The key to a healthy environment
- FOPPI
- 1 day ago
- 2 min read
Mother Nature has gifted us with boundless beauty to enjoy and protect. On Plum Island, one of the beauties is the Dwarf Lake Iris (DLI). She's as unique as Plum Island; only appearing in specific environments in Wisconsin, Michigan and Ontario. She is a key indicator of a healthy ecosystem, but unfortunately, the range that she exists in is shrinking, placing her on the Wisconsin endangered species list. Climate change may affect her too, by exposing her to factors such as drought, flooding, and erosion.
To help her out, the US Fish & Wildlife Refuge and FOPPI are working with biologists from The Ridges to monitor her presence and help assess and conserve her environment, so she may live long and prosper.
To begin the project, The Ridges brought their Forest School students to Plum Island so they could view this gift of nature and discuss ideas of how to make sure that they will be there the next time the students visit and all the visits that will come after. The students compared the Dwarf Lake Iris plants that are found on the Ridges property to the ones they were seeing on Plum Island. The students drew the irises they found, wrote a data analysis and reached a conclusion between Iris locations. The students were curious, fully engaged in their natural environment and focused.
The next step in the project was to bring the biologists out to map the area and put some plans to paper. In this visit, biologists established two, 1-meter squared research plots. These plots will be used for future student visits to get experience in counting DLI populations, similar to this year's school trip. Two FOPPI volunteers, Jack Grundmeir and Dawn Nelson, were trained in how to conduct stem counts to help with the monitoring. The team also identified some invasive species that should be removed to give the Dwarf Lake Iris room to spread out.
We will be working with The Ridges and their Forest School for the next three years.
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