Emmet Conservation District Projects

Rain Garden · Plastic Recycling · Arbor Day · Ash Seed Collection

Education Rain Garden

The Emmet County Education Raingarden project began taking shape in February 2008. Grants were written by Nancy Salar of the Conservation District, Martha Lee of MSU Extension, and Cydney Steeb from the MSU Master Gardener Program. Project partners were also solicited to provide donations in the form of services. Tip of the Mitt Watershed experts were consulted on proper installation and native plant choices.

Grants were awarded to the project by the Harbor-Petoskey Foundation $3,000, Petoskey Garden Club $3,000, and Petoskey Rotary Club $1,000. The project also received a grant of $1,000 worth of plant material from the JFNEW Foundation, Emmet County DPW donated compost valued at $630, and Structures Buildings Co., Inc. provided equipment and labor valued at $370.

On September 19th we received the plants from JFNEW and Master Gardeners and members of the Petoskey Garden Club planted 565 native herbaceous perennials and shrubs. A watering system was set-up to get the new plants started and provide irrigation during times of drought.

In 2009 site signage will be purchased to identify and explain the garden. In addition, educational brochures will be developed and printed, informational presentations will be scheduled at the garden, and consultation services will be offered to residents and businesses.

For more information about raingardens go to the following links:

• www.raingardens.org
• www.michigan.gov/dnr - in search window type in raingarden
• www.jfnew.com

Many thanks to those businesses and organizations that have been a big support to our project:

• Petoskey-Harbor Foundation
• Petoskey Garden Club
• Petoskey Rotary Club
• JFNEW Foundation
• Tip-of-the Mitt Watershed Council
• Emmet County DPW
• Structures Buildings Company, Inc.
• All Seasons Maintenance

Compost arrives June 2008	Spreading & tilling compost July 2008
The raingarden planting is complete and a decorative foot bridge was installed. Informational signage should be installed in the spring of 2010, with brochures available to the public. A raingarden workshop is also planned for the spring.

Plant Plastic Recycling Day 2009

June 27, 2009 the Conservation District along with Emmet County Recycling, Polly’s Planting and Plucking and East Jordan Plastics collected 9,533 pounds of landscape plastic for recycling instead of this material going to the landfill.

The second landscape plastic recycling day on October 3, 2009 brought in another 11,215 pounds of plastic pots, for a total of 20,715 poinds for the 2009 growing season.

Arbor Day 2009

The Conservation District obtained a grant for the Arbor Day Foundation to plant three trees in nearby communities. This picture shows the Junior Master Gardener class from St. Francis school planting one of the crabapple trees April 28, 2009 at the Educational Gardens in Petoskey. Trees were also planted at Shay Middle School and the downtown park in Harbor Springs.

Help Preserve the Beautiful Ash Trees!

Hello, my name is Jacob Bush and I am a Life Scout in Troop 5 of Petoskey. I am here to help my community by collecting ash tree seeds to prevent extinction of that species. The photo shown at the right is a picture of me and Dr. Russel LaBeau, Conservation District Board Member, working on some of the details of this project.

I am going to take leadership of my troop and accompany them to sites where ash trees are living and we will collect the seeds to send to a facility in East Lansing where they will store them for future plantings of the Ash tree.

How You Can Help:
Please contact me at bushm7@yahoo.com so we can set up a time when my troop and I can come and collect your seeds.

• Project Update - March 2008