From May 13 to 21, the Nature Conservancy and Green Ribbon Initiative partners will host Oak Openings Blue Week. The annual nature festival features more than 30 engaging activities for everyone throughout northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan to celebrate the arrival of spring and the region’s natural heritage.
Blue Week provides an opportunity to learn about the Oak Openings region, an area with a high concentration of rare and endangered plants and animals.
The name hails the region’s many blue plants and animals, including karner blue butterflies, wild blue lupine, bluebirds, blue-spotted salamanders, blue herons, and blue racer snakes that are waking up in the spring.
All are invited to explore the region’s hidden treasures on a self-guided tour or join a naturalist-led hike. Children can get closer to nature through an observations and technology for families event or by creating enrichment crafts for recovering wildlife.
Adults can network and connect with professionals during “Stewardship: Behind the Scenes” and a fireside chat.
Everyone can participate in the Oak Openings photo contest and a new tattoo contest to showcase their love for nature.
There will be opportunities to volunteer with partners during the blazing star planting or woody plant removal events.
There also will be a Blue Week native plant sale. For a complete list of activities and locations, see oakopenings .org/blue-week/.
“Did you know that there are many amazing plants and animals right in our backyard here in the Oak Openings Region? You don’t have to go far to see them,” said Brittani Furlong, the Nature Conservancy’s Green Ribbon Initiative partner specialist. “During Oak Openings Blue Week, we celebrate the wonders of our home and remind ourselves that we belong in nature. We should be proud to live in such a beautiful and natural place.”
The Nature Conservancy is a global conservation organization dedicated to conserving the lands and waters on which all life depends. To learn more, visit nature.org.
