June 2015 The IKEs Update · 2015. 6. 6. · June 2015 The IKEs Update Spring explodes in Michigan...

June 2015

The IKEs Update

www.michiganikes.org

Spring explodes in Michigan during May, except of course for those occasional frosty nights. Flowers bloom, gardens get planted and the lawn mowers come out of storage. The IKEs have been busy this month and are set to welcome June with even more events.

The Steak and Chicken Dinner on May 14 was a suc-cess. About 35 IKEs and friends enjoyed some very tasty strip steaks I got from Ric’s grocery store (See Pat the friendly butcher there). Jack Hornbach stepped in to grill the steaks and Barry Gilbertson grilled the barbecue chicken. Other members of the Kitchen Krew were Tam Bagby, Len Kizer and Rose and Dick Van Haften. Clean up was headed by Tammy Lundeen, who washed all the dishes and there were a lot. Marianne Paskiewicz pitched in as did the rest of the Krew and Barb McGuril, Bob Stegmier, who tended the bar, Ron Waybrant, who manned the door and those whose names are lost to me now. Thanks to all for making it a memorable night.

Following dinner the annual elections were conducted. See the election results on page 2.

Bob Stegmier auctioned off an Izaak Walton stein and Jack Hornbach was the lucky winner.

Then Teresa DeJager gave an interesting talk on bees and beekeeping.

Meribeth Bolt led a class on bees and beekeeping on May 16, which is when two bee hives were installed at the t property. See related article on page 8. Also on May 16 Rachel Mifsud conducted another of her wild foraging expeditions. I’m not sure how many people at-tended either of these events as I couldn’t attend.

Of course Kids Fishing continued on each Saturday in May and I am sure there were many smiles on little faces during those times.

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Election ResultsDuane De Vries

The terms of office for our officers and board of di-rectors runs from September 1 until August 31 of the following year.

Officers must be elected annually. The board mem-bers are split with one, two and three year terms. That way we don’t run into the situation where one year everyone is new!

We hold elections at the May meeting. This gives the newly elected people a few months of attend-ing board meetings as non-voting members and they gain some experience about how things happen.

In May, we elected the following officers to serve as of September 1.

President: Duane De Vries (incumbent)Vice President: Georgia Donovan (incumbent)Secretary: Open positionTreasurer: Fred Eyer (incumbent)Membership: Ron Waybrant (incumbent)

It is with deep regret that I accepted the resignation of Jim Schneider from the position of Secretary. He will serve until his term ends August 31. By that time we should have a replacement.

The 1-year term members reelected are Travis Van Luyn, Bruce Gilmore and Barry Gilbertson. Their terms of office are September 1, 2015 through Au-

gust 31, 2016. Regretfully Lars Wigert had decided not to continue on the board but will finish out his term. We will miss him.

Currently serving two-year terms (September1, 2014 to August 31, 2016) are Maurie Houseman and Len Kizer. Marylou Sundt has decided to not continue on the board. She too will be missed. Her position has been filled by Lea Oliver.

Kids Fishing will again be conducted by the IKEs at Versluis Lake on Wednesdays. The dates are: June 10, 17, 24 from 6:30 to 8:00 PM.

This event is open to all area kids and they show up from Belmont, NE Grand Rapids and even some inner city kids. This is a Plainfield Township Parks Department event but overseen by our IKE’s chapter and in particular by Jim Biener. Other IKE’s involved regularly are Barry Gilbertson, Jack Stegmeier and Bob Stegmier. The event used to be supervised years ago by the MDNR but budget constraints caused them to back away from it and that is when Jim Biener brought this opportunity to the IKEs.

I urge Ike members and friends to continue their spring fishing by taking advantage of Versluis Lake kids fishing. This is a bit different because fishing from sturdy

park piers and not from a muddy pond shore as at our Saturday morning kids fishing events. Equipment and bait is supplied by the township, so just come out and fish and for adults to talk and share stories.

Kids FishingBob Stegmier

the kids work while you fish or bird watch. Last year some folks stayed till evening, built a bonfire and just hung out for a while. That is still possible and anyone can come for either a short time or longer time and work as much or little as you want.

