rsundell@nmu.edu
"Making a Great Lake Superior 2007" conference related websites:
http://www.seagrant.umn.edu/superior2007/
Great Lakes Sea Grant Network
http://www.greatlakesseagrant.org/
Lake Superior Binational Forum
http://binational.on.ec.gc.ca/superior/intro-e.cfm
United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
http://www.epa.gov/glnpo/
Posted on 10/24/2007 7:41 PM Comments (0)
October 14, 2007
Dr. Walter Brueggemann got his Marquette, Michigan audience involved in his talk about the bible and the environment often resulting in laughter and stunned silence - hundreds turned out for his talks at Northern Michigan University and Bethany Lutheran Church in Ishpeming, Michigan
Biblical scholar warns proposed U.P. sulfide mine is losing idea that puts economic interests over environment & local concerns
At the Northern Michigan University Lutheran Campus Ministry house, Theologian Dr. Walter Brueggemann shows an Earth Keeper Shirt he was given while sharing a laugh with Marquette Baha'i Spiritual Assembly leader Dr. Rodney Clarken, one of the 10 Earth Keeper Initiative faith communities.
Dr. Walter Brueggemann describes consequences of greed, overindulgence, and abuse of the environment
(Marquette, Michigan) - Noted theologian Dr. Walter Brueggemann warns that the proposed sulfide mine in northern Michigan is a losing proposition that puts economic interests over concerns of local residents and the environment.
In an interview following his Upper Peninsula visit, Brueggemann said while he doesn’t know the all the details about the proposed sulfide mine near Lake Superior in Marquette County he has done "some reading on the crisis of the proposed mining initiative" in northern Michigan.
Opponents of Michigan sulfide mine are worried that the Salmon-Trout River in Marquette County will be polluted like another sulfide mine did to this river (Save the Wild UP photo)
"It is obviously a case in which the well being of the environment and the well being of the neighborhood are being subordinated to economic interests," Brueggemann said.
"In the bible, the economy is, according to the Torah, kept subordinated to the well being of the neighborhood," Brueggemann said.
"This seems to me a case in which economic interests want to overpower the concerns of the neighborhood."
"From the perspective of biblical faith, that is always a loser," Brueggemann said.
On Monday night, a standing room only crowd clapped when he tied abuse of the environment to the proposed sulfide mine by stating abused land will not produce in the future.
"What this poet knows is that absentee ownership and agribusiness - and you can extrapolate the word mining - I don’t know much about it but I know that much - will simply refuse to produce when the land becomes a tradeable commodity and is no longer caressed, and honored and treated with its own particular creation magic," Brueggemann said.
"The land requires ownership that is partnership and without such partnership creation loses its interest in fruitfulness."
Speaking this week to packed audiences at two northern Michigan events, Dr. Brueggemann warned that today’s world should change its ways because the "creator will not tolerate the ultimate despoiling of creation."
Brueggemann’s talks were co-sponsored by Lutheran Campus Ministry, the interfaith NMU EarthKeeper Student Team, the NMU departments of Philosophy and English, the Northern Great Lakes Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and Bethany Lutheran Church in Ishpeming.
Northern Michigan University Earth Keeper (NMU EK) Student Team Project Director Jennifer Simula spoke during the event at NMU
Brueggemann’s visit "was another way we like to continue our (environmental) work and invite other people into our community so that we can learn from them and continue to grow in our knowledge about theology and creation and the environment as well," said Jennifer Simula, the NMU EK project director and a student leader with NMU Lutheran Campus Ministry.
Northern Michigan University Earth Keeper (NMU EK) Student Team Project Director Jennifer Simula turns podium over to Professor Don Dreisbach of NMU Dept. of Philosophy who introduced biblical Scholar Walter Brueggemann
Understanding the audience was filled with supporters of the environment, Brueggemann said he is "aware of the work of the Earth Keeper’s Covenant and so I already know that you are into these issues" describing his talk "simply as a reinforcement footnote to what all of you have already thought."
