The Michigan Botanical Society
MBS1941@michiganbotanicalsociety.org
The Michigan Botanical Society is the native plant society for the state of Michigan and the entire Great Lakes Region, as well as the home of the Michigan Big Tree Program
Thank you to The White Pine Chapter for coordinating the 2025 Grand Foray in Escanaba, MI.
MBS Winter Webinar Series: Compliments of the Education & Outreach Committee
Please join us on 25 February 2026 at 7 PM for the discussion with Manuel Eduardo Anderson as he discusses: Natural Communities of Wilderness State Park: Insights from a Summer of Vegetation Mapping
Register at: https://msu.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_0HghOoMhRzqzhR3ki8KTfA
Abstract: As part of an ongoing effort to create natural community maps of Michigan state parks, scientists with Michigan Natural Features Inventory conducted wall-to-wall vegetation surveys of Wilderness State Park during the summer of 2024. Manuel Anderson, an ecologist with MNFI, will discuss how the park’s landscape—shaped by ancient seas, glaciers, and wind—supports a diverse mosaic of high-quality natural communities. The park features extensive coastline, calcareous poorly-drained lake plain, and Nipissing-age aeolian dunes. This varied geomorphology influences vegetation patterning and provides for a range of community types, from boreal and dry-mesic northern forests to fens and swamps. The talk will highlight high-quality examples of natural communities found in the park and discuss how the mapping effort can inform conservation priorities, guide management decisions, and reveal the ecological complexity embedded within Michigan’s coastal landscapes.
Bio: Manuel joined MNFI in 2024 and has focused primarily on supporting natural community mapping in Michigan’s state parks. Previous experiences include research to assess impacts of chronic deer browse and of introduced earthworms on understory plant communities, forest inventory and health monitoring, and environmental conservation and education. He spent time in the Keweenaw to earn his MS in applied ecology, which offered opportunities to conduct research across the western UP and to support field research campaigns in Costa Rica and Isle Royale National Park. In a past life, Manuel used an undergraduate degree in political science to work as a paralegal and as a teaching assistant abroad. He has used his recent free time to identify (and eat) many mushrooms, gather and plant seeds, and botanize on the Huron River.
If you have any questions, please contact Carolyn Miller miller94@msu.edu or mbs-secretary@michiganboatanicalsociety.org
The 2026 Grand Foray
The 2026 Grand Foray will take place June 1-4 at the Interlochen Center for the Arts (ICA) in northern Benzie County. This region of Michigan is known for its rich and complex Wisconsin-age glacial landforms and Nipissing - and Algonquin-associated shorelines. Field trips will explore the dunes and shorelines at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, spring ephemerals around Arcadia Dunes, rich conifer swamp and fen on the Cedar River, Algonquin lakeplain and old growth forest at the tip of the Leelanau Peninsula, kettle bogs, aquatic systems, and more! The Great Lakes Chapter is excited to welcome MBS to, for some of us, our backyard.
Lodging, meals, and event space will be on the beautiful ICA Campus on Green Lake. Registration will open sometime in March, and the format will be similar to past Grand Forays. We hope to use a new system that tracks field trip capacity, so you know what trip you will be on at the time of registration! ICA has 50 rooms held for us (June 1st check-in and June 4th check-out): hotel rooms are $79/night, Penn Colony rooms are $99, Dow Artist Suites are $99 and small cottages are 119/night. You can find contact information and pics on their web site: https://www.interlochen.org/stone-hotel-and-cottages. Use Group Code MBS26 (NOT PROMOTION CODE!!) for rates.
The Great Lakes Chapter is currently recruiting field trip leaders! Please contact mbs-glc@michiganbotanicalsociety.org if you are interested in leading a trip, or you know a potential field trip leader. Several excellent sites for field trips have been identified with known descriptions and floras.
The 2026 Mini Foray
The 2026 Mini Foray, organized by the Huron Valley Chapter, will take place on Saturday 29 August at the G. Eddy Discovery Center of the Waterloo State Recreation Area. Address: 17030 Bush Rd, Chelsea, MI 48118.
Join Us!
The Michigan Botanical Society has four local Chapters and one regional Chapter.Chapters organize field trips with knowledgeable leaders and a speaker series. Twice a year, the membership gathers for speakers and field trips. The Society publishes a newsletter “Arisaema” and a professional journal “The Great Lakes Botanist” which are sent to all members.
About the Michigan Botanical Society
MBS1941@michiganbotanicalsociety.org
The society was founded in 1941 and consists of five chapters. The focus of the Michigan Botanical Society is:
Download our Brochure in pdf format.
Conservation of all native plants and their home places.
Education of the public to appreciate and preserve plant life and their home places.
Sponsorship of research and publication on plant life and their home places.
Sponsorship of legislation to promote preservation of Michigan native flora and their home places.
Establishment of suitable sanctuaries and natural areas.
Cooperation in programs concerned with the use and conservation of all natural resources and scenic features.
Please join us by becoming a member. Membership is handled through the individual chapters. If you do not have a chapter near you, you can join us through our online Great Lakes Chapter.
Each chapter holds monthly meetings and sponsors field trips. Every Memorial Day, the Michigan Botanical Club sponsors a Foray to a different area of Michigan.
We sponsor the publication of The Great Lakes Botanist a scientific peer-reviewed journal and Arisaema, our State Newsletter.
Arisaema
Past Issues of The Arisaema newsletter are now available online. To receive the current issue, please join the Michigan Botanical Club.
Questions? Problems? Contact the webmaster at botclubwebmaster (at) gmail.com