On the Ground Spring Update

Kristina Kennedy • May 11, 2023

It’s been a busy spring field season for On the Ground! Since April 1, 267 volunteers have joined us in improving more than 69 acres of wildlife habitat on public land throughout the Lower Peninsula.

Volunteers gathered at Port Huron State Game Area to build brush piles and soften edge-habitat for woodcock.

On Saturday, April 29, volunteers gathered at Port Huron State Game Area to improve edge-habitat within woodcock openings in the game area. Volunteers worked through rain and mud to build 14 large brush piles within 6 openings created for woodcock and upland bird habitat.

Volunteers enjoy lunch after planting 3,500 jack pine seedlings on May 6.

The following weekend, OTG headed up to Crawford County to team up with Kirtland’s Warbler Alliance, Huron Pines, and the Michigan DNR to plant more than 3,500 jack pine seedlings in the Grayling Forest Management Unit. In 5-6 years, these jack pines will provide critical nesting habitat for the once endangered Kirtland’s warbler.

In between weekend habitat projects, we’ve been busy in the field with OTG Jr. field trips for students. From building brush piles and removing invasive vegetation to creating pollinator gardens and planting trees, student volunteers make up a large portion of our spring workforce on Michigan’s public lands!

If you are interested in getting involved in OTG, there are multiple opportunities to do so this spring and summer! Visit mucc.org/on-the-ground/ to view upcoming events.

 

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On the Ground Junior: Spring Event Recap

By Katelyn Helsel • May 7, 2025
Our student volunteers have been hard at work improving wildlife habitat on public lands! MUCC’s On the Ground Junior (OTG Jr.) program, a subset of the On the Ground program, is a fully funded field trip program that brings grade-school classrooms into the outdoors to improve fish and wildlife habitat in their local communities. Through activities like native plantings, brush pile building, and invasive species removal, students gain hands-on experience with conservation and positively impact the world around them. Students also participate in educational activities like predator-prey tag to teach them about population dynamics and other natural resources concepts. So far this spring season, MUCC welcomed 69 students, teachers, and chaperones who participated in multiple OTG Jr projects with more on the way! In total, they improved over 12 acres of wildlife habitat. Read on for a recap of each OTG Jr project and see what all our awesome student volunteers have been up to. 
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