PELLSTON, Mich. — As part of the University of Michigan Biological Station’s 2024 Summer Lecture Series, the author of an award-winning book about the thrilling adventures of U-M botanists who braved the Grand Canyon in 1938 gave two free, public talks this week in Pellston and Charlevoix.
Each event drew a crowd of more than 100 people — including children, college students, UMBS alumni, book clubs, scientists and river rafting enthusiasts — eager to meet Melissa Sevigny, a science journalist at KNAU (Arizona Public Radio) and author of the book “Brave the Wild River: The Untold Story of Two Women Who Mapped the Botany of the Grand Canyon.”
“Melissa inspired all of us by taking us back in time and shining a spotlight on two amazing Michigan women and their deep courage and determination to do science in the face of life-threatening danger and widely publicized critics,” said Chrissy Billau, a science writer who leads marketing and communications at UMBS. “These botanists are heroic, especially to women in science here at our historic field station along Douglas Lake in northern Michigan.”
The book features Drs. Elzada Clover and Lois Jotter, two pioneering U-M botanists who frequented the Biological Station in Pellston throughout their careers. Clover taught systemic botany at the research and teaching campus. Jotter was a botany student at UMBS in 1934. At the time of the Colorado River exploration in 1938, Clover was an associate professor of botany at U-M and an expert on cacti, and Jotter was Clover’s graduate student assistant.
The two scientists took a historic boat trip down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon in 1938 to record the plants that lived along what was then the most dangerous river in the world. Clover and Jotter compiled a comprehensive plant list that included four new cacti species and would one day become vital for efforts to protect and restore the river ecosystems. The collection formed the basis for what is now Matthaei Botanical Garden’s desert house collection in Ann Arbor.
On Wednesday, June 5, 2024, several of Clover’s former students made the trip to the Biological Station in Pellston, located about 20 miles south of the Mackinac Bridge, to meet Sevigny and tell their own experiences with the legendary botanist.
Keith Groty was a student in Clover’s class at UMBS in the summer of 1961.
“I also was Dr. Clover’s lab assistant on campus and a member of the botany club where she showed movies of the trip and discussed her experience,” said Groty, who went on to teach labor and industrial relations and serve as assistant vice president for human resources at Michigan State University. “I now live in the eastern Upper Peninsula in retirement as a result of learning about the area during my time at the station.”
Groty was thrilled to watch some of Clover’s videos again.
Nine-year-old Annabelle, who said she wants to be a science writer, was in awe seeing them for the first time.
The young girl and her grandmother talked one-on-one with Sevigny before the presentation, and during the Q&A session Annabelle took the microphone in front of 130 people and asked a question: “How long did it take this group to finish their trip?”
Sevigny answered, “43 days.”
“That was a great question,” said Dr. Marcin Dziuba, who teaches the Limnology: Freshwater Ecosystems course at UMBS and is a postdoctoral fellow in the U-M Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. “I was getting ready to raise my hand and ask that same question.”
Annabelle told Sevigny she likes writing about all kinds of science, specifically mentioning astronomy and recently going to see the total solar eclipse in Ohio.
“I asked how she would describe it and she said it was like a cookie being slowly eaten, which I think is a great description,” Sevigny said.
Isabel Gil, who is 21 years old, asked Sevigny about her writing process. Gil will be a senior at U-M in the fall. She is double majoring in environmental science and English. Gil also is a UMBS alumna who took courses at the field station last summer and returned this year to serve as a science communications intern.
“During this lecture, I definitely let out a few tears, and I know that several other members of the audience did too,” Gil said. “Melissa’s career and these scientists’ stories are such powerful reminders of the importance of sharing science and story in tandem. We are able to exist and push for equity in the science fields because women before us like Elzada and Lois gave their all.”
UMBS alumnus Stanley Pollack introduced Sevigny to the Pellston audience and welcomed the author to the stage. He was a student at the field station along Douglas Lake in the 1970s and went on to become a water rights attorney in the Southwest representing the Navajo Nation since 1985 in all matters affecting the tribe's water resources. Now retired, he also enjoys rafting the Colorado River.
This wasn’t the first time the two have had a conversation. Sevigny interviewed Pollack several times while writing stories in her role as a journalist.
Pollack not only returned to the field station along Douglas Lake to celebrate the book — “This checked all the boxes,” he said — he also sponsored Sevigny’s two talks in Charlevoix and Pellston, making it possible for people across the region to learn about the Michigan botanists directly from the author.
“We are grateful for Stanley’s support and the opportunity to spend time with him this week and hear about his experiences at UMBS in the 70s,” said Dr. Aimée Classen, director of UMBS and a professor in the U-M Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. “At UMBS, we’re connected to a history that reaches back 116 years, and these two botanists — two trailblazing women in science — are part of our story. We have great respect for the people who stewarded this special place before us.”
The University of Michigan Biological Station partnered with Charlevoix Public Library for an event on Tuesday, June 4, about an hour south of UMBS along Lake Michigan to welcome the talented writer who tells the late botanists’ incredible tale of exploration in such a thrilling way.
The library hosted two book club discussions about “Brave the Wild River” leading up to Sevigny’s arrival.
“Our readers enjoyed this fantastic book and the conversations it ignited,” said Ryan Deery, director of Charlevoix Public Library. “Melissa’s clear passion for her subjects led to what I think was a very successful event.”
At both author events in Charlevoix and Pellston, UMBS put artifacts on display from its collection: Clover’s plant press and herbaria specimens of plants that she collected in the 1950s during her time teaching botany at the campus along Douglas Lake.
“It has been unexpectedly moving to hold one of Elzada Clover's plant presses,” Sevigny wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, “and meet many students who are following in her footsteps with a passion for science and the natural world.”
"Clover and Jotter's Legacy"
While spending the week living in a cabin at UMBS, Sevigny toured the campus, took hikes and shared meals in the dining hall with the robust scientific community.
She posted a photo about an especially enjoyable afternoon on a pontoon boat for aquatic plant lessons with UMBS staff and students: “This is bladderwort! It traps and eats bugs!! Please marvel at the delicate beauty of the keystone predator!”
Sevigny told UMBS students in the Pellston audience that they are Clover and Jotter’s legacy.
“We are grateful Melissa brought the story she tells in her book home to Michigan, where Clover and Jotter launched their grand adventure,” Billau said. “The botanists risked their lives for a plant collection. This has been a special week for our field station community.”
Book Awards and Student Scholarships
“Brave the Wild River” was featured in the New York Times and People magazine, and was named one of the Best Books of 2023 by the New Yorker.
It won the National Outdoor Book Award for history/biography.
And “Brave the Wild River” also was chosen this month to represent Arizona at the National Book Festival.
To view the full 2024 UMBS Summer Lecture Series lineup of speakers from across the country, visit the UMBS website.
Founded in 1909, the U-M Biological Station is one of the nation’s largest and longest continuously operating field research stations.
Laboratories and cabins are tucked into more than 10,000 acres along Douglas Lake to support long-term climate research and education.
UMBS has a scholarship fund named in honor of Clover and Jotter to support undergraduate students who attend the Biological Station’s spring or summer program. If interested in making a donation to the Dr. Elzada Clover and Dr. Lois Jotter Cutter Student Scholarship fund (797108), go to the Michigan Giving website or send a check to the U-M Biological Station, 9133 Biological Rd., Pellston, MI 49769.
