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Students To Help Fight Alien Invasion on Mackinac Island
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July 7, 2003--Michigan Tech students are helping Mackinac Island residents address an invasion by a big, green exotic species.
The Mackinac Island Community Foundation came to University faculty members last fall with concerns about the proliferation of Norway maples, which are popping up in native forests around population centers on the island. While these European maples have been widely planted on the island and throughout the eastern United States as shade trees, they may pose a serious threat to native plant communities.
In addition to out-competing native plants such as sugar maples for sunlight and nutrients, Norway maple trees can spread aggressively into native forests.
The School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science is sending a team of forestry and applied ecology students to the island's rescue. They will research the degree of the invasion of the Norway maples on the island and then create a management plan with suggestions on controlling the problem.
Beginning this summer, one to two teams of students each year will be evaluating 240-acre tracts of the island's forests as part of a senior capstone course. At that rate, it will take about five years to finish their study of the 2,000-acre island. They will report on everything from land use and local history to all the trees and vegetation in the area.
"It's really a unique opportunity," said Assistant Professor Christopher Webster, who teaches the course. "Usually when we do an assessment close to Tech, there is a rich local history, but it's hard to pinpoint events that occurred on a particular tract of land. Mackinac Island is not only a culturally significant area, but there seems to be quite an amazing history on just about every square inch of the island."
Students will begin their research with a town meeting of sorts, discussing the island's issues with representatives from the State Park Commission and the community foundation.
"This will enable them to gain some great insights into the complex and multifaceted management issues that natural resource managers often face," Webster said. "This is more that just an academic exercise. These students will be encountering real management issues and real people."
ALIENS AMONG US
NORWAY MAPLES COMMON IN COPPER COUNTRY
"Norway Maple trees are very common in this area also, especially around town," said Webster. They are available in gardening catalogues; one popular variety is Crimson King. According to the Mackinac Island Community Foundation, several key differences distinguish the exotic Norway maple from our native sugar maple:
NORWAY MAPLE
*Milky sap (break a leaf stem and see)
*Wings of seeds diverge widely
*Leaves 5- to 7-lobed
*Large, flat leaves, 5 to 7 inches wide
*Buds are rounded, few bud scales
*Bark more or less smooth
*Bark brown/gray
SUGAR MAPLE
*Watery sap
*Wings of seeds almost at right angles
*Leaves 3- to 5-lobed
*Smaller leaves, 3 to 6 inches wide
*Buds are pointed, many scales
*Bark deeply furrowed on older trunks
*Bark dark gray
--by Laura Walikainen, student writer
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