Earlier in the day, Brueggemann was given an Earth Keepers shirt.
Noted author and Bible scholar Dr. Walter Brueggemann holds an Earth Keeper shirt at Lutheran Campus Ministry on Monday Oct. 8, 2007
Speaking to over 400 people in Ishpeming and Marquette, Dr. Brueggemann said historically greed, disregard for the environment and "the violation of the ten commandments will lead to the dismantling of creation."
An expert and prolific author on the Old Testament, Brueggemann quote numerous biblical verses and described the prophets of the time as "poets" who warned about the greedy abuse of nature because people must "view the environment as God’s gift that requires responsible management.
"Bringing humor and simple explanations to complex scripture, Dr. Brueggemann’s animated translations invoked passion, laughter, and stunned silence that was often punctuated with crescendos, whispers and dramatic gestures like a fist in the air or hands clutching his head.
"Every national security state works itself to destruction - never learning in time the limits to acquisitiveness and giving full rein to satiation," Brueggemann said Monday night (Oct. 8, 2007) at Northern Michigan University in Marquette.
Dr. Walter Brueggemann got his Marquette, Michigan audience involved in his talk about the bible and the environment often resulting in laughter and stunned silence - hundreds turned out for his talks at Northern Michigan University and Bethany Lutheran Church in Ishpeming, Michigan
Dr. Brueggemann's ecumenical public talks are reflected in his personal life. Brueggemann is a member of the United Church of Christ, teaches at a Presbyterian Seminary, and worships in an Episcopal congregation.
Speaking to about 200 people Tuesday night (Oct. 9) at the Bethany Lutheran Church in Ishpeming, Brueggemann said in the New Testament Jesus fed people with loaves of bread warning his followers about the evil ways of greedy pharaohs.
Brueggemann said "for the sake of the common good - for good health care policy, good schools, for better housing - the work of the neighborhood depends upon the power of the dream to dream outside the pharaoh’s regime of anxiety."
"One way to understand the worship of the church, is every time we gather - we gather to dream the dream of God’s abundance that powers us to the neighborhood," Brueggemann said.
Rev. Warren Geier, pastor of Bethany Lutheran Church in Ishpeming, said in all Dr. Brueggemann's talks the theologian "highlighted that God's intention for the world, as articulated in the Ten Commandments, is that we live in relationship with God and with the neighbor."
"This can't be done without respect and care for the ‘neighborhood' which is the earth, God's gift of creation," said Geier, who organized Brueggemann's U.P. visit.
Brueggemann "emphasized the need the tell the truth, not to deny reality and pretend things are other than they are," Geier said.
Rev. Warren Geier, right, who organized Dr. Walter Brueggemann's northern Michigan appearances, takes notes during the theologian's talk at Bethany Lutheran Church in Ishpeming, Michigan
"This is done in order to get to hope, the realization that there is another way that counters ways that seem unchangeable - to use Dr. Brueggemann's words: ‘The data on the ground is not the final truth; it's outflanked by the fidelity of God. There are new gifts to be given'," Geier said.
Describing a story about land abuse in the book of Isaiah, Brueggemann said the text warns about coveting land and "exercising eminent domain and buying up the property of neighbors until there is no one left but you."
"You are left to live alone in the midst of the land - woe you," he said.
An Atlanta resident, Dr. Brueggemann said a verse that states "these many houses shall become desolate - large beautiful houses without inhabitants" reminds him of the once prosperous southern cotton plantations.
"When I read about large beautiful houses that become desolate without inhabitants I think of Tara in Gone with the Wind," Brueggemann said in Marquette.
"You know that the cotton industry in the south was the wealthiest economy in the world and nobody paid any attention."
