Name of Class:          Hike With Ellen – Wetland Plant Identification

Date:                           August 26, 2019

Location:                    Albany Creek, Chippewa County, Michigan (U.P.) between Detour and Cedarville, toward the eastern tip of the UP.  The site is on M-123 and lies just south of a road turn-out which is about a mile east of M-48 (N 45º 58’ 11.70”   W 084º 04’ 31.64”)

Time:                          10:00 am to 1:00 pm (1/2 day training event)

Instructor:                  Ellen Weatherbee

Cost:                           $50 (MWA members), $60 (non-members)

Accommodations:    Attendees are responsible for their own meals.  Packing a lunch is recommended and there is a picnic area nearby.  Attendees are invited to join lunch after class with Ellen.

Course Materials:      Attendees should bring a sense of humor, write-in-the-rain notebook and writing utensil.  Plant ID book(s) and a camera are optional.

Class Description: Just south of a roadside turn-out in Chippewa County in eastern Upper Peninsula, many of the Upper Peninsula’s botanical treasures grow gathered naturally together is a small area near Albany Creek. August is the perfect time to renew identification skills for common woody and herbaceous plants, as well as seeing an impressive array of more unusual plants. The site contains both the threatened Houghton’s goldenrod, as well as the look-alike Ohio goldenrod. Other specialties include butterworts (special concern), calamint (with a smell so intense you can recognize it blindfolded), white camas (that is deadly to eat), tasty edible cranberries, several orchids, pitcher plants, creeping snowberry, sweet-gale, trailing-arbutus, willows, and many other dune-and-swale specialties.

Included is a plant list for the area with both common and scientific names, wetland rating, and FQI rating-all of which you will understand by the end of the class. Edible, poisonous, and protected plants will be discussed in Ellen’s usual scientific (and-fun-filled) fashion.

Instructor Bio: Ellen has taught botany at the University of Michigan for thirty-three years and is the founder of the Adult Education Program at the Matthaei Botanical Gardens.  She has been on the editorial board of the Michigan Botanist and is active in environmental groups in the United States, Canada, and Europe.  She is the author of Guide to Great Lakes Coastal Plants and coauthor of Edible Wild Plants: A Guide to Collecting and Cooking.  She published the results of a multiple-year study of the Flora of Cockburn Island, Canada, in the Jan., 2016 Michigan Botanist and currently holds an all-species Michigan Endangered Species Permit (#1555) issued by the Michigan DNR Wildlife Division.

Class Cancellation Notification: Five (5) days prior to the class, participants will be notified of a cancellation.  The MWA Treasurer will refund participants 100% of the received class fee.

Cancellation Policy for Attendees:

• Any attendee can transfer, at any time, their spot in the class to another person with no financial penalty
• Cancellation prior to 14 days of the class is eligible for 100% refund of class fees
• Cancellation from 1-13 days of the class is eligible for 50% refund of class fees
• Cancellation within 1 day of start of the class (including during the class) is not eligible for any refund (0%); however, the spot may be transferred to another person

Bookings