Michigan Botanical Society - Great Lakes Chapter
The Great Lakes Chapter serves a diverse group of amateur and professional botanists throughout Michigan and the surrounding states in the Great Lakes region. We have members in Michigan, Great Lakes States, Canada, and several States beyond the Great Lakes area. Members typically join GLC to subscribe to our peer-reviewed journal, "The Great Lakes Botanist" a Journal of North American Botany, which is published twice a year. Your membership also includes a subscription to the spring and fall State Newsletter, the "Arisaema," invitation to Michigan Botanical Society forays, and the annual Great Lakes Chapter Newsletter.
JOIN THE GREAT LAKES CHAPTER — A NEW ONLINE PAYMENT OPTION is now available for annual Membership Dues.
✔ To use the easy online payment option, visiting this link on Cheddar-Up (click here) . A small convenience fee of 3.5% will be added to your payment through the Cheddar-Up platform.
✔ Alternatively, you can print a copy of the Membership Form with mailing instructions. GLC Membership Form.
2025 Events
Michigan Botanical Society Annual Foray
The 2025 Michigan Botanical Society Foray will be held in Escanaba/Gladstone on Monday July 7th through Thursday July 10th at the Terrace Bay Hotel. This will be a week day Foray to help keep lodging costs reasonable during a busy summer travel time. The Foray will begin with the Monday evening speaker and have two days of field trips which will cover natural areas from the Garden Peninsula and to the west and north. The board is still working on a possible trip for those interested on Thursday on the way home. If you plan to stay at Terrace Bay, you can make reservations on their website https://terracebayhotel.com/ and use discount code MBS25. Detail and registration will be released in the Spring Arisaema.
Robb Student Foray Scholarship Award
If you are a student and would like to apply for the Robb Student Foray Scholarship Award, please fill out this application: Robb Scholarship Application and submit it to our vice-president Carolyn at carolynjmiller43 AT gmail.com.
Fall Mini-Foray and State Board Meeting
Date: September 20th, 2025
Location: 2846 3 Mile Rd N, Traverse City, Michigan 49686
Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy’s McMullen Family Conservation Center at Mitchell Creek Meadows
The Great Lakes Chapter will be hosting the 2025 Fall State Board Meeting and Mini-Foray on September 20th at the Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy’s McMullen Family Conservation Center at Mitchell Creek Meadows on 3-Mile Road near East Bay in Traverse City (see map). There will be a meet and greet on Friday at MIddleCoast Brewery in downtown Traverse City for early arrivals, then a Saturday morning board meeting and guided hikes at nearby natural areas. There will be opportunities for additional hikes at Sleeping Bear Dunes on Sunday. There are a plethora of hotels and motels on the east side of Traverse City to choose from; if you prefer camping, unfortunately the Traverse City State Park will be closed for construction in September, but you could look into Timber Ridge Resort and Arbutus Lake State Forest Campground.
2025 Great Lakes Chapter Field Trips
Glen Lake School Forest Exploration
Date: 9am - 11am, May 15th 2025
Meeting Location: Egeler Scenic Overlook (11217 S Benzonia Trail, Empire, MI 49630)
Liana May and Ellie Johnson will be hosting a Botanizing Hike on Thursday, May 15 from 9-11a at Glen Lake Schools' forest property on Benzonia Trail. We will meet at the Egeler Scenic Overlook (11217 S Benzonia Trail, Empire, MI 49630) and cross the road to walk through the northern section of the property. This forest is largely unexplored (by botanists) and this will be a first look, seeking to document the natural community. We hope for a nice display of ephemerals, but we are unsure of the plant community present. There is a record for Wood Turtle here, so we will also be on the lookout for herpes! We will be traversing the woods with no trail, so wear long pants, closed toed shoes, and whatever else you need to be comfortable. It would also be a good idea to have water and sun/bug protection.
There is an iNatural project for the day. You'll want to have the app downloaded to participate in logging species. You can join the project here: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/glen-lake-school-forest-benzonia-trail
Please RSVP with how many will be with your group. Email me to let me know how many people you have in your group.
Good Harbor Bay Plants and Landforms
Date: 9am - 11am, June 26th 2025
Meeting Location: Parking area for Good Harbor Bay Beach at the north end of Co. Rd. 651, Leelanau County
Google Map Pin: https://maps.app.goo.gl/abb5TMGFrpsgfpx39
Note: This is National Park and Park Pass is required. Day passes can be purchased at the parking lot in using a drop box.
This field trip is co-lead by Ellie Johnson of the Leelanau Conservation District and Liana May from the Michigan Botanical Society and is open to natural resource professionals and members of the Michigan Botanical Society. Around 4,500 years ago, Lake Nipissing covered much of Lake Michigan’s shoreline, including the low-lying beaches, dunes, and forests surrounding Good Harbor Bay. As outlets shifted after glaciation, water eventually drained out of Lake Nipissing and lake levels began to recede. Over several thousand years, successive beach ridges, dunes, and swales were formed across the old Nipissing lakebed. Today, we can walk from M-22 down to Lake Michigan and travel through time. The wooded dune and swale complex demonstrates the natural succession of beaches, dune-building, and woody encroachment across thousands of years. This field trip will focus on the primary vascular plant components of those ecosystems, as well as some specialist plants that make their home in these dynamic systems. We will look for wood lilies, Pitcher’s thistle, horned bladderwort, sand rockwort, hoary puccoon, death camas, bird’s-eye primrose, bear-corn, and pyrolas.