Lutheran Campus Ministry Director Rev. John Magnuson, right, talks with author/biblical scholar Dr. Walter Brueggemann who visited with students and boards members at the LCM home on Oct. 8, 2007 near Northern Michigan University in Marquette, MI
Describing an agricultural economic crisis, Brueggemann said "the text goes on in this poem to imagine that when the land is organized so that it destroys a neighborhood that the land simply refuses to produce."
"God has said to the land ‘be fruitful’ and the land simply says ‘I won’t do it - I won’t grow anything’," Brueggemann said. Dr. Brueggemann said you know when the poets (prophets) are about to make a point - and interject "moral passion" - when they use words like "therefore" or "alas."
"When you read a ‘therefore’ in this poetry you must duck," said Brueggemann - in one example of his wit that evoked laughter sometimes adding levity to an intense Biblical lesson.
"I believe the gap between consumer indulgence and the consequences of that in our society has to be filled with moral passion and not with explanation," Brueggemann said.
The poets, Brueggemann said, warned of the possible outcomes of human behavior and were used in the Bible "as an interface between the power of acquisitiveness - on the one hand - and the poetry of alternative on the other hand."
"All through the heady years of Jerusalem there were ad-hoc protests and dissents and warnings," Brueggemann said of the poets who today would be considered liberal.
The poets were "not social action liberals - which they were - they were poets - they wrote poetry so that the world could be imagined outside the domain of (King) Solomon."
In the book of Hosea, "the Lord has an indictment with the inhabitants of the land," Brueggemann said.
"The inhabitants of the land are abusing the land so Yahweh (God in the Old Testament) is taking them to court," he said.
Brueggemann crafts his messages to have a direct bearing on today’s world while sticking to Biblical history - thus causing the audience to think and draw their own conclusions of time.
"Here is the indictment - see what this makes you think of," Brueggemann said leading the audience to a purposely indirect point.
"There is swearing, lying, murder, stealing, adultery, bloodshed. What does that make you think of?"
An audience member said: "Iraq?"
"I meant in the Bible - I don't want to get into anything contemporary," said Brueggemann - delighting the crowd.
"There is lying, stealing, killing, adultery - the ten commandments," Brueggemann explained bringing home a Biblical lesson with contemporary impact.
"The indictment is - Israel in its acquisitiveness has violated the ten commandments."
"Now from what I have told you - what do you think comes next - ‘therefore’," Brugeggeman said. "Therefore the land mourns - this is a Biblical idiom for drought."
"When you violate the ten commandments you get a drought.- and then it says - because of the drought - the beasts and the fields and the birds and the air and the fish in the sea - What's that supposed to make you think of ? Creation is perishing. This is an extraordinary three-verse poem."
"The indictment is you break the ten commandments - the connection is the therefore - and the threat is that creation will be undone and won't grow anything anymore," Brueggemann said.
"The logic of the poem is that the violation of the ten commandments will lead to the dismantling of creation."
"The poet only knows that the land that is being abused is God’s creation and the poet knows there are limits to be honored and respected, restraints to be exercised and trusts to be cared for and when self indulgence overrides limits, restraints and trusts - creation has a way of circling back and bringing death," Brueggemann said.
"I heard a Rabbi once say - that in Auschwitz all Ten Commandments were systematically violated - and then he (Rabbi) said ‘whenever you violate all ten commandments then you get Auschwitz’," Brueggemann said.
"I would not suggest that our ecological crisis is of Auschwitz proportion - however you have got to believe that the violation of God’s commandments eventually jeopardize and risk the good gift of creation," Brueggemann said.
During a meeting at the Lutheran Campus Ministry house, Brueggemann said the American "Christian community has been overly pre-occupied - for a long period of time - with personal salvation and redemption - and the result of that is that we have reneged on the Creator - Creation question."
Brueggemann said "you can’t just turn it (the environment) into a commodity."
"I believe that our work in scripture study and teaching is to reread the Bible away from those personal questions toward the large questions of creation and creator so we learn to view the environment as God’s gift that requires responsible management," Brueggemann said.
