When people remember the infamous Dust Bowl they typically think of the devastation of blowing dust storms that swept though the Grain Belt, but those same effects were felt right here in Michigan as well.

After riding out one of the worst windstorms Lake Michigan has ever seen, residents of Grand Haven, MI woke on November 13, 1940 to find that the sand dune known as Dewey Hill had shifted nearly two feet.  The 70mph winds caused by the storm had blown about 30,000 cubic feet of sand inland off the dunes fronting the lake.  This served as a wake-up call to the ever growing problem of erosion issues in west Michigan.

The area the press dubbed "Michigan's Badlands" needed some serious help.  The solution?  The creation of the Ottawa Conservation District - known then as the West Ottawa Soil Conservation District - the first soil district in the northeastern U.S.  Through beach grass and tree plantings, the dunes were able to be stabilized, one of the earliest success stories for the Ottawa Conservation District. They still stand today as part of the Kitchel-Lindquist Dunes Preserve.

Read the full story published by MLive here.

The Stewardship Network's 2013 Garlic Mustard Challenge is in full swing.  Help combat the spread of this aggressive plant and conserve native plants by participating in a local event and/or recording your own pull.   Click here for a calendar of local garlic mustard pull events and more information about the Stewardship Network.  Always dispose of bagged garlic mustard with your regular trash, not with yard waste, to avoid the spread of seeds through compost.

Our local stewardship network is competing with other regions in the state, so be sure to log in the pounds that you pull!!