ZaagkiiTV

About this original series

Native American youth and other Northern Michigan teens are protecting pollinators like butterflies because honeybees are dying by the billions across the world.The Zaagkii Wings and Seeds Project is the latest youth environment project founded by the non-profit Cedar Tree Institute in Marquette, Michigan in cooperation with the Marquette County Juvenile Court, Keweenaw Bay Indian Community (KBIC) and the United States Forest Service (USFS).The teens spent the summer building butterfly houses that offer protection, rest and an egg laying environment to Monarchs and other butterflies. The northern white cedar butterfly houses are lined with bark with slits that allow entry and are slimmer and longer than birdhouses. The teens plotted 26,000 native plant seeds at the Hiawatha National Forest greenhouse that will be transplanted across Michigan's Upper Peninsula including 2.5 miles along Sand Point, a Lake Superior beach that was the first Native American Brownfield site in the Midwest after being contaminated 90 years ago by a copper refinery.This was the first summer of a four-year project that will include numerous efforts to protect pollinators. Called Colony Collapse Disorder, honey bees are dying by the billions across the world and experts say feral and commercial bee colonies have declined by 70 to 90 percent in the past 25 years.Over the centuries, bees have faced challenges including deadly mites but what alarms experts is how quickly the hives are collapsing. Possible reasons include climate change, stress and pesticides.The Zaagkii Project contributors and sponsors include the Marquette Community Foundation, the Negaunee Community Fund, the Negaunee Community Youth Fund, the M.E. Davenport Foundation, the Kaufman Foundation, the Phyllis and Max Reynolds Foundation, the Upper Peninsula Children's Museum in Marquette, Mich. and the Borealis Seed Company in Big Bay, Mich.

• # Episodes

  8 episodes

• Rating

  TV-UN