Join us and a representative from Ann Arbor's Natural Area Preservation on an informative nature walk tonight at 7:00pm at Argo Nature Area. This lovely 22-acre park runs along the Huron River offering beautiful views of the water through the oak, hickory and willow trees. The event will be a mixture of hiking the unpaved trail that runs along the river and learning about ecological restoration and native plants and animals from the NAP representative. Remember to wear comfortable clothing and bring water!

We will meet in the parking lot by the Argo Canoe Livery, just off of Longshore Drive.

The first of our nature walks this season will be this tonight, May 8 at 7:00pm at Barton Nature area! The nature walks that AADL hosts throughout the summer are made possible by our partnership with Natural Area Preservation and are lead by a representative from NAP.

Barton Nature Area is a 102-acre park in northwest Ann Arbor. The part that we will be hiking in is known as the oxbow, and connects to Argo Nature Area. There is a lovely smaller part of Barton Nature Area as well, the Foster area, which is only accessible by boat via crossing Barton Pond. On our hike we will see lots of beautiful spring vegetation as well as a variety of landscapes. The oxbow area, where we will hike, includes wet meadow and shrubland, prairie and old field, mesic forest and emergent marsh.

We will meet at the parking lot off Huron Drive just north of the intersection with Bird Road. Make sure to dress for walking and bring water if needed! Arrive a few minutes early to make sure you don't miss the beginning of the hike. It's a beautiful warm day out, so come join us!

Now that the weather is finally beginning to warm up, many of us are thinking about getting our gardens started. Local landscape designer, author and Master Gardener Karleen Shafer will be at the Mallets Creek branch of the Ann Arbor District Library this evening to discuss various gardening topics. She will touch on pruning techniques, planting issues, building healthy ecological communities with plants, and creating a sense of space in your garden, no matter how large or small it may be. She will also be available for questions about more specific topics at the end of her talk.

Useful handouts on local invasive species and how to combat them will also be provided at the event. Karleen’s talk will begin at 7:00 tonight (Tuesday, May 6) in the large meeting room at Mallets Creek. Read more about Gardening with Gusto and about Karleen here!

Come visit the Ann Arbor District Library table at the 43rd Annual Ann Arbor Area Earth Day Festival this Sunday, April 27th from 12:00 to 4:00pm! Coordinated by the Environmental Education Network of Washtenaw and hosted at the Leslie Science and Nature Center, the Earth Day Festival is a fun-filled afternoon of exploration, activities and education for all ages. Over 40 local environmental, governmental and nonprofit organizations will have tables at the festival covering a wide range of topics including live animal demonstrations, sustainable agriculture, environmental quality testing and more. There will also be local food vendors at the festival.The AADL table will have a number of our science tools available for people to try out, including our portable digital microscope.

Admission to the festival is free, and the festival is a zero waste event. Lots of recycling bins will be available and patrons are encouraged to bring their own refillable water bottles. You can read more about the festival here

Pete Seeger, as beloved for his enduring folk songs as for his principled political activism for six decades, has died.

Seeger began his singing career as part of the Weavers in 1948, performing tunes of peace. Just seven years later, McCarthyism caught up with Seeger. The singer refused to testify. After years of legal wrangling, Seeger was convicted of contempt in 1961. A year later that conviction was overturned on a technicality.

For years, Seeger was blacklisted and banned from performing in schools and concert venues. He refused to be silent, writing and demonstrating whenever he could.

He was the inspiration for many folksinging giants, including Joan Baez who said of Seeger: "We all owe our careers to Pete Seeger." and Peter, Paul, and Mary who made famous Seeger's If I Had a Hammer. Other long-enduring Seeger classics are Where Have All the Flowers Gone and Turn! Turn! Turn!.

In 1994, the National Endowment of the Arts bestowed on Seeger the National Medal of Arts. In 1996, he won his first Grammy and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Twelve years later, he won his second Grammy. And just one year later, in a stunning moment of political validation, he performed at a celebratory concert in Washington, D.C. two days before President Barack Obama's first inauguration.

Seeger stayed politically active until the end of his life. In 2011, he marched in New York City with the Occupy Movement. He performed in last year's FarmAid concert and, as a lifelong environmentalist, this past November he asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to release the Arctic 30 who were granted their freedom the following month.

