As we welcome the cooler weather, changing of the leaves, and pumpkin spice lattes, we have to say goodbye to our natural areas stewardship summer crew. From early April through the end of September the crew has been hard at work completing many projects that were given to them. These projects included pulling garlic mustard, control of woody invasive species, treatment of crown vetch and swallow wort, and the treatment of Phragmites. (If you would like to learn more about what we did, check out the excellent stewardship blog posts that the crew wrote this summer!) This list just barely scratches the surface of what they were able to accomplish. Without their hard work and dedication to land stewardship, we wouldn’t have accomplished as many projects this summer. The crew helped keep the natural areas in our parks beautiful and healthy.
Katri will be pursuing her master’s degree from Oakland University this upcoming winter, studying aquatic ecology. Parker is working on applying to graduate school this fall and trying to continue to gain experience in the ecology field. Finally, Max will be returned to Michigan State for his junior year to continue pursuing his degree in crop and soil science.
We truly appreciate all of their hard work, curiosity about the world around them, and positive attitudes this summer! Their contributions to our parks will be seen for years to come as we continue work into the winter and next summer. We want to wish them the best of luck in their next endeavors. We will miss you guys!
Natural Areas Notebook 
Too bad I’m not about 50 years younger – I’d be working right along with ALL of you! Many thanks for being members of the young generation who puts their hands and feet and sore backs enthusiastically to work in our environmental world. Oh, that there were about a million more of you! With deep appreciation – Gerre Jaroch – from Northern Michigan.
I agree wholeheartedly with everything you said, Grant. I’ll miss them, too.