MARQUETTE – The Marquette County Conservation District celebrated a year of noteworthy achievements Wednesday at the Ore Dock Brewing Co.

The MCCD, however, celebrated not only a busy 2015 but its 60th anniversary.

Cameron Fuess, the district’s chairman of the board, talked to community supporters about its accomplishments, particularly those that took place this year.

Botanical growth for 2016 got its start this year.

The district’s tree and shrubs sales, for example, resulted in 160,000 of those plants being sold, he said. The Keweenaw Bay Indian Community also purchased 60,000 pounds of beach grass, which will be used in sand stabilization.

More wildlife plantings are in the works.

“A far as the tree sale goes, we have some new wildlife tree packets that are specifically designed for different habitat for whitetail deer, turkey, grouse,” Fuess said, “so you can look forward to those in the tree sale catalog.”

There also will be new apple varieties, he said.

One of the most popular events with which the district’s involved is Agri-Palooza, put on by the Marquette County and Alger conservation districts annually at Michigan State University’s Upper Peninsula Research and Extension Center in Chatham. During the joint project between the districts, local conservationists set up activity stations to talk about their fields of interest, such as forestry and invasive species.

“Agri-Palooza gets bigger and better every year,” said Fuess, who noted 375 youngsters attended the event this year. “Unfortunately, I wish there was more money to keep getting it bigger and better, because there’s a whole lot more interest than there is available space for Agri-Palooza.”

The MCCD distributed copies of its 2015 annual report at the Wednesday event, which detailed many of its recent efforts as well as its budget, which included $317,372.56 in revenue and $312,203.06 in expenditures for a net revenue of $5,169.50.

For the second year, the district’s Marquette County Deer Habitat Improvement Program received funding from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources Deer Range Improvement Program. McDHIP targeted 40 landowners – affectionately known as McDHIPers, according to the report – who were interested in improving deer habitat on their privately owned rural lands.

Each McDHIP partners planted and fences three apple trees and six red or bur oak plugs using trunk protectors that resembled orange road cones.

The district also continued its collaborative effort to continue the treatment and study plots to eradicate the invasive butterbur on McClellan Avenue in the city of Marquette and at Presque Isle.

The Presque Isle Bog in particular gave the district a chance to deal with a new resident at the bog, a beaver it nicknamed B.B. for “Bad Beaver.” It provided beaver control by way of protecting trees with wire fencing to eliminate further damage.

Ally Dale, program coordinator with the district, attended a field botany workshop on Isle Royale in June. She and other participants spent four days hiking around the Rock Harbor area learning about the flora and ecology of the national park.

Dale wrote in the annual report that she now applies her newly found botanical knowledge in her position with the MCCD.

“Two of my favorite memories of the trip were the dozens of tiny, delicate Calypso orchids we encountered and falling asleep in my tent to the sound of a choir of loons each night,” she said.

Matt Watkeys, forester for the Marquette and Alger conservation districts, also wrote about his activities for 2015.

A huge emphasis was put on the loss of whitetail deer habitat in the Upper Peninsula, and the subsequent decline in the deer populations, he noted. A deer winter complex work group was founded, and he as well as industry, state and federal foresters were to begin thinking of and implementing forestry practices and plans to help increase winter habitat, and in turn, increase deer numbers.

Fuess expressed his appreciation for the people in the audience who donated their time to help the district.

“As with every single project, everything we do, we couldn’t do without the volunteers,” Fuess said.

Christie Bleck can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 250. Her email address is cbleck@miningjournal.net.