ONEKAMA — The addition of new native plants could be a sign of things to come at North Point Park in Onekama.
Recent plantings at the park signal a shift in thinking about it’s ecological management, according to Michelle Ervin of the Onekama Township Parks and Recreation Commission.
“We are now rethinking the idea of having this be an arboretum with a display of interesting plants, and ... embrace what (the park) is and the value of what it is,” Ervin said.
What the park is — or what it should be, according to Ervin — is an open prairie, and much of its value comes from the scarcity of these grassland environments.
“When we first started doing bird walks, and I connected with (Manistee Audubon president) Brian Allen, we knew that this was a special place,” Ervin said. “But we didn’t really know how special it was until he started recognizing that we have a very dense population of songbirds that come here.”
Less than 1% of native prairie still exists in North America according to the Native Prairies Association of Texas, meaning that many of the species adapted to grassland ecosystems have struggled. This habitat loss has contributed to a 30% reduction in bird populations nationwide, according to Ervin.
“As we build subdivisions in big open fields, those songbirds that depended upon that habitat for their foraging have to find another place for food,” Ervin said. “When the prairie land that supports them is being destroyed, that is why this park is so important.”
While much of that habitat loss can be attributed to human development, the prairie at North Point Park has diminished primarily due to a gradually encroaching forest and the introduction of invasive plants.
Ervin said these forces threaten to change “the dynamic of the park.”
To help maintain the park’s habitat, the parks commission is considering actions that might seem unlikely for conservationists: removing healthy trees.
“Manistee is already heavily forested, and the forest is starting to move into our prairie lands,” Ervin said. "So we're going to actively work to reduce the number of trees ... because there's not supposed to be many trees here."
Not all trees will be removed however, and the commission has considered offering them for people as Christmas trees.
The park lands were once part of a golf course prior to 1946, when it was deeded to the township. By 2002 when the park was founded, a number of non-native species such as invasive autumn olive were already well-established.
Now conservation efforts aimed at restoring the park to its natural state hope to provide an even better refuge for pollinating insects and migratory birds, according to Ervin.
“We are already a certified bird habitat, but we’re trying to really delve into that,” Ervin said. “The plants that are going to do well here are the native plants, and when you have a lot of native plants, then you have a lot of native insects; if you have a lot of native insects, you have a lot of native birds … because over the eons, the plants, the insects and the birds all evolved together.”
To help restore the ecosystem, commission members are looking to apply for a $1,000 grant through the Michigan Wildflower Association. These efforts are being made by the park commission and Onekama Township board with the help of the Portage Lake Garden Club, Manistee Conservation District and Black Cap Farms, a greenhouse in Onekama that specializes in native plants.
“These people really embraced the concept of preserving our bird population here and keeping this a beautiful place where people can learn about nature,” Ervin said. “Why it’s important is because it’s a highly sought after grant … It’s the first step and if we can get this, we can build on it and go to larger grants that might help us fill in the grassland with more natives, and start removing the invasive, non-native grasses.”
Members of the Portage Lake Garden Club volunteered on Sept. 11 to plant a variety of native flowers including black-eyed Susan, hoary vervain, northern blazing star and pale purple coneflower. The flowers were provided at cost by Black Cap Farms owner Matt LaMore.
Despite the popularity of exotic ornamental flowers, garden club member Jean Capper said the group is focused on the greater benefits that native Michigan plants have on the local environment.
“There're several garden club members who are just as passionate about native plants ... I think there’s an ethos in trying to go back to the native (environment) and restoring stuff that’s supposed to be here, as opposed to the ornamental,” Capper said.
A guided birdwatching expedition at the park is scheduled to start at 8:30 a.m. on Sept. 23. Allen will lead groups on the educational walk, and will help identify the diversity of songbirds at the park year-round, as well as those that are just passing through.
Anyone interested in attending the event is encouraged to email parks@onekamatwp.org for registration. The park is located on Greenway Street in Onekama, near the Portage Lake North Pierhead Lighthouse.
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