In this issue...

Reflections from the President

Thank you, 2007 Donors

Scouting Activities at the Nature Center

Stewardship

A Season is Ending

Did You Know?

Nature Area Bird Surveys

Membership Survey

Rachel Carson

Newletter Sponsor

Upcoming Events...

November 3
Annual Meeting
10:00AM
Centennial Farm

December 22
Christmas Bird Count
9:00AM to 11:00 AM
Nature Area
COST $3.00
Chili Luncheon served
Call rec. dept. at (734) 675-2354

Nature Area Closed
November, 2007 to April, 2008

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Reflections from the President
by Liz Hugel

photo by Manfred Egerer

As our year draws to an end it's a good time to look at our goals, see what we've accomplished and make adjustments to our "to-do" list. We hope that you'll be able to join us at the GINLC annual meeting on Saturday, November 3, to obtain full reports from our committees and to hear about the health of our organization. It's a good opportunity to meet other members and to sign up to help with our volunteer efforts.

Nature Area

Legislation is progressing in Congress to move our "Grosse Ile Nature Area" from the US EPA to the US Interior's Fish & Wildlife Service. If Congress allocates funds for remediation the transfer will occur and the 40 acre site will become part of the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge. We have expressed our interest in continued stewardship of the area and look forward to working with the FWS in continued restoration of the area's ecosystem while increasing public access.

Gibraltar Bay

Early in the year the board of directors took time to investigate concerns on the growth of the American lotus bed in Gibraltar Bay. We gathered maps dating back to 1796, aerial photographs and historical information. We consulted with experts from the MI DEQ, DNR, US EPA and USGS to understand the reasons and causes of the changes that have occurred in Gibraltar Bay. Go to www.ginlc.org\GibraltarBay for our full discussion on this topic.

Land Acquisition

We're delighted to report that we are in the process of acquiring three additional lots on the Thorofare Canal. Learn more at the annual meeting about the location and special attributes of this property.

Take a Break!

Get outdoors and spend some time in our beautiful open spaces this autumn! People naturally find stress relief while observing and enjoying wildlife and nature. It's "a release from the tensions of modern life" wrote Rachel Carson, the scientist and famous author of Silent Spring. More recent studies concur that a walk in the woods is more effective than other techniques like reading, listening to music, or exercising in both relaxing and being able to perform well on detail oriented tasks.