There will be a list of fix up projects and clean up projects for people to work on, either by themselves or in groups. The IKEs are very flexible when it comes to work and play. There are always people who will gladly show the property to new members or those who don’t know much about us.

Hope to see you there.

OFFICERSPresident, Duane DeVries .......................532.9151

[email protected] President, Georgia Donovan .........................

[email protected], Jim Schneider .........................340.4604

[email protected], Fred Eyer ...............................363.0253

[email protected] MembersBarry Gilbertson [email protected] Bruce Gilmore .........................................365.8892Maurie Houseman ...................................560.2895

[email protected] Huston ...............................................942.2503

[email protected] Kirk ...................................................874.8230

[email protected] Kizer ................................................866.4256

[email protected] Vanluyn..........................................723.4550

[email protected] Watson.............................................874.7254

[email protected] Wigert..............................................866.8626

[email protected] ChairJohn Stegmier ........................ [email protected]/Maintenance ChairC. J. Tasma ...............................................887.8542

[email protected] SecretaryRon Waybrant .........................................361.1422

[email protected] RentalJim Schneider ..........................................340.4604

[email protected]

The IKEs Updatecontinued from page 1

Fun and Fix-up EventRon Waybrant

SAVE THE DATE, JUNE 6A Fun and Fix Up Event is planned for June 6 at the IKEs from 9am and on into the afternoon or evening. You don’t have to be there at 9. Last year some folks showed up in the afternoon. IKEs aren’t all morning people, so all are welcome. There will be a lunch served, that could be something grilled or maybe just pizza ordered and de-livered, depending on how many folks are present. Also, some folks just might bring something to share.

The BIG goal is to get some clean-up/fix up work done and also take time to enjoy the property. Sort of like make

Len Kiser got an early start on Fix Up Day and cut and stacked logs from the cherry tree.

Kids Fishing at Versluis Lake continues in June as usual. Jim Biener heads up this event, which is sponsored by Plainfield Town-ship. Barry Gilbertson, Jack Steg-meier and Bob Stegmier have been known to help out. See related ar-ticle on page 2.

If this newsletter gets to you in time, come on out to the proper-ty on Saturday, June 6 for a Fun ‘N Fix It day. Come and work as

much as you want, have some lunch or work the afternoon and stay and relax during the evening. We’ll get started about 9am or so.

Of course preparations are un-derway for our annual Summer-fest on June 20. We typically get several hundred kids and their families for this day of fishing, archery, na-ture hikes and

much, much more. We could use your help on this fun day.

And it is only May! We have lots of cool events scheduled for this summer, so stay tuned!

Tom Watson

Have Fun By Helping With SummerfestMaurie Houseman

Summerfest and Winterfest are the two times when we get a large number of new families with kids out to showcase our wonderful property and programs. It would be wonderful if you could lend a hand to help show them a good time and explain the benefits of membership. Maybe an hour or two at the information table, helping Tom Watson with the food, helping with one of the many of the activities, etc.

Also get the word out to your friends, relatives clubs, schools, churches, supermarkets, (put posters up) etc. about the free fun at Summerfest. Help us have a huge turnout.

Contact Maurie Houseman for: questions, and sign-up. Also get Summerfest posters, Summerfest flyers and detailed schedule of events.Maurie Houseman: 616.560.2895; email: [email protected]

Students at the Kent Career Tech Center do more than layout the pages of our newsletter. They set up the printing and then work on what’s called Fulfillment. This process entails the newsletter’s final fold, tabbing them closed on 3 sides, sorting them by zip code, bundling them, and then counting them for the Post Office.

Fulfillment is an entry level position in the printing industry. If students want a summer job, they might apply at printing companies where they live. Their work on the newsletter gives them a valuable experience to bring to a potential employer.

Students Learn Skills on NewsletterTam Bagby

As you sit in your recliner, reading or watching TV or just pondering the imponderable, you may think you are essentially motionless. Guess what? You are really a speedster! Consider this:

The earth spins about its axis with a surface velocity of close to a thousand miles an hour at the equator. This works out to about sixteen miles per minute or a quarter of a mile a second. (If you do the math you will see that 16 miles per minute times 60 minutes is 960 miles per hour. I said it was “about” or as they say, close enough for government work.)

