Greetings from Douglas Lake!
It is with great pleasure that I report on the successful Open House we hosted this month. In a window just shy of three hours, at least 200 people visited the field station — and the vast majority were brand new faces to our historic campus.
Our staff, researchers and teaching faculty engaged in hands-on science, sharing their expertise and love of our natural world with a mix of people from nearby northern Michigan communities like Charlevoix and Cheboygan as well as across the country, from California to Washington, D.C. Several parents even brought their high school juniors and seniors to see what our U-M campus is all about as they explore options about where they’ll attend college and take courses.
I want to share a fun message we received on Facebook from visitor Susan Conboy: "Thank you for the community open house. We have lived in Cheboygan for over 50 years and never toured the station. Didn't realize how large it is and how many people are participating in classes and research here. My grandsons from Petoskey also enjoyed the hands-on critters and underwater drone experiences!"
At the Open House, we debuted the new UMBS Field Guide to educate the community about the biodiversity in their own backyard and inspire neighbors on their journey through the natural world. The community resource is a direct result of the three-day BioBlitz in 2023 that tallied the living things that call this part of northern Michigan home. Thank you to the Little Traverse Bay Band’s Gijigowi Anishinaabemowin Language Department for providing Anishinaabemowin translations. View or download the Field Guide on the UMBS website. This is a reference to help identify the aquatic wildlife and shoreline species in and along Douglas Lake — one we will build upon and update in the coming years as we monitor the effects of global environmental change. Read the full story, which includes Sally Butler, who has lived on Douglas Lake for 69 summers and volunteered to drive a pontoon boatload of herpetologists during the BioBlitz. It was a huge help to have Sally and other lake members engaged in our work. Sally called UMBS “the greatest asset on the lake” and referred to our work and mission as a “true comfort” to her.
Our students are flourishing this busy field season. Be inspired by our student success story profiling Samantha Molino, the 2024 Bach-Hazlett fellow. The undergraduate student, who will be a junior at U-M in the fall, lives and takes a summer class at UMBS, while conducting a research project involving ecology and behavior. It’s an undergraduate student research experience made possible by the generosity of UMBS donors.
Of note: The Bach-Hazlett fellow story was written by Isabel Gil, the UMBS science communication intern who will be a senior in the fall at U-M. She also wrote this month’s feature video and story about the Ethnobotany class. Gil’s experience at the field station was made possible by UMBS donors who covered her stipend and the cost of her room and board. (Read our Q&A with Isabel.) If you’re interested in helping us create research and creative opportunities like this again next year or farther into the future, please give to our undergraduate research programming — the cost to support a student for 10 weeks is approximately $10,000, but any contribution helps set students up to steward environmental causes in the future.
On behalf of all of us at UMBS, I give a heartfelt “thank you” to our neighbors Dale and Anne Covy. They have a home on Douglas Lake, are UMBS Stewards helping with projects on our 11,000+ acres and regularly attend talks in our Summer Lecture Series. This month Dale and Anne generously donated a pontoon boat to UMBS, one that we desperately needed. It’s critical to give our students and scientists the tools they need to be successful and safe. We pride ourselves on our rich history going back to 1909 as one of the country’s oldest and longest continually operating field research stations, but it comes with a constant corresponding challenge to upgrade infrastructure and equipment. Adding the Covy’s high-quality pontoon boat to our aging fleet strengthens our ability to conduct research that advances understanding of ecology, informs public policy and prepares the next generation of scientists to face tomorrow’s environmental challenges.
You may have heard a ton about cicadas this year in the national news. While we don’t have the broods that emerged for the first time together in 221 years (since Thomas Jefferson was still in office), we do have a researcher from Germany who has been coming to UMBS since the 90s to study a cicada that returns every year to northern Michigan. Read the cicada story and watch the video revealing how his team uncovered a spectacular story of disruption involving a parasitic fly that kills a whopping 80% of male cicadas annually and a cicada-targeting fungus that manipulates the insect’s behavior. Cicadas are kind of weirdly alien animals to begin with, and Dr. Reinhard Lakes-Harlan’s work reveals they are even weirder with a fascinating interaction among cicadas, flies and fungi. It’s like the northern Michigan insect version of the “Last of Us” — almost impossible to imagine until you see it with your own eyes.
Stopping the spread of invasive species in Michigan lakes, rivers and wetlands is critical for the protection of our freshwater ecosystems. That’s why we recently installed an aquatic invasive species cleaning station at UMBS. Read the story about how it’s now easier for students and scientists to clean and sanitize equipment used in their field classes and research.
If you haven’t already, please take 10 minutes to fill out the anonymous survey to help inform the development of our five-year strategic plan. We are grateful for the people who have attended our UMBS Strategic Planning discussion sessions. In mid-August, we’ll close the survey. Go to the Strategic Planning website for the next steps and overall process timeline.
Before you dive into the robust updates within this newsletter, I leave you with some Fourth of July fun and games — and the smiles are contagious! Watch the video and view the photo gallery of our beloved annual picnic and parade along the lake. You can clearly see that my husband, Nate, thoroughly enjoyed leading the water balloon toss and tug-of-war competitions. Take one minute to watch our incredible community take a break and come together for a tradition that we look forward to every year.
View the full July newsletter here.
Sincerely,
Dr. Aimée Classen
Director
