Michigan Reptiles, Amphibians, and citizens?

This Thursday, Jim McGrath and his son Glenn of Nature Discover returned to our campus to present their Michigan Reptiles and Amphibians exhibit at Global Fest.

Having heard some of his comments about environment and citizenship (which he articulates very well), I'm writing them here along with some observations:



-K-12 students (and as we saw Thursday, College Students-Professionals) are more than willing to learn about Michigan wildlife, and that the content is accessible and engaging--especially when bringing live animals to the class, or bringing the class to the live animals (outdoors). Furthermore, it is something engaging to people of many learning styles (visual, kinesthetic, aural, etc.) and that it should have standing for our mainstream curriculum.

-What can 44 species of native reptiles and amphibians have to do with Michigan citizenship?

First
They live in the same State with us and are part of our ecological community.

Second
Many reptiles and amphibians with populations that are diminishing are threatened by human activity--but not on purpose!

Take Michigan turtles for example.

One of the primary causes of turtle kills comes from vehicular traffic.
Between late May and into July, female turtles will leave ponds to lay eggs on drier ground. They often cross roads to do so (but slowly), and motorists don't always realize that the little round lump on the road is a turtle until it's too late. Jim says simply informing Michigan drivers about this would make a difference in the turtle population. What can we do about it? Jim says to reach our government representatives (and maybe even the Secretary of State) and ask that a "Michigan Wildlife" section be included in the driver's handbook (Michigan's is called "What Every Driver Should Know"). It would be a great place to mention deer and the times that they're active too (having hit one in the past month on Ford Road, I can tell you it's around twilight).

-Another source for the decline in our turtle population comes from poaching.
Often, turtles are collected out of the wild by poachers.

For example, the Spotted turtle is listed as Threatened by the Michigan DNR poaching and habitat loss (wetlands). While the MI DNR says not to collect wild turtles as pets, many people (including the former owners of several animals in Jim's exhibit) don't know where their pets really came from. If animal and ecosystem conservation is of concern to you, ask pet store owners, and let them know that supply chain transparency and responsibility is something you value as a potential customer and pet owner of a pet store. Also, there are opportunities to attend public hearings and meetings (like your local zoning board of appeals meeting), which may have an impact on existing wetland/aquatic ecosystems.

Don't forget to look for win/win solutions such as green infrastructure. (drawing from the recent Rouge River Outfall hearing proposal...)

Of course, you're welcome to learn more about reptiles and amphibians elsewhere, the campus EIC and the DNR's website might be some good places to start.