Brought to you by the PlayCleanGo Newsletter Committee - Laura Van Riper, Shantell Frame-Martin, Emily Anderson, and Matt Davis.
Thank you for being a PlayCleanGo partner and bringing the
message of invasive species prevention to your area! We created this newsletter as a way to share
how partners are using PlayCleanGo. We
look forward to highlighting success stories, new products, ideas for events
and activities, how people are funding their outreach, and successful
PlayCleanGo events. Please let us know
if you have stories, photos, or products you’d like to share in this
newsletter. Email ideas to Laura VanRiper. Thanks for checking out the
newsletter!
In this newsletter:
-
PlayCleanGo, Montana Style!
- PlayCleanGo attends a Beach Party!
- New products: PlayCleanGo imprinted boot brushes and Montana videos
- North American Invasive Species Management Association annual conference
Project Success Stories
PlayCleanGo, Montana Style!
By Shantell Frame-Martin, MNWEC Project Coordinator, Montana
If you were to ask any Montanan, “What’s a noxious weed?” they’d probably be able to tell you, and if you’re lucky, you might even get them to name at least one. This knowledge and awareness can be attributed to the myriad of noxious weed resources available within the state and the dedication of the state’s weed professionals who have tirelessly promoted noxious weed education around the state.
To elevate Montanans’ awareness even further into taking action is where PlayCleanGo (PCG) is a perfect fit. As a state, we’ve fully embraced the PCG Campaign and have started to promote PCG in many different ways to multiple target audiences across the state. Materials such as Hunt.Clean.Go. and Ride.Clean.Go. rack cards and posters have been developed and mass mailed out to every sporting goods store, Fish Wildlife and Parks location, Chamber of Commerce, Forest Service office and Bureau of Land Management offices across the state. A total of 250 envelopes were mailed out with a PCG welcome letter encouraging the receiving entity to become a PCG partner.
To get PlayCleanGo into Montana’s schools, a PCG-themed poster was
inserted into 2,000 copies of the Montana Invasive Species Education
K-9 curriculum that was developed by Montana’s Ag in the Classroom
Program; Montana Fish, Wildlife& Parks; Montana Natural Resources
& Conservation Service; and the Montana Department of Natural
Resources and Conservation. The curriculum was developed
to promote awareness about invasive species that pose a threat to
Montana and demonstrates the importance of stopping the spread of these
invasive species. Included in the curriculum is
information on 28 invasive species (all taxa) that the agencies in
Montana would like children to become aware of as well as who to contact
if seen/found, and thanks to PCG, simple tips on how to prevent their
spread!
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Another newly developed program in Montana is ‘Adopt A
Trailhead Montana’ or AATM. This project
is designed similarly to others in the U.S. where volunteer groups provide
noxious weed control measures at trailheads to help stop the spread of noxious
weeds further into the backcountry. By
using the signage created by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, the
program promotes the PCG message and encourages trail-users to take the time to
clean their shoes and gear at boot brush kiosks before and after leaving trails
selected as AATM trailheads. The first
AATM project in Montana will be launched on September 26, 2015 at the
Rattlesnake National Recreation Area near Missoula, Montana.
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To promote the PlayCleanGo message in Montana and other
mountainous western states, Hunt.Clean.Go. and Ride.Clean.Go. posters and rack cards were developed
and are available! These educational
materials target two large recreational audiences that recreate in the west;
those that hunt and those that ride or pack. The Hunt.Clean.Go. materials feature a hunter demonstrating how to clean
off his boots after a long day of hunting, and the Ride.Clean.Go. materials
feature a Back Country Horseman member packing in the Bitterroot-Selway
National Forest in Western Montana. Photo credits have been obtained for both of these photos and these
materials are available for use in your state!
For additional information about these materials, please contact:
Shantell Frame-Martin
or 406-444-9491 or Kim Lanahan-Lahti or 651-259-5293.
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PlayCleanGo attends a Beach Party!
