Volunteers walk, bike, and drive in to the parking lot to sign in for the Environmental Stewardship Day held on Saturday, June 10th.
The Environmental Stewardship Program calls for volunteers in East Lansing, as well as Lansing and other nearby areas, to help give to the community and tending to the natural environments, such as removing invasive species and pick-up where the budget for environmental funding has left off.
In 2016, Michigan Invasive Species Program release their annual report stating the Invasive Species Program received over eight million dollars in funding. Those funds are used amongst the seventy-seven counties in Michigan, showing twelve counties were added since 2016
Cooperative Invasive Species Management, CISMAs who is in ties with MISP, are regional, use collaborative efforts involving local businesses, nonprofits, government agencies and individuals who provide information and resources to prevent detect and control invasive species, stated in the report.
Located on the Michigan Invasive Species website they are affiliated with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, which is also partnered with the City of East Lansing, both organizations work together in funding these programs across the state.
Retired Agriculture Professor of Forestry for the U.S. Forest Service Mike Vasievich felt the importance of these state environmental programs and funding for these programs is starting to turn for the better. “It’s a start and what I’d really like to see a long-term plan and targets for when we’re going to get this area fixed and that area fixed and work specifically towards those targets and fund those targets.”
“There’s not a lot of funding for it but there’s a lot of labor involved and the volunteers produce a lot of labor,” said Vasievich “Invasive species “strike teams” and volunteers have treated or removed invasive plants from over 17,000 acres of land and water in Michigan since 2015.” stated in the report.
The level of community support and engagement in the battle against invasive species continues to grow, stated from the annual report. Local government programs aren’t as funded as some may presume and continue to welcome people of the community to volunteer and donate their time.