 Noted author and theologian Dr. Walter Brueggemann at Lutheran Campus Ministry in Marquette, Michigan
With the exception of noted Lutheran theologian Joseph Sittler, Brueggemann said that "Lutherans are notorious for not having had a very vibrant Doctrine of Creation."
Brueggemann said many fundamentalists just "want to talk about me and Jesus, and being saved by the blood and all that kind of business."
Fundamentalists "have no understanding of creation at all" and don’t "understand that our reception of the reality of God also has to do with honoring the Earth differently," Brueggemann said
"Those categories have almost been lost in the way the church conducts its teaching."
Many churches refuse to face antisemitism and past religious violence and instead are "sort of pretending" that Christian-related atrocities did not happen, Brueggemann said.
"I think we invite people to engage in wholesale denial about their own lives," Brueggemann said. As a result of denial, the communication to churchgoers, Brueggemann said, is "well if you feel violent - talk about it somewhere else - don’t do that here because we are all nice people here’."
It is "better to say we have a long history of antisemitism - we’ve go to own that," Brueggemann said.
"I think that good recovery of the Bible is like good psychotherapy."
At Bethany Lutheran Church in Ishpeming, Brueggemann said one of the saddest quotes by Jesus is in the New Testament book of Mark.
After Jesus feeds ten thousands people at two events with loaves of bread to spare - he’s out in a boat with two disciples who don’t understand his frustration over why they forgot the bread, Brueggemann said.
"The paragraph ends with what I think must be one of the saddest statements of Jesus in the new testament - Jesus says to them ‘do you not yet understand?’ He says to his disciples ‘you don’t get it, do you?’," Brueggemann said.
"What’s to get - is - wherever Jesus is - the power of anxiety has been broken - and there is an abundance that lets us get our minds off ourselves," Brueggemann said.
"So the disciples - the church - is invited to get its mind off itself - off its scarcity - off it’s narrow budget - off its parsimony."
The disciples "did not understand that Jesus is in the bread business," Brueggemann said.
"Watch out for the bread of the Herodians and the bread of the pharisees - he says watch out for the bread of the pharaoh because if you eat the bread of the pharaoh your stomach will be filled with anxiety," Brueggemann explained.
Brueggemann said Jesus then "gets a little reprimanding and he says to them ‘do you have eyes and not see - do you have ears and not hear and do you have hearts and not understand - don’t you know what we have been doing’?"
Brueggemann added that Mark says Jesus "took the bread, he blessed the bread, he broke the bread, he gave them the bread."
 
It was standing room only at NMU for the talk by scholar Dr. Walter Brueggemann
"These are the four great verbs in the church for abundance - he took, he blessed, he broke, he gave - these are the four verbs of the Eucharist," Brueggemann said.
"These are the verbs whereby the gospel takes the stuff of the earth and transforms it into a wondrous abundance."
"So what Mark is telling us is - that the disciples know the numbers but they haven’t any idea what the numbers mean," Brueggemann said.
Brueggemann participated in Bill Moyers acclaimed PBS television series on the Book of Genesis.
A graduate of Elmhurst College, Professor Brueggemann studied at Eden Theological Seminary, receiving his Doctorate of Divinity from Union theological Seminary, New York, and a Ph.D from Saint Louis University.
Brueggemann was professor of Old Testament at Eden before joining the faculty at Columbia Theological Seminary in 1986.
He is currently William Marcellus McPheeters Professor Emeritus of Old Testament at Columbia.
Posted on 10/14/2007 9:52 AM Comments (0)
"King, Warrior, Magician, Lover:
Rediscovering the Archetypes
of the Mature Masculine"
The Turtle Island Project Presents:
Grand Island Conference & Retreat Program
Turtle Island Project Free Discussion Series:
The Feminization of the Church
Male Spirituality, Creating Men's Groups
Tuesday Oct. 23 & 30, 2007
Marquette, Michigan
(Marquette, Michigan) - The dynamics of male spirituality and the feminization of the church will be explored in a free discussion series later this month sponsored by the Turtle Island Project. "King, Warrior, Magician, Lover: Rediscovering the Archetypes of the Mature Masculine" will be held from 7 - 10 p.m. on Tuesdays, October 23 and 30, 2007 at the Upfront and Company restaurant in Marquette.