The Earth also revolves around the sun at a veloc-ity of approximately eighteen and a half miles per second. This results in our changing seasons and our year as it takes the earth one calendar year to circle the sun.

Our sun is also moving for our Milky Way Galaxy is rotating and so the sun is carried around the ga-lactic axis at the rate of about a hundred and fifty miles per second.

The universe is expanding so all matter is in motion with respect to Galactic Rest. In that sense, we are traveling at approximately half the speed of light, or ninety thousand miles per second. Now imagine how large the Universe is for all this to happen. It’s RE-ALLY, REALLY big!

So, do you still think you are motionless while you read this? Now you may be wondering what this has to do with conservation. Well, it’s simply this: The Earth is the ONLY habitable planet that we know of and if screw it up, we are all homeless!

How Motionless Can You Be?Duane De Vries

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Annual Steak Dinner and Elections

What comes to your mind when you see the name “Mason?” In my case it might be my great-nephew; or it might be the famous “Mason Jars” of canning fame. But a new one to me was “Mason Bees!”

We all know about honeybees (not to be confused with “honey do” lists) and how important they are; not only for the honey we get from them but also for their great work in pollinating the blossoms that end up as delicious fruits, nuts, vegetables and beautiful flowers. Did you know that honeybees are NOT na-tive to North America? Yep, they were brought over from Europe about 400 years ago because the im-migrants wanted honey and beeswax. I guess if you want to get really technical, hone bees are an invasive species as they are not native to the United States. And no, I’m not advocating getting rid of them by any means!

You may be wondering how things got pollinated before the hone bees got here. That is a job that was filled for millions of years by what we commonly call Mason Bees. Why are they named that? We call them Mason bees because they work with mud to build and seal their nests, much like a human mason works with brick and cement (commonly referred to as mud). Mason bees are good pollinators but you will not get honey from them. They are very docile and won’t sting you unless you really irritate them by deliberately squashing them in your hand.

About a dozen people braved a bit of Michigan liq-uid sunshine on Saturday, May 16 to hear Meribeth Bolt of the River City Wild Ones tell us all about the Mason Bees. She brought along samples of hous-es that these small bees like. You could hang one un-

der an eave of your garage (facing south or east) and they will happily nest there while they do their job of pollinating everything in sight. They are smaller than honey bees so you may not have noticed them but they are around.

The IKEs have Mason bee houses for sale. If you are interested in buying one, please contact Georgia Donovan. Her email address is [email protected] The houses are an IKEs fundraiser and are priced well below retail.

For more information about River City Wild Ones, check out their web site rivercitywildones.org and “Like” them on Facebook. Their focus is to provide education on native Michigan plants, natural land-scaping and of course pollinators.

page 8

What is Mason?Duane De Vries

Calendar June 7 Lynn Beukema, rental June 9 Board Meeting, 7:00 PM

June 27 Darla Boot, rental July 14 Board Meeting, 7:00 PM

August 1 Tom Watson, rental August 11 Board Meeting, 7:00 PM

August 22 Sally Henderson, rental October 3 Jack Hornbach, rental

Oak Wilt Disease in MichiganSubmitted by Bob Stegmier

DO NOT prune oak trees during the growing season!

Note: In the last sentence of the third paragraph in this press release this is stated,“Although oak wilt hasn’t been detected in every Michigan county” it is in Kent County!

Press release: Michigan DNR ad-vises caution to prevent spread of oak wilt disease.

For most people, April 15 is the annual tax-filing deadline. For people like Roger Mech – and other forest health professionals – April 15 also marks the begin-ning of the yearly window when oak wilt can be transmitted from diseased to healthy red oak trees.According to Mech, forest health

monitoring program manager for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources’ Forest Resources Division, oak wilt is a serious disease of oak trees. It mainly affects red oaks, including northern red oak, black oak and pin oak. Red oaks often die with-in a few weeks after becoming infected. White oaks are more re-sistant; therefore, the disease pro-gresses more slowly.”The normal time-tested advice is to prevent oak wilt by not pruning or other-wise ‘injuring’ oaks from April 15 to July 15,” Mech said.

