As a Huron Pines AmeriCorps member, Casey will be serving at the UP RC&D Council as an Invasive Plant Specialist. She has lived in Marquette for the majority of her life and graduated from Marquette Senior High School in 2005. While in high school, she was fully immersed in dance classes, foreign language, and playing the cello in the Marquette Senior High School Symphony Orchestra. She then attended Northern Michigan University and obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in General Biology with a Chemistry minor.  In her final semester at Northern, she had the honor to partake in a field studies course in Zambia.

Since her college conferment, Casey has worked as a Biological Science Technician for the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. Her main focus was the Adult Sea Lamprey Program, where she would travel to several sites around Michigan to check lamprey traps and collect invasive species data. She also worked for the United States Forest Service as a Fisheries Technician in Ironwood, Michigan. Her responsibilities included conducting creek, river, and lake surveys within Ottawa National Forest. She also had the opportunity to participate in loon surveys, and caring for juvenile lake sturgeon.

Casey currently volunteers at Moosewood Nature Center and loves to connect with the community and educate others on local flora and fauna. She is elated to be serving as an AmeriCorps member and to continue making a difference in the community that she loves so dearly.

As an important part of Casey’s service, she will be involved in the survey, mapping, chemical, and mechanical control of invasive plants. Her position will educate landowners and volunteers in the identification and management of both native and invasive plant species. She will work in collaboration with all 5 UP Cooperative Invasive Species Management Areas (CISMAs) to promote Upper Peninsula Invasives Council (UPIC) through public presentations and outreach materials such as the UPIC bi-monthly newsletter, invasive plant brochures, fact sheets, and press releases.  Casey will also participate in the conference planning committee for the 7^th annual Northern Great Lakes Invasive Species Conference, which will be held in the fall of 2016.

The UP RC&D Council does not and shall not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion (creed), gender, gender expression, age, national origin (ancestry), disability, marital status, sexual orientation, or military status, in any of its activities or operations. These activities include, but are not limited to, hiring and firing of staff, selection of volunteers and vendors, and provision of services. We are committed to providing an inclusive and welcoming environment for all members of our staff, clients, volunteers, subcontractors, vendors, and clients.  

EPA Awards 15 Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Grants Totaling Over $8 Million to Combat Invasive Species

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced the award of 15 Great Lakes Restoration Initiative grants totaling more than $8 million for projects to combat invasive species in the Great Lakes basin.

“These Great Lakes Restoration Initiative grants will be used to target aquatic and terrestrial invasive species in the Great Lakes basin,” said Region 5 Administrator/ Great Lakes National Program Manager Susan Hedman. “The projects will also help to prevent the introduction of new invasive species that pose significant risks to the Great Lakes ecosystem.” Since 2010, EPA has funded more than 80 GLRI projects totaling over $50 million to combat invasive species.

Upper Peninsula Resource Conservation and Development Council ($964,922) will collaborate with local and regional partners to restore 800 acres of coastal shoreline and wetlands in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula (in the Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, and Lake Superior watersheds) by treating invasive phragmites. The council will also train local groups to detect new infestations and assume stewardship for long-term control efforts.

More information about this project and how you can report locations of invasive phragmites in the UP can be found on Phragmites Project page. The UP Phragmites Project Landowner Permission Form can be found on the Project page. When you get to that page scroll down to the "Documents Section" and select the permission form document to view and print

UP RC&D Council is the Recipient of a $1 Million Dollar NAWCA Grant 

The Upper Peninsula Resource Conservation and Development Council (UPRCD), working in cooperation with Ducks Unlimited (DU) and several other partners, was recently awarded a $1 million North American Wetlands Conservation Act (NAWCA) grant to protect, restore and enhance habitat in the Upper Peninsula for waterfowl and other wildlife that depend on wetlands. The grant will also fund work related to specific management limitations at two of the most productive and intensively managed wetland complexes in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Other partners in the grant proposal include Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Michigan Nature Association, Upper Peninsula Land Conservancy, Raber Area Sportsmen’s Club, Sault Area Sportsmen’s Club, Straits Area Sportsmen’s Club, The Nature Conservancy, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and private landowners.  Collectively, partners have pledged more than $2.1 million dollars in matching funds in pursuit of this grant.

This is a complex project that has a large number of partners engaged and it’s rewarding to see all of the pieces fitting into place and leading to a significant impact on our natural lands. The coastal wetland project will protect 2,272 acres and enhance 1,455 acres, including 2,143 acres of wetlands. The project will also secure approximately 13 miles of riparian waterways and protect an additional 8 miles of migration and breeding habitats along beaches, lakeshores, islands and Great Lakes shorelines, including habitat for the piping plover, a federally listed endangered species.

The UP RC&D Council is very excited to play a key role in helping to bring these federal grant dollars to the UP. Project highlights include providing funds to The Nature Conservancy to purchase and permanently protect a two acre tract of Lake Superior shoreline in Grand Marais that is critical habitat for the piping plover. Funds will also be used to secure a conservation easement on a 640 acre parcel in the upper reaches of the Peshekee River which includes 6,000 feet of river frontage. More than half the grant funds will be used to help the Michigan DNR and Ducks Unlimited work together to improve water level management at the Mususcong State Wildlife Management Area in Chippewa County, and the Sturgeon River Sloughs State Wildlife Area in Houghton County, enhancing over 1,400 acres of habitat for migrating waterfowl, outdoor recreationists and hunters.