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Dune Life

A weekend trip up to Ludington State Park offered the opportunity to investigate some of the plants of The Great Lakes ecosystem. The open dunes of Lake Michigan’s eastern shore prove to be one of the Midwest’s most extreme habitats. Blowing sand, temperature extremes, constant exposure and lack of cover all make for a place where only the tough can eek out an existence. From the Sand Cherry to the Beach Pea, from Hoary Puccoon to Wormwood to Pitcher’s Thistle, many of these species are found only on the dunes and shore lines of Lake Michigan, Huron and Superior. Many are listed as “threatened species” by the federal government and state of Michigan. Most threats are due to loss of habit from increased human activity in shoreline areas. Hardy shoreline plant life require open, windblown sand dunes or low, open beach ridges, with root systems capable of penetrating six feet under into the sand.

It’s quite amazing witnessing life’s endless creative expression exhibited through that nation of thriving trees and plants the Native American Americans call The Standing People. Forever connected to Mother Earth, the plant populace are powerful receptors and providers of the life force, as Photosynthesis maintains atmospheric oxygen levels and supplies all of the organic compounds and most of the energy necessary for life on our planet. They also offer fruits, nuts, saps, grains, and vegetables for nourishment, while affording themselves as wood for heat and lodging, and homes to birds, animals and insects.

I can’t conceive the nucleus of all
Begins inside a tiny seed
And what we think as insignificant
Provides the purest air we breathe

A species smaller than the eye can see
Or larger than most living things
And yet we take from it without consent
Our shelter, food, habilment

But who am I to doubt or question the inevitable being
For these are but a few discoveries
We find inside the Secret Life of Plants

– Stevie Wonder