 
C.G. Jung Dr. Robert Moore
Dr. Robert Moore book
The two evenings will explore the works of Dr. Robert Moore, a Jungian analyst who is one of the founders of the men's movement in the United States.
"This event is for those who have an interest in examining the dynamics of male spirituality, and it's impact upon the church," said Rev. Lynn Hubbard, director and co-founder of the non-profit Turtle Island Project (TIP) in Munising, Michigan.
"One of the questions we will examine is why the church is not attracting as many men as women."
Turtle Island Project Director Rev. Dr. Lynn Hubbard
"We will examine what can be done to attract more men to participate and enjoy faith related activities and make suggestions as to how to start a mens group within your own spiritual community," Hubbard said.
"In some congregations there is a noticeable difference in the larger number of women versus men who attend the church."
"We will explore the feminization of the church and why fewer men are joining spiritual communities as lay persons or leaders," Hubbard said.
The series is the second event in the Grand Island Conference and Retreat Program which recently held a Native American Roundtable and a discussion concerning Earth-based spiritualities and their contribution to contemporary religious communities.
First Grand Island Conference & Retreat Series Sept. 13-15, 2007:
TIP Native American Roundtable & Celtic Spirituality
Organizers have scheduled numerous events during the next six months on a wide range of Native American, environmental and related religious issues.
The Grand Island Conference and Retreat Program events - sponsored by the TIP - are free but donations to cover costs are welcome.
For more information and registration materials call 906-387-5615
or the TIP website:
www.TurtleIslandProject.org
 
Sites with information related to series topic:
Dr. Robert Moore official website:
http://www.robertmoore-phd.com/Index.cfm
Links to Books by Moore, others in men’s movement:
http://www.menstuff.org/books/byissue/therapy-general.html#moore1
Links to Men’s Movement Founders:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Men%27s_movement_in_United_States
Carl Jung:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Jung
The Jung Page: http://www.cgjungpage.org/
C.G. Jung Institute of Los Angeles http://junginla.org/
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Summary of Turtle Island Project
websites & TV (video) sites: ---
Turtle Island Project websites/Blogs:TIP website: http://www.turtleislandproject.org
TIP Sacred Places website:
Upload your own Sacred Place
http://www.NorthAmericaSacredPlaces.org
---
Other TIP sites:
http://groups.msn.com/WhisperingTurtle http://turtleislandproject.wordpress.com/
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Turtle Island TV - Video sites:
(blipTV)
http://turtleislandtv.blip.tv/
(youtube)
http://www.youtube.com/MunisingWhiteHorse
(myspace)
http://www.myspace.com/TurtleIslandProject
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Friends of the Turtle Island Project:
Religion and spirituality portal for religious media, writers, clergy and those interested in a modern ways to find information on faith:
Read the Spirit
(Part of David Crumm Media LLC, a multi-media publishing company)
Read The Spirit Director:
David Crumm
Read The Spirit Technical support:
John Kile
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First/Oldest Native American women’s domestic violence shelter, teen suicide prevention:
 
White Buffalo Calf Woman Society, Inc.
Tillie Black Bear, director
North Main St.
Mission, SD
Call: 605-856-2317
White Buffalo Calf Woman Society website:
http://www.wbcws.org http://calthunderhawk.tripod.com/wbcws/wbcws_index.html
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Lakota Rosebud Sicangu Tribe website:
-----
  
The Iona Community - Worldwide:
http://www.iona-nwf.org
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Project to change racist location names in Minnesota and across the U.S.:
  
Rum River Name Change Organization Inc.
