College campus part of purple martin recovery
Central Lakes College has joined the purple martin recovery project in Minnesota, establishing a research site complete with a 20-foot-tall, four-sided nesting "hotel" in the Bob Fedeler Memorial Natural Area on the Brainerd campus.
Working with the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, the local Audubon Society chapter, the DNR non-game management section and other agencies, volunteer Natural Resources students and faculty at CLC will monitor the results of new housing.
"Purple martin numbers are down 80 percent over the past 40 years in Minnesota," said Larry Leonard of Brainerd, one of the local volunteers dedicated to re-establishing bird colonies in the area.
He and others have helped erect modern, steel-based towers mounted with nest boxes in open areas to accommodate the purple martins.
"In 2002 we were down to two birds in our own nest site," Leonard said, noting that this spring, the birds are later than usual in their north-country return from migratory origins in Brazil.
Dr. Bill Faber, instructor, and NR students at CLC are part of Project Martin Watch, which has become a broad-based collaboration. The DNR oversees much of the research through its color banding program, and volunteers at 13 public sites similar to the one at CLC will help maintain the bird houses.
Kelly Applegate, wildlife biologist, is the state coordinator of the purple martin working group. Joining him as a project representative from the Mille Lacs Band is 2008 CLC graduate Andy Boyd, an ecosystem environmental technician.
They are part of the collaboration that also includes Katie Haas, Pam Perry and Mike North from the DNR and all work with Audubon Minnesota to direct the bird recovery effort.