07/31/2025
Good Afternoon Bay Mills!! PLEASE SHARE!
The Biological Services Invasive Species Program has discovered the presence of Wild Parsnip on the reservation for the first time this year.
Wild Parsnip, while common along roadsides in Chippewa County, has now made its way to Bay Mills. It was likely transmitted by contaminated roadside mowing equipment. It is also present in front of Northern Lights Cannabis where it hadn’t been in previous year.
Many of our kids enjoy picking wildflowers and this is NOT one we would want anyone to pick. Please be sure to keep an eye out around the reservation for any sightings and the Invasive Species program will come and remove it.
This plant is a Biennial, meaning it will have a ground level florets in its first year, then bolt/flower in its second year and die. The seeds are viable in the soil for up to 4-5 years. We will continue to do comprehensive monitoring in future years to ensure we don't end up with a wide spread infestation.
It's VERY important that if you are doing any roadside mowing, especially where this plant is present, to clean the mower deck before mowing a new location. Many times roadside mowing is delayed until late summer when this plant is in seed which is why it has spread so bad across the county in such a short amount of years. Mowing of this plant is only effective in early summer when it is first starting to grow. Mowing the plant in late summer does 2 things, 1. Disperses seeds along the roadway and 2. If the plant was in flower, the plant still has enough energy stored to be able to produce seeds and disperse them even after being mowed. If you do see this plant on reservation while mowing, please reach out. We will gladly come and pull it and also bring w**d wackers to clean up the site you were mowing if you could just mow around it.
A look alike plant that is also along the 55 stretch is Cow Parsnip. Cow Parsnip is much larger and white when in flower. It is currently in seed and dying off for the season. This plant is an important native medicinal plant. The goal of our program is to manage invasive plants to enhance the habitat where native species can thrive. We sometimes get calls that it is Giant Hogw**d (an invasive species found elsewhere) in which it is not, just know it's a native species that is important to our ecosystem.
We will be out in a mule with a large Invasive Species sign on the back pulling it this afternoon on the 55 stretch today.
We anticipate new infestations of invasive species will be common with the amount of construction/movement of materials we have had going on for the last few years. As always, feel free to reach out to our invasive species program if you have any questions regarding any invasive species.
If you think you've found Wild Parsnip anywhere on the reservation, feel free to text a photo and location to Tiffany Escherich at 906-440-0310 for identification/management.
