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Aquatic Invasive Species Awareness Month (July) is an opportunity for Michigan’s government to join forces with businesses, industries, environmental groups, community organizations, residents, and other Great Lakes states and provinces to raise awareness and take action against the introduction and spread of aquatic invasive species.

See also: Wetlands - Phragmites

For homeowners or landscapers in Michigan looking to plant small to medium flowering trees this spring, consider these alternatives to Callery pear.

Effective immediately, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), in cooperation with the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD), is expanding the quarantine for the box tree moth (BTM, Cydalima perspectalis) to include all of Clinton, Eaton, Ingham, Jackson, Livingston, Monroe, Oakland, and Wayne Counties in Michigan.

Aquatic Invasive Species Awareness Week (June 30-July 6, 2024) is an opportunity for Michigan’s government to join forces with businesses, industries, environmental groups, community organizations, residents, and other Great Lakes states and provinces to raise awareness and take action against the introduction and spread of aquatic invasive species.

The Great Lakes remain one of the most heavily invaded freshwater systems in the world. Ballast water from cargo ships crossing the ocean inadvertently brought in many aquatic invasive species (AIS), accounting for the introduction of 40% of all nonindigenous aquatic species in the Great Lakes. However, collaborative efforts have led to pioneering research and policy changes that have reduced this threat.

The Michigan departments of Natural Resources and Agriculture and Rural Development today announced the addition of beech leaf disease to the state's invasive species watch list. Invasive species on the watch list have been identified as posing an immediate or potential threat to Michigan's economy, environment or human health. These species either have never been confirmed in the wild in Michigan or have a limited known distribution. Beech leaf disease is associated with the microscopic worm Litylenchus crenatae, a nematode that enters and spends the winter in leaf buds, causing damage to leaf tissue on American beech and European and Asian beech species. Infestations result in darkened, thick tissue bands between leaf veins, creating a striped effect on the leaves, leaf distortion and bud mortality. Trees weakened by leaf damage become susceptible to other diseases and can die within six years. Beech leaf disease has not been found in Michigan. The disease was first discovered in Ohio in 2012. Since then, it has been identified in seven eastern states and Ontario.