He added that the spread of oak wilt occurs during this time of year as beetles move spores from fungal fruiting structures on the trees killed last year by oak wilt to wounds on healthy oaks. As warmer weather melts away snow and ice, the beetles that move oak wilt become active. “Unfor-tunately, many learn not to prune or otherwise wound trees from mid-April to mid-July only after they lose their oaks to oak wilt,” he said.

A common question the DNR is hearing this year is, “Can we push the April 15 day back a week or two because of the cold winter?” Mech says that isn’t an option. “It doesn’t matter how cold it was this winter,” he said. “It only takes a few 50-degree or warmer days for

both the beetles and fungus to become active. We have already had warmer weather in many parts of the state.” Although oak wilt hasn’t been detected in every Michigan county, Mech said the need for vigilance is present statewide.

Spring is a popular time for people to move firewood to vacation properties and other locations. During this April-to-July period, Mech said that it’s vital

not to move wood from oak wilt-killed trees. These trees are often cut into firewood and moved, sometimes many miles from their original locations. Any wounding of oaks in this new location can result in new oak wilt infections as beetles move spores from the diseased firewood to fresh wounds on otherwise healthy trees.

“With the transport of firewood and other tree-related activities, you have to assume the risk is present, whether you live in metro Detroit or in the Upper Peninsu-

la,” Mech said.

The DNR recommends that any-one who suspects they have oak wilt-tainted firewood should cov-er it with a plastic tarp all the way to the ground, leaving no open-ings. This keeps the beetles away and generates heat inside the tarp, helping to destroy the fungus. Once the bark loosens on the fire-wood, the disease can no longer be spread.

New oak wilt sites have been traced to spring and early sum-mer wounding from tree-climb-ing spikes, rights-of-way pruning, nailing signs on trees and acciden-tal tree-barking (a wound created when bark is removed via impact from equipment, falling trees and other causes). If an oak is wounded during this critical time, the DNR advises residents to cover the wound immediately with either a tree-wound paint or a latex paint to help keep beetles away.

Once an oak is infected, the fun-gus moves to neighboring red oaks through root grafts. Oaks within approximately 100 feet of each other – depending on the size of the trees – have connected or grafted root systems. Left un-treated, oak wilt will continue to move from tree to tree, progres-sively killing more red oak over an increasingly larger area.

As more trees die from oak wilt, more spores are produced which contribute to the overland spread of oak wilt.

To minimize the risk of oak wilt infection caused by logging dam-age, the DNR prohibits cutting of red oak trees on state land be-tween April 15 and July 15. This helps protect red oak trees left after thinning from damage that


DWIGHT LYDELL CHAPTER of the IZAAK WALTON LEAGUE of AMERICA

Draft Core Event Schedule 2015NOTE: This is a draft schedule. Especially for late year events you can check for updates in our newsletters and on our website along with notice of special events that come up on short notice and are not listed on this Event Schedule. Also additional information about these listed events can be found in the newsletter and on the website.

Scheduled ................................................. Event & Location .............................................. DirectorJune 6, Saturday ............ Fun & Fix up Event - 9am - ?, work, eat, play, campfire ..Maurie HousemanJune 10, 17, & 24, Wednesdays .. Kids Fishing @Versluis Lake, 6:30-8 pm ..........................Jim BeinerJune 20, Saturday, 10am-3pm Summerfest Community Family Day @ CC ...........Maurie HousemanJuly 14-17 .............................. 2015 IKEs National Convention, Pierre, SDJuly 18, Saturday ..............Native Plants for Everyone, Tear Drop Island @ CC ...... Tammy Lundeen .................................................................................................................................... & Barb McGuirllAugust 13, Thursday ..............................Barbeque Contest @ CC .....................................Tom WatsonSeptember 9, Wednesday ............................ Oktoberfest @ CC .........................................Tom WatsonSeptember 17, Thursday ..................... Fun & Fix up Event - 6pm - ? .....................Maurie HousemanOctober 7, Wednesday ...................... Chili Cook-off/Potluck @ CC ...............................Tom WatsonNovember 19, Thursday .............................Game Dinner @ CC .......................................Tom WatsonDecember 3, Thursday .............. Christmas Dinner @ Timbers Restaurant ........................ Jay Huston