Thomas Dahlheimer, director
P.O. Box 24
Wahkon, Minnesota
56386
wahkontonka@yahoo.com wahkon@scicable.com
Call: 320-495-3874
http://www.towahkon.org/
MN bill to change 14 derogatory geographic place names offensive to American Indians
http://www.revisor.leg.state.mn.us/bin/bldbill.php?bill=H2503.0.html&session=ls85
Posted on 10/14/2007 9:22 AM Comments (0)
Quest for Harmony: The Contemplation of Nature in the Christian Tradition
(Munising, Michigan) - A free spiritual retreat on interfaith prayer and nature for all northern Michigan churches and temples will be held in Munising in early November.
The gathering for all Upper Peninsula faith communities is the third of many events that are scheduled through the summer of 2008 under the Grand Island Conference and Retreat Program.
The retreat is scheduled from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. on Friday, November 9, 2007 at Eden on the Bay Lutheran Church in Munising.
Rev. Dr. George Cairns of Chesterton. Indiana will lead the retreat. Cairns is an experienced practitioner of many forms of traditional Christian spirituality and an expert in Celtic Christianity.
The interfaith Grand Island conferences, retreats and seminars are one leg of the TIP in Munising that promotes respect for the environment and Native American culture.
The TIP encourages all religions to work together and listen to Earth-based cultures like Native Americans, Celts and others.
A research professor of theology at the Chicago Theological Seminary, Dr. Cairns is TIP co-founder and board chairman.
Dr. Cairns has led inter-faith prayer groups and has developed methods for people of many faiths to be in prayer, authentic to their own traditions.
"As a Christian, I believe that it is my duty to pray with people of other faiths in ways where I do not forget that I am a follower of Christ and where I do not coerce them to follow my path." Dr. Cairns said.
The ecumenical retreat is for faith communities “seeking to learn how to pray with others,” said Rev. Dr. Lynn Hubbard, TIP director and co-founder.
“This will be a contemplative and prayerful time - shared in a caring community of fellow Christians and anyone else who wishes to be with us,” Hubbard said.
“Dr. Cairns will lead us in an exploration on the history of Christian spirituality, and the importance of nature, in the Christian tradition,” Hubbard said.
Posted on 10/14/2007 9:14 AM Comments (0)
In the Spirit of the Earth: Ecology and Spiritual Liberation
(Marquette. Michigan) - A series of free discussions on the relationship between the environment and theology including what Christians can learn from Native American culture will be held in Marquette on Tuesday evenings in November.
Sponsored by the Turtle Island Project (TIP)in Munising, the seminars will examine whether Christianity is partially to blame for the ecological crisis and whether Christianity offers a viable solution to the problem.
The seminars will include discussion on what western religions can learn from earth-based spiritualities and the contribution of Native American spirituality to the solution of the ecological crisis.
TIP Director Lynn Rev. Dr. Hubbard of Munising will read selections from the works of Leonardo Boff, Vine Deloria, Jr., George Tinker and Steve Charleston. 
The seminars will be held from 7-10 p.m. Tuesdays, November 6, 13, 20, 27, 2007 at Upfront & Company restaurant in Marquette, MI.
The seminars are free but donations are welcome to defray expenses.
The TIP seminars are the latest in a series of public events schedule throughthe summer of 2008 that are part of the Grand Island Retreat and Conference and Retreat Program.
The TIP promotes respect for the environment and for the Native American culture.
Pre-registration for the ecological seminar is required by November 7, 2007.
You can register by calling 906-387-5615 or visit: turtleislandproject.org 
Posted on 10/14/2007 9:00 AM Comments (0)
Students fight university plan to bulldoze an
environmental study project for building dorms
in Marquette, Michigan
Northern Michigan University students are trying to save their four-year-old Native Plants project that will be a valuable seed tool for other northern Michigan environment efforts and help attract students to the campus along Lake Superior in the Upper Peninsula if its not destroyed to make dorms
“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
Posted on 10/14/2007 8:29 AM Comments (0)
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