Elk Rapids Almanac
Elk Rapids Almanac, August 2025
August: Month of the Sturgeon Moon, named for the giant lake sturgeon of the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain. This native freshwater fish was readily caught during this part of summer and an important food staple for Native Americans in the region. Acipenser fulvescens, is one of the oldest species in the Great Lakes, currently threatened, and rare due to overharvest and habitat loss. They grow very slowly but may reach 8 feet long and 300 pounds, and live for 55-150 years.
-www.michiganseagrant.org/
-www.michiganseagrant.org/
August 15- “The Pink Prairie Mascot”, by Claire Keenan-Kurgan, is a great story of a native species plant
restoration. Read it and be inspired.
Link and website: https://www.inochenpublicradio.org/podcast/points-north/2025-08-15/the-pink-prairie-mascot
restoration. Read it and be inspired.
Link and website: https://www.inochenpublicradio.org/podcast/points-north/2025-08-15/the-pink-prairie-mascot
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August 18-John Gregorski is a familiar face in the community. A long serving teacher at Elk Rapids High School during the school year and a small farmer in the summer, he grows a variety of fresh vegetables and sells them right in front of his house, 401 E 3rd St. Neighbors often stop by for his produce, knowing it’s always picked fresh that morning. For John, farming is a way to share the simple goodness of the earth with everyone
who passes by his house -John Gregorski |
Photo By: John Gregorski
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August 21-Monarchs on the move Nearly a billion monarch butterflies have vanished since 1990, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. In a recent national survey, butterfly counts generally declined 22 percent from 2000-2020. This last month, we saw a Michigan response has come by way of the County Road Association (CRA) which collectively represents 83 counties in Michigan. The CRA has proposed to help the Monarch Butterfly’s recovery by establishing a Candidate Conservation Agreement with Assurances, aka CCAA. What does this mean for the Monarch and other butterflies in decline? The CCAA is a state-wide initiative created to carve 5% of the total county roads managed land and dedicate it for Monarch butterfly habitat. The County Road Commission manages 66 feet across the roadways, into roadsides including the shoulders and ditches. This new proposal ‘adopts’ the outer 3 feet on each side of the managed roads, tasking the University of Illinois to monitor the program and its requirements. The Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) also now oversees this extension of the roadways for Monarch habitat, because as of December, 2025, counties across Michigan will be required to work directly with the agency as a move to halt the loss of critical habitat, typically done by mowing/spraying. This CCAA would improve milkweed habitat, provide consulting and surveys annually. It’s all in attempt to save the country’s most recognized butterfly. This is good news for the Monarch and its annual migration! Elk Rapids Village provides stewardship to the monarch butterfly with its Monarch Village USA designation (www.monarchcityusa.com), by intentionally planting and saving milkweed, the animals’ ‘host plant’ which is food for the caterpillars that become butterflies.
In addition, the ban of treatment of systemic insecticides (neonicotinoids and the 300+ name brands) has helped us see more fireflies and insect hatches along the shorelines, while stopping the practice of luring butterflies to toxic flowers and plants treated with ‘grub treatment’ or ‘lawn sprays.’ This move away from the use of neurotoxins that disrupt the nervous system of invertebrates (90 percent of Earth’s animals) was hailed as a way of creating a healthier community for not just butterflies, but for our kids, our pets, our wildlife. As the days grow shorter, the Monarch butterfly migrates directly through Northern Michigan on its way back to the Oyamel Fir Forests of Mexico, where it will over-winter as an adult butterfly. With actions from the County Road Commissions in Michigan to actively take a role in saving the species, combined with individual commitments from businesses and homeowners in our community, we remain vigilant in helping this unique species.
-Cyndie Roach, Curator, Grand Traverse Butterfly and Bug Zoo
In addition, the ban of treatment of systemic insecticides (neonicotinoids and the 300+ name brands) has helped us see more fireflies and insect hatches along the shorelines, while stopping the practice of luring butterflies to toxic flowers and plants treated with ‘grub treatment’ or ‘lawn sprays.’ This move away from the use of neurotoxins that disrupt the nervous system of invertebrates (90 percent of Earth’s animals) was hailed as a way of creating a healthier community for not just butterflies, but for our kids, our pets, our wildlife. As the days grow shorter, the Monarch butterfly migrates directly through Northern Michigan on its way back to the Oyamel Fir Forests of Mexico, where it will over-winter as an adult butterfly. With actions from the County Road Commissions in Michigan to actively take a role in saving the species, combined with individual commitments from businesses and homeowners in our community, we remain vigilant in helping this unique species.
-Cyndie Roach, Curator, Grand Traverse Butterfly and Bug Zoo
August 21-“Speaking of Wildlife”, presented by author and environmental philosophy professor Christopher Preston, reminded us humans and wildlife can live in proximity to each other and benefit our ecosystems and our quality of life.