Endangered species spotted while pulling garlic mustard

We’re coming up close to the end of the 2011 Challenge, and I just wanted to give you all another quick reminder of what we’ve been working towards over the past three months (wow the time flies)!

Preventing invasive plants like garlic mustard from taking over an area and creating a monoculture means we’re protecting the species that have evolved in those unique and delicate ecosystems. Some of these species are already endangered, which makes your efforts to maintain their habitat that much more important. Here are some of the species sited by participants during pulls this spring!

Blanchard’s Cricket Frog(Image thanks to the Michigan DNR webpage)

Chuck Pearson spotted one of these guys while pulling garlic mustard around a fen in Lenawee County, MI.

Karner Blue Butterfly (Image thanks to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service website; Phil Delphey)

Karner Blue Butterflies were spotted by Sarah Pregitzer while she was pulling in Newaygo County, MI.

 Michigan Monkey-Flower (thanks to the Michigan Nature Association blog).

Darcy Rutkowski and Becky Hill both spotted Michigan Monkey-flower, in Mackinac and Leelanau Counties, MI.

Thanks for everything you’ve done this spring to protect these and other species by protecting their habitat and pulling garlic mustard! Remember, we’re closing in on the end of the 2011 Challenge, so be sure to get your reports in by midnight on Friday, July 8th to be counted in our official tally this year.

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