On the Ground: Volunteers Celebrate the Life and Legacy of Dean Barnum by Improving Wetland Habitat at Kellogg Community College

KCC’s Interim President, Dr. Paul Watson II stands alongside MUCC Life Member, Ron Burris, and KCC  Vice President for Strategy, Relations and Communications, Eric Greene after a morning of improving wildlife habitat with OTG!

On Friday, September 2, 2022, 41 volunteers joined MUCC’s On the Ground (OTG) program in partnership with Kellogg Community College to clean up the Linear Path and improve pollinator habitat on campus.

Volunteers removed trash from Spring Lakes wetland area and performed trail maintenance around Linear Path at Kellogg Community College (KCC). Joining in on the clean-up efforts were a  dedicated group of KCC staff including Interim President, Dr. Paul Watson II, Executive Director, Teresa Durham, Vice President for Strategy, Relations and Communications, Eric Greene. MUCC’s Executive Director, Amy Trotter, and her family also joined-in on the efforts. More participants at the clean-up included KCC students, a group of cadets from Michigan Youth Challenge Academy, and other local conservationists! In total, volunteers removed over 10 large bags of trash and cleared encroaching vegetation from nearly 1 mile of trail.

After the clean-up, some of the volunteers stuck around to participate in spreading native wildflower seeds around the pond located near North Avenue on campus in order to improve habitat for native pollinators. The native seeds that were planted consisted of a mix of wet and dry wildflowers and grasses and were donated by Kalkaska Conservation District.

20 cadets from Michigan Youth Challenge Academy spent the morning cleaning-up Linear Path and then planted native wildflower seeds to help improve pollinator habitat on campus.

The partnership between MUCC and KCC was sparked after each organization (along with Battle Creek’s Willard Library) received generous donations from the estate of late KCC professor and conservationist, Dean Barnum. At this event, we celebrated the life and legacy of Dean and took this opportunity to collectively improve habitat in an area enjoyed by humans and wildlife alike.

You, too, can volunteer for wildlife with MUCC’s OTG program! Visit mucc.org/on-the-ground/ to view details about upcoming events and keep an eye out for our next project at KCC this winter!