We will meet at the Good Harbor Beach parking lot at the north end of County Road 651 (Good Harbor Trail) in Leelanau County. The hike will be 1-2 miles on uneven terrain including sand. There may be shallow water crossings. There is an outhouse at the parking lot. Expect hot sun, biting flies, and poison ivy. Wear long pants with close-toed shoes and appropriate sun covers such as a hat. Bring water, bug / sun products, a hand lense, water and a note pad. You may enjoying staying after the walk for a dip in the lake!
Recommended Books: Born of the Wind: Michigan Sand Dunes by Dennis Albert
Website: https://www.nps.gov/places/000/good-harbor-beach-651.htm
Register: (registration link will be posted here when open)
Perch Lake Aquatic and Wetland Plant Inventory
An unnamed bog and marsh at the Manistee Headwaters Preserve
Date: 10am-12 am, Thursday August 2nd
Meeting Location: Trail to Perch Lake, 44.757085, -85.031264
Google Map Pin: https://maps.app.goo.gl/RY6kGNLLahQ9M4Nr6
Join the Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy (GTRLC) and the Michigan Botanical Society to investigate the aquatic and wetland flora of Perch Lake, a new addition to the Upper Manistee Headwaters Preserve, Kalkaska County. We will work to build a species list through our observations; as with past GTRLC events, species will be recorded using iNaturalist. The Manistee Headwater Preserve has several high-quality bogs, and I expect we will see some interesting species in and around this kettle lake. Natural communities include submergent marsh, bog, and dry-mesic northern forest. This property is not yet open to the public.
We will meet at a trail access to Perch Lake. This is located off of Drake Road where it meets Myers Road in Kalkaska County. To get there from Traverse City, follow M-72 east to Sigma Road and turn left (north). Follow Sigma Road north to Myers Road and turn right (east) until it T’s at Drake Road. Expect to get wet surveying aquatic plants! You may want to wear water shoes with shorts, or muck boots with long pants. Another option is waders. We will focus on the aquatic community at Perch Lake, using a vegetation rake to collect samples, but you can also explore the surrounding uplands and wetlands. Bring water, a hand lense, your smartphone with iNaturalist loaded, and a note pad. We will bring sampling trays, a weed rake, and reference materials.
Recommended Books: Aquatic Plants of the Upper Midwest: a photographic field guide to our underwater forests, by
Paul M. Skawinski
Website (with link to a brochure and map): https://www.gtrlc.org/activeprojects/upper-manistee-headwaters-preserve-addition-iii/
Register: (registration link will be posted here when open)
Online Events and Projects
Michigan Botanist’ Big Year 2025 Cyber Foray
All Great Lakes Chapter members are invited to join this year's online Cyber Foray events using the iNaturalist online application: Michigan Botanist’s Big Year. Participants can share plant observations and photos taken throughout the State of Michigan by creating an account or logging into iNaturalist and making observations of vascular plants in Michigan. Observations made in Michigan and submitted to iNaturalist automatically become part of the Cyber Foray, but to follow along and receive updates on the project, you will need to JOIN the Michigan Botanist’s Big Year project (here is how). We hope you enjoy this new way to learn and share your botanical findings. If you'd like to explore last year's observations visit: Michigan Botanists’ Big Year 2024. In 2024, there were 110,018 observations of 2,245 plant species in Michigan.
The Michigan Flora Photo Project Invites Your Participation
The Michigan (MICH) Herbarium Photo Project is continuing through 2025! This is your opportunity to contribute your plant photos to the MICH Herbarium online database, Michigan Flora Online. There are over 400 plant species that need updated photos. To participate, join our iNaturalist project and review the list of target species here: inaturalist.org/projects/michigan-flora-photo-project. Once you join the project, any of your observations that match our criteria will be automatically added to the project. Our criteria includes it being a plant on our target list, it has a photo, and is in the Great Lakes region. All MBS members are invited to participate. The attached Excel sheet lists the target species and some of the counties where these plants were last located. The MICH Flora webpage also shows a current distribution map of herbarium records for each species: Visit: Michigan Flora Online. The best photos will be selected by Herbarium staff for inclusion in future flora updates.
Great Lakes Chapter field trip to a bog near Lake Dubbonet
Student Foray Award Recipients
Congratulations to Aiden Bobak and Alaina Maniscalco, who were recipients of the 2024 Joan Robb Student Foray Award. Aiden recently completed his senior year at Michigan State University majoring in Dendrology and Zoology with interests in the natural sciences. Alaina is also a graduate of MSU and focused her studies on Plant Ecology/Zoology. Each student received an award covering the full cost of attending the Spring Foray held at Adrian College, Mi in June.
Botanical Events, Societies, and Places of Interest- <click>
As you travel along the Great Lakes, take a look at one of the many botanical and native plant organizations that offer field trips, booklets, maps, workshops and interesting places to visit. If you would like to have your event listed or know of a great place to botanize, please email the Content Manager .
Officers and Directors: A list of all the current officers and directors can be found here, If you are interested in becoming more involved with the GLC activities, please contact any of the Officers or Directors.