Benzie Conservation District

05/27/2026

A clean boat is a fast boat! Visit a free boat wash station near you to freshen up your watercraft and stop the spread of aquatic invasive species.

Most aquatic invaders travel by hitching a ride on boats and gear. That harmless looking puddle on your boat may just be the start of an infestation.

Protect your favorite lakes and rivers by:

✅ Cleaning mud, plants, and other debris off your boat, paddle, and gear before and after visiting the water

✅ Drying everything out between visits

✅ Draining bilges, ballast tanks, and live wells

✅ NOT dumping bait in the water

Stop by one of the boat wash stations on our map for easy access to cleaning supplies. Thanks for protecting our waters!

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?mid=1sUqT2a_XBp15_gU0Z_JrSjgUjYuoLqs&usp=sharing

Use this map to find places to Clean, Drain, Dry in Northwest Lower Michigan. This includes both water and waterless systems as well as staffed and self-service stations. If a boat cleaning station is missing, please contact the Benzie Conservation District ([email protected]).

05/20/2026

It’s almost summertime in Northern Michigan! Now’s the time to brush up on how to slow the spread of aquatic invasive species.

As we go into boating season, remember these key tips:

✅ Michigan law requires boats, trailers, and gear to be free of all plants, mud, and debris before and after visiting the water. Save yourself a $100 ticket!

✅ Clean your boat, drain all water, and dry everything. Even small amounts of moisture can spread fish diseases and invasive species between lakes.

✅ Dispose of unused bait, don’t dump it in the water. This also protects lakes from invasive species and diseases.

Thank you for doing your part to protect our waters!

05/18/2026

Is your garden helping you manage your land? If not, it can!

Native plants provide so much more than natural beauty. Their deep roots help hold shifting soil in place and drink up heavy rains.

While no garden can stop the effects of severe weather, native plants are important teammates for limiting those effects.

Increasingly, people are minimizing stormwater damage and erosion by planting rain gardens. Balancing beauty with biology, rain gardens feature strategically placed native plants that absorb the impact of rainfall.

Fun fact: native plants even protect our lakes by filtering harmful substances that rainfall would otherwise carry into the water!

Learn more in our latest column of the Benzie County Record Patriot: https://www.recordpatriot.com/columns/article/native-plants-stormwater-michigan-22249225.php

Follow us for more fun facts 🌎

05/18/2026

05/15/2026

Once you’ve seen ephemeral wildflowers, that’s when it really starts to feel like spring!

Earlier this week, Cheryl Gross, President of PIW - Plant It Wild, led a guided hike with us at Railroad Point Natural Area. Together, we saw Dutchman's breeches, trilliums, squirrel corn, violets, and more. Thank you to everyone who came out to enjoy the hike!

Be sure to follow and subscribe to our e-news to discover more events like this.

05/15/2026

Time for more garlic mustard events! The rest of our yearly garlic mustard workbees are happening next week. Come join us at one of our upcoming events! If you bring your willingness to pull garlic mustard, we'll bring some donuts and trash bags 🎉

🌱 Tuesday, May 19th, 10am - 12pm: Magoon Creek Natural Area
🌱 Wednesday, May 20th, 10am - 12pm: in partnership with Leelanau Conservancy at Clay Cliffs Natural Area
🌱 Thursday, May 21st, 10am - 12pm: in partnership with the Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy and Benzie Conservation District at Railroad Point Natural Area
You can sign up for these events on our website at www.HabitatMatters.org/Events - signing up for an event ensures that there's a donut waiting for you!

05/13/2026

Happy ! Last weekend, 29 volunteers joined us at local rivers for our biannual Volunteer Stream Monitoring Program.

Together, we collected macroinvertebrates like insects, snails, and crayfish to examine what’s living in our stream habitats.

The presence (or absence) of certain species tells us about the water conditions, giving us important data about water quality.

With your help, we studied 8 sites total on the Platte, Betsie, and Herring Creek. On average, each site scored having very good water quality!

Volunteer support was key for collecting enough data. Thank you everyone who came out to support our local environmental research 💙

Follow along for more volunteer opportunities!

05/08/2026

Volunteers needed! Protect our forests by pulling garlic mustard, one of the top invasive species in our area.

Garlic mustard takes over the forest floor, pushing out native plants that our wildlife and pollinators need to survive. It even adds biochemicals to the soil in a process called allelopathy, which makes it almost impossible for different plants to grow.

We’re teaming up with Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy and Northwest Michigan Invasive Species Network to pull garlic mustard from Railroad Point Natural Area, and we need your help.

Join us for a morning workbee on May 21, 2026, 10:00am-12:00pm. Details and registration online.

05/06/2026

You’ve seen these mayflies all over the place in summer, but did you know their nymph form is used as a water quality indicator?

In their nymph stage, flatheaded mayflies are easy to identify because they have three tails and visible gills along their bodies. The nymphs need to live in very clean water, so if you find a lot of them, that’s a good sign the water has minimal pollution.

We’re happy to say that they’re a common find in the Betsie and Platte Rivers, and we hope to see lots more at our Volunteer Stream Monitoring event this weekend.

Follow for more fun facts about our aquatic ecosystems 💧

Happy !

05/02/2026

Last chance to buy native seedlings! It’s a beautiful day to kick off your spring gardening with trees and shrubs perfect for Benzie County. Your planting project directly supports local wildlife, pollinators, water quality, and forest health 🌲

Visit the Beulah Village Park Pavilion this morning while supplies last!