Why we care: Oak wilt kills healthy red oaks. White oaks can also be affected but are more re-sistant and less vulnerable to mor-tality from the disease. Once a red oak becomes infected with the oak wilt fungus, the tree will die, and there is no treatment to save the infected tree.

Once an oak wilt infection is con-firmed, however, treatments are available to save surrounding oaks and stop the spread of this disease.

What is at risk? All red oaks are susceptible to oak wilt. Red oaks are common urban and suburban landscape trees. The loss of these trees can have a significant nega-tive impact. In the forest, red oaks

are also an important producer of acorns for wildlife habitat. Us-ing 2011 Forest Inventory and Analysis data along with the cur-rent average stumpage price for red oak sawlogs, it is estimated that the value of red oak timber in Michigan is approximately 1.6 billion dollars.

The threat: Oak wilt moves slow-ly on its own through root sys-

tems and travels short distances overland when new spores are moved by beetles from an infect-ed tree to a freshly pruned or in-jured tree. Oak wilt can be moved long distances when people move infected firewood from one loca-tion to another. Look for red oaks that suddenly drop their leaves in the summer. The disease spreads, killing nearby oaks from one year to the next. Currently, oak wilt is generally distributed throughout the Midwest and Texas.

What could happen in Michigan? Once established, if not treated, oak wilt will continue to spread, killing all red oaks in a neighbor-hood or a forest.What can you do? DO NOT

More on Oak Wilt DiseaseSubmitted by Bob Stegmier


Membership Application … Izaak Walton League of AmericaDwight Lydell Chapter, 5641 Myers Lake Ave. Belmont MI 49306

Conservation Needs a Friend …….. Ask a friend to join the IKEs!

NAME _______________________________________________ _________________ ______________________ HOME PHONE BUSINESS PHONESPOUSE __________________ CHILDREN & AGES _______________________________________________ADDRESS ___________________________________ CITY_____________________ STATE ___ ZIP _______DATE____________E-MAIL ADDRESS__________________________________ SPONSOR _____________

_____ Individual - $52, _____ Family - $72, _____ Student (18-21) - $24, _____ Youth (under 18) - $12.00

Mail to Izaak Walton League, PO Box 541, Belmont MI 49306. Checks payable to “Izaak Walton League”Call Ron at 616.361.1422 for more information. A gate key is provided upon receipt of membership fee. You can pick up your key at the next dinner at the lodge. Please enjoy the 39 acres. Indicate which of these important committees you're interested in working on: Natural Features Stewardship _____ Finance _____Membership _____ Building & Grounds _____ Conservation ____ Programs _____ Every Member Dinners ______The Izaak Walton League of America – a non-profit conservation organization – is recognized as a Section 501(c)(3) public charity under the Internal Revenue Code.

could lead to infection.

The DNR recommends private forest landowners exercise caution during this period and, whenever possible, delay harvesting activity in oak forests until after July 15 to reduce the risk of oak wilt.

For more information on the background, symptoms and pre-vention of oak wilt, visit: http://na.fs.fed.us/pubs/howtos/ht_oakwilt/identify_prevent_and_control_oak_wilt_print.

To learn more about oak wilt and other forest health issues in Mich-igan, go to www.michigan.gov/foresthealth.

prune oak trees during the grow-ing season. If you need to prune oaks, DO NOT prune them be-tween April 15 and July 15.

DO NOT move firewood: Oak wilt is spread by the movement of infected wood.

Source: MDNR

More on Oak Wilt Diseasecontinued from page 10

Oak Wilt Disease in Michigan

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June 2015 The IKEs Update · 2015. 6. 6. · June 2015 The IKEs Update Spring explodes in Michigan...

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