In 2012, Seeger published Pete Seeger: In His Own Words.

Seeger, who was 94, died of natural causes.

Pete Seeger is no stranger to area music lovers. He made several trips to perform here. His benefit concert for the Ark is fondly remembered. Check out these Old News articles on this beloved musician.

Thursday November 14, 2013: 6:00 pm to 8:30 pm -- Downtown Library: 4th Floor Meeting Room

This event is intended for adults and teens (grade 9 and up).

“How does it feel when your ancestors have been surviving off the same land for thousands of years and then that land is threatened?” Residing about 250 miles southwest of Anchorage the people of Dillingham, Alaska have lived off of caribou and the world’s largest, most spectacular sockeye salmon fishery located in Bristol Bay. But now the proposed Pebble Mine that seeks to extract valuable deposits of gold, copper, and molybdenum threatens that way of life.

The documentary We Can’t Eat Gold, casts light on the sustainable living the people have made off the land and sea. It also gives voice to the concern of the Alaska Native elders and youths not only about the future but also the impacts the exploration of Pebble Mine has already had on the Bristol Bay region’s King Salmon and Caribou populations. With government approval pending will the people’s voice be heard?

Film director Joshua Tucker and producer Giovanna Marcantonio will be on hand to lead the discussion following the viewing of the film.

This event is cosponsored by the University of Michigan Community Scholars' Program.

Sunday September 22, 2013: 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm -- Furstenberg Nature Area

Natural Area Preservation (City of Ann Arbor) volunteer and Master Gardener Aunita Erskine lead a nature walk through Furstenberg's Native Garden.

Learn about the ecology of the park, how to identify many of the autumn prairie plants and how people have historically used some of the plants for food and medicine.

Furstenberg is off Fuller, across from Huron High School. Meet in the parking lot near the Native Plant Garden.

This event is intended for all ages.

You can find Orion Magazine in the Periodicals Department on the second floor of the Downtown Library. It combines outstanding journalism, astute commentary and a measure of hope about the politics, science and current state of the environment. It manages to be inspiring, cutting edge, beautiful and provocative at the same time. If Orion Magazine has a list of favorite books on environmental themes from 2012, you can bet they are worth a look. Look here for that list. Then, the editorial staff of Orion picks the very best, and issues the Orion Book Awards for the year.

This year the winner is:
Apocalyptic Planet: Field Guide to the Everending Earth by Craig Childs
The four runners-up are:
Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingslover
Things That Are: Essays by Amy Leach
The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot by Robert Macfarlane
The Mountain and the Fathers by Joe Wilkins

Have you ever come across something so hideous it is adorable? That is how I feel about sloths. I love them. I love everything from their quiet and reserved nature to their fabulous hair (just look here to see what I’m talking about). So, when I stumbled across A Little Book of Sloth in the AADL catalog, I immediately knew I had to get my hands on it and once I did, it did not disappoint me. This book chronicles the efforts of the Sloth Sanctuary in Costa Rica, but mainly focuses on its inhabitants and their varying personalities. Highlighting the two different species of sloths, this book contains many fun little facts about these very, very slow creatures. For example, did you know that no one really knows how long a sloth can live? Or that the sloth has extra neck vertebrae so they can turn their heads up to 270 degrees? Amazing!

The author of this book is the zoologist Lucy Cooke who has a passion for those creatures that most people would not think of as cute or lovable. You can check out some of Lucy Cooke’s older blog posts at The Amphibian Avenger, which highlight some unlovable creatures she has worked with in the past, but be advised that she is writing for an adult audience so some of the content might not be appropriate for younger readers. If you want to follow her current adventures you can check out her Facebook page.

Did you know that many of our branches have environmentally friendly features? Malletts Creek has a vegetated roof and bioswales in the parking lot, the harvested ash trees from the building site of Traverwood were used in the construction of that branch, and Pittsfield's building design incorporates the natural wetlands of the area, helping to capture and filter storm water.

Interested in learning more?

This week Ann Arbor is celebrating all things GREEN with the 13th Annual Mayor's Green Fair, held on Friday, June 14th from 6-9pm. Come visit the Ann Arbor District Library at our booth on Main Street! You can learn more about our environmental features, plus information about our upcoming summer programs and events. We'll also have a craft for the kids!

GO GREEN!