By CHRISTIE

MASTRIC

Journal Staff Writer

NEGAUNEE — Spore-bearing leaflets and a fern that signals a drop in temperature greeted participants on a botany-themed walk in the Vielmetti-Peters Conservation Reserve.

The reserve, whose steward is the Marquette-based Upper Peninsula Land Conservancy, was the site of a Thursday hike organized by the Northern Center for Lifelong Learning.

Leading the recent hike were Hannah Boyd, UPLC administration and communications manager, and Emilyn Staat, UPLC land stewardship assistant.

“Our mission is, to put it shortly, ‘Land today for life tomorrow,’ which essentially just means we put protections on lands, whether it be your own private land to conserve its conservation value, or on public lands, like Vielmetti-Peters,” Boyd said of UPLC.

Staat each UPLC property has a management plan, which deals with previous land uses as well as future goals.

The Vielmetti-Peters Conservation Reserve, located at 699 Brickyard Road in Negaunee Township, was donated to the UPLC in 2016 by the Vielmetti-Peters family to benefit the public and and the ecosystem as a demonstration area for sustainable forestry practices. Timber sales support the UPLC and trails such as those found on the reserve.

Thursday’s hike was a prime example of how the public can see the ecosystem thrive.

Before the hikers entered the reserve boundary, they walked through an adjoining conservation easement, located in Marquette Township, that allows people to access the reserve from the parking area. The landowner of the private land allows the owner to designate special stipulations, Boyd said.

The easement, though, still has many species of plants native to Michigan, such as blue flag iris, thimbleberry and sensitive fern.

The sensitive fern, as its name implies, has a particular sensitivity. In this case, it’s weather.

“They are susceptible to changing color when the temperature drops,” Boyd said.

Just outside the entrance to the conservation reserve, labrador tea — a low-growing shrub with leaves commonly used to brew herbal tea — was spotted.

“It likes marshy areas,” Boyd said, pointing to a spot near the plant that didn’t look so marshy. “Over here in the spring, this is a vernal pool, so temporarily there will be a body of water here, and you’ll find more frogs, mosquitoes, maybe a salamander if you’re lucky.”

Mosquitoes were out in force on Thursday, but it didn’t deter the hikers from learning about plants within the wooded reserve’s boundaries.

One of them was false Solomon’s seal.

“True Solomon’s seal is going to have flowers all along the bottom of it, in between each of those alternating leaves, but false Solomon’s seal, which we’re seeing here, only has one flower cluster at the very end,” Boyd said.

Hikers learned about wild lilies of the valley and starflowers that are found in the reserve, although they gained that knowledge while listening to the high-pitched call of a broad-winged hawk, which might have been nesting.

Boyd gave the hikers tips on what to find along the trail.

“Definitely keep your eyes out for this trailing type of flower,” Boyd told the group, referring to heath speedwell, which has tiny purplish flowers.

Cinnamon and interrupted ferns are found throughout the reserve, giving it an exotic, lush look in some spots.

“Walking through here, I feel like I’m in Jurassic Park,” Boyd said.

Staat pointed out a cinnamon fern and its “spore-producing appendage.”

“This is an infertile frond, and it has this brown fuzz going on it,” Staat said.

Boyd explained the name of the interrupted fern, marked by a sequence of leaves, spores and then more leaves.

“It’s an interruption in the growth of the leaves,” she said.

Before the walk, participants were given a two-page field guide on plants found in the Vielmetti-Peters Conservation Reserve.

One woman said during the trek, “I’ll never remember all the names, but it was fun hearing them the first time.”

The public is invited to enjoy passive recreation in the Vielmetti-Peters Conservation Reserve during daylight hours and follow the posted rules.

They also can learn about trees like paper birch and striped maple through signage in the reserve, which has an educational area used by Northern Michigan University students.

For more information on the Northern Center for Lifelong Learning, visit https://nmu.edu/ncll/. NCLL is a self-supporting organization sponsored by the Continuing Education and Workforce Development at Northern Michigan University.

Christie Mastric can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 550. Her email address is cbleck@miningjournal.net.