Chippewa Nature Center Inc.

Filing Period

Jan 1, 2011 to Dec 31, 2011

Signed

Jun 27, 2012

Return Version

2011v1.2

Gross Receipts

$13,532,550

Mission

Major Activities

Activity 2

Interpretation: since 1966, chippewa nature center's program staff have offered exciting and relevant interpretive programs that enable people of all ages to connect to the natural world. In 2011 a total of 8,210 people attended interpretive programs, up over 3,000 people from 2010 the program offerings once again included hikes, off-site field trips, paddling trips, hands-on workshops, and lectures, as well as major events like maple syrup day. The total number of program offerings for 2011 was up from 2010 due to our full return to the visitor center after the renovation of the facilities. Annual drop-in attendance has gone up sharply since the construction of the chippewa trail in 2005. In 2011, in addition to the number of people attending naturalist-led programs, there were an additional 15,618 people who came to the visitor center on their own. Venturing out: in 2011, chippewa nature center took 258 people on a total of 27 field trips designed to connect to nature and explore the outdoors. Activities and destinations included snowshoeing the au sable river, kayaking the deadstream swamp, paddling moose country, birding ohio, an exploration of isle royale, as well as several kayak trips on our local rivers. Field trips create the opportunity to immerse oneself in the outdoors and learn the plants, animals and character of a region with our knowledgeable trip leaders. Chippewa nature center offered a wide range of hands-on workshops in 2011, including soapmaking, natural wreath making, fly-tying, snowshoe lacing, and fungi identification. Workshops continue to be popular with the public because they are an opportunity to dig deeper into specialized skills related to our cultural heritage, natural world and the great outdoors. Festival time: major events always pull in large crowds eager for fun and educational activities. Maple syrup day led the way in 2011 with just over 1,400 attendees ready to usher in spring by participating in a variety of crafts and activities related to this sweet time of year. The banff mountain film festival had all time high attendance of 467 people. Fall harvest festival drew nearly 1,300 people over two days nature art show and sale was back after a three year hiatus and over 800 people attended the weekend event. Drop-in and get connected: drop-in, free programs continue to be the foundation of our interpretive program offerings. The programs covered a range of topics including: bird walks, wildflower hikes, fungi forays, maple syrup programs, life on an 1870s farm, bird banding, native american life, full moon walks, archaeology, animals tracks, fishing, snowshoeing, and much, much more in total, nearly 3,300 people attended these interpretive programs they are the core of the center's adult and family offerings, giving people of all ages the chance to get outside with a talented staff and build connections to the natural world with people of similar interests. The guiding force for the center's program offerings is the mission. The mission directs chippewa nature center to facilitate the enjoyment and understanding of the cultural and natural resources of the saginaw valley, to promote environmental awareness and foster responsible stewardship. The ultimate goal of programming is to inspire people to protect the natural world and we are fortunate to have a dedicated staff, committed board of directors and a wonderful site and facility at chippewa nature center from which to run these programs and work with our membership and the general public. We look forward to another great year of programming at chippewa nature center and hope you can attend one of the many programs we offer annually.

Activity 3

Land & facilities: facilities energy use - a system for monitoring the energy use of each of the chippewa nature center's buildings was developed and presented to the cnc board. Land trails - with some heavy snows, heavy wind storms and two major floods in the spring, much effort was spent maintaining and grooming the trails for skiing, snowshoeing, hiking and biking. As a result, we have continued to receive positive feedback from many guests, especially cross country skiers and chippewa trail users summer plant crew accomplishments - two summer crew positions (kara moser, sean cannedy (split position) and casey brege (split position)) were filled to help control large portions of the priority areas outlined in the invasive exotic plant management plan. Species such as garlic mustard, dame's rocket, autumn olive, buckthorn, phragmites, multiflora rose, honey suckle, purple loosestrife, norway spruce, scotch pine and barberry were all controlled. Summer maintenance staff - ernie perry and ryan krenzke were hired for the summer to help with projects including mowing, trimming, trail work, facilities maintenance and equipment upkeep. Phragmites control - phragmites around dragonfly, muskrat and heron marsh were mowed in august and then sprayed as they began resprouting in october and november. Most of the spraying was applied after other species died off after the first frosts. This will hopefully provide a good start towards controlling this very aggressive invasive at the wetlands area. Universal access sites - after many years of planning and working with the access to recreation committee, three universal access sites have been constructed: sanford lake park, the chippewa nature center site on west chippewa river road and the city of midland site at the tridge. Each site has parking, trails, and a dock that are suitable for those with disabilities. The site will be open to the public starting may 1, 2012 and will be open annually may 1 through october 15. Deer harvest - a total of 41 deer where harvested with archery equipment during the 2011 season. This is up from the last 3 years, which were low as a result of the no baiting ban occurring over those years. Of the 41 deer harvested 36 were antlerless. Species of special concern - a map of plant species that are of special concern at the chippewa nature center have been mapped using gis. This will help staff track these species status annually, while also providing a notification of their location to staff maintaining the land and for programming purposes. Power line right-of-way grant - native grassland seed was purchased with a 1500 grant received from itc (a subcontractor of consumers). The goal is to establish native grasses underneath some of the high tension power lines that run through chippewa nature center's property. During the summer, itc sprayed the existing vegetation so that the native plants can be planted in the spring of 2012. Planting and maintaining herbaceous plants under portions of the lines will provide additional native diversity within these areas, provide an opportunity for interpretation and help minimize the negative appearance whenever itc has to come in to spray and cut these corridors. Programming - a number of programs relating to understanding and improving the land were provided during the year, including a river clean-up, invasive exotic plant pulls, land management power point program, land management tour, and an invasive exotic tour. Usgs blue bird research - tom custer from the usgs did a follow-up to msu's bluebird nesting box research during the summer. This is part of a study in the great lakes region that is looking at contamination of organochlorine insecticides, polychlorinated biphenyls (pcbs), dioxins, mercury, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons among others. Data will quantify current exposure to these contaminants in great lakes food chains using a sentinel indicator species, the tree swallow. During the summer of 2011 the

Filer

EIN

38-1859315