By Derek Witt and Angela Isackson, Three Rivers Park District, Minnesota
August 5th marked the 14th annual Bryant Lake Beach Party, a low-cost community event hosted at Bryant Lake Regional Park. This event was coordinated by Richardson Nature Center and the Hyland Visitor Center within the Three Rivers Park District. This summer, the event was planned around the theme of Invasive Species. Using carnival style games, arts and crafts, as well as information about invasive species, and representatives from Landscape Restoration promoting the Buckthorn Blaster, guests were given a rich and diverse opportunity to learn about this important topic.
For the kids, we had games that revolved around different invasive species in Minnesota.
- In the “Muskrat Race,” participants used squirt bottles to propel a suspended image of a muskrat across an imaginary pond. Along the way, the muskrat had to avoid obstacles such as curly-leaf pondweed and Eurasian watermilfoil.
- In the game “Mucking for Worms,” participants waded and fingered through muddy muck looking for “earthworms” (a rubber lookalike, that is).
- In “Inspectors Needed!” participants had 1-minute to run from the starting line to a ‘boat’ (made of cardboard, covered in Velcro tape), and pull off one aquatic species at a time. The participants had to use an invasive vs. native guide to decide if the aquatic life removed was either invasive or native, then they had to run to the correct bucket deposit and continue until time ran out.
As prizes, kids won pretend tattoos of invasive creatures, along with snacks and other goodies.
Adults had opportunities to talk with experts and pick up invasive species materials. Over 300+ guests left the Bryant Lake Beach Party equipped with the knowledge and even the tools (FREE boot brush) to make Minnesota’s natural beauty sustainable and invasive-free!
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PlayCleanGo
imprinted boot brushes
As many of you know, boot brushes make a great giveaway item
at events. People are excited to get
such a neat product and it directly helps them prevent the spread of invasive
species. Brightly colored boot brushes
in PlayCleanGo orange, blue, and green are now available. These boot brushes have “PlayCleanGo.org”
imprinted on one side and “Stop Invasive Species in Your Tracks” on the other
side. These can be ordered on the
PlayCleanGo order form.
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PlayCleanGo Videos
PlayCleanGo has been the theme of three, thirty second educational commercials produced in Montana. The first two commercials are centered around a recreational theme. Specifically,
the first commercial depicts photos of people partaking in popular
recreational activities in Montana and showcases a few of the state
listed noxious weeds. The second commercial also showcases
recreational activities while focusing on showing recreationalists how
to check and remove mud and seeds from their gear, pets and vehicles. The
third commercial is in development and will feature a PCG theme of
using certified weed seed free forage and preventing weed seed dispersal
while hunting. Check out our first two commercials, MNWEC PlayCleanGo Commercial and MNWEC Come Clean, Leave Clean Commercial
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North American
Invasive Species Management Association (NAISMA) Annual Conference
By Julie Kraft,
NAISMA, Wyoming
The NAISMA
annual conference will be held Oct. 18 – 21, 2015 in Vancouver, British
Columbia in Canada. The NAISMA Marketing
and Outreach Committee will hold its committee meeting on Monday October 19th from
9:00-12:00. We will have a presentation
from Susan Burks with PlayCleanGo and open discussion with committee members
presenting how each state and province is using and promoting PlayCleanGo in
their area and set goals for the committee for the upcoming year.
This committee meeting will give us the opportunity to meet
and exchange ideas and look towards the future promotion of PlayCleanGo as an
international invasive species awareness campaign. We will also have a Marketing and Outreach
Breakout Session on Wednesday the 21st at 1:30. Featured speakers in this session are Susan Burks with PlayCleanGo, Gail
Wallin on BC's Plantwise program, Lisa Scott on Don't Move a Mussel, and one
time slot that is to be announced.
As the Marketing and Outreach Committee our members have
been very active in our home states to participate and promote
PlayCleanGo. We will have more to share
after reports are given at the meeting, so stay tuned.
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