By ILSA MINOR

News Editor

Daily Press, Escanaba

GLADSTONE — As spring comes to the Upper Peninsula it’s hard not to notice the flashes of green and colorful flowers, but for one group, making its way to Gladstone this summer, the excitement has been budding for some time.

The Michigan Botanical Society — which, despite its name, is a native plant society for Michigan and other parts of the Great Lakes — is planning to have its 2025 Grand Foray in Gladstone from July 7 through July 10.

“The Michigan Botanical Society hosts a Grand Foray each year somewhere in Michigan, where amateur to professional botanists from all over the state meet to see and talk about plants,” said Craig Elston, president of the White Pine Chapter of the Michigan Botanical Society, which is responsible for organizing this year’s foray event.

It’s been a few years since the foray took place in the Upper Peninsula, and according to the society’s website, the first time it has ever been in Delta County. The last time the grand foray was in the U.P. was in 2019, in Marquette. Before that, U.P. events took place in the Keweenaw Peninsula in 2014, St. Ignace in 2004 and the very first foray, in Trout Lake in 1941.

For this year’s foray, the society’s base camp will be the Terrace Bay Hotel. The event will kick off Monday evening with a speaker. On Tuesday and Wednesday, the group will have field trips to explore the local flora all day, with speakers each evening.

“During these forays, we seek to learn about Michigan’s unique habitats and native plants. The field trips allow participants to visit areas they may not otherwise visit and see many native (plants), some of which are rare in their natural habitats. Some will see plants that are new to them for the first time,” Elston said.

The full slate of field-trips are being orchestrated by members of the society familiar with the area around Gladstone.

“This is always a fun and learning experience and a chance to meet like minded plant enthusiasts,” Elston said.

That enthusiasm underpins the society’s five main areas of focus: supporting the conservation of all native plants, educating the public to appreciate and preserve plant life, sponsoring research and publication on plant life, sponsoring legislation to promote and preserve Michigan native flora, establishing suitable sanctuaries and natural areas, and cooperating in programs concerned with the use and conservation of natural resources and scenic features.

The society has always had a U.P. presence. Originally known as The Michigan Wildflower Association, the group was formed in Trout Lake on May 31, 1941, at the first Hiawathaland Wildflower Festival, sponsored by the Trout Lake Civic Club and the Michigan Conservation Department.

Most of the society’s goals — preservation, education, and the publication of literature about Michigan’s wild plants — were set at that first meeting.

By 1943, the group was politically active in its effort to protect native plants. With the support of the Michigan Department of Conservation and the Michigan United Conservation Clubs, the Michigan Horticulture Society and others, the group led the charge for a rider on the state’s Christmas Tree Act to make it “illegal to pick and offer for sale arbutus, gentians, trilliums, all species of native orchids, North American lotus, clubmosses, flowering dogwood, pipsissewa, and climbing bittersweet.” The act was passed 80-1 in the state House, unanimously in the Senate, and became law that year.

The society had multiple name changes over the years before settling on its current moniker. It continues to promote its goals and welcomes anyone interested in Michigan’s native plants among its membership.

For more information about the Michigan Botanical Society or the Grand Foray in Gladstone, go online to www.michiganbotanicalsociety.org.