Northern Michigan Conservation Network

July 14, 2012 By Dawson Bell – Detroit Free Press Lansing Bureau The Anglers of the Au Sable aren’t what you’d call a go-along, get-along gang. Dedicated to protecting the Au Sable River and its watershed, the 700-member organization has, at various times in its 25-year history, vilified politicians, shamed bureaucrats and sued the pants […]

Although we originally intended to write about this year’s round of MDNR Forestry Open Houses and Compartment Reviews, the timelessness and inherent benefits of this public outreach process seemed to offer potential applications to the way many of our State’s natural resources are managed. During a time when calls for increased accountability, operational “transparency” and […]

Thanks to our friend and site content contributor Marc Smith, we have begun following the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ website out of the Chicago District through its Aquatic Nuisance Species Portal – link:  http://www.lrc.usace.army.mil/AsianCarp/eDNA.htm. As many likely know by now, there have been additional positive DNA samplings for Asian Carp in Lake Calumet which […]

TRAILS & TALES OUTDOORS JOURNAL for 07/06/12 “Creagh Transitions To Head The MDNR” Provided to NMCN by Tim Kobasic (All Rights Reserved) The first half of 2012 went out with a bang with regards to conservation. It was yet another transition and adjustment towards the future in how Michigan’s natural resources will be managed. Rodney […]

Now that the Governor has elected to sign the Land Cap Bill (SB-248) into law today, it is not too soon to begin discussing the legislatively-mandated two-year process necessary to allow for the removal of the cap. As most of you know by now, the version of SB-248 which has been signed into law establishes […]

Well, we no sooner made a post acknowledging the progress that had been made with the U.S. Senate’s passage of the new Farm Bill than we now receive word that the House of Representatives has proposed even further reductions in the conservation program funding elements of the bill. While we have already acknowledged the fiscal […]

Although there can be no wins when a fire claims much of a 21,000+ acre area, a commercial resort, 49 cabins and homes, 87 outbuildings and campers, as you tour the area as we did recently, one cannot help but be struck by the sheer number of structures which were spared on the interior of […]

The Farm Bill was recently passed by the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives has begun work on its own version.  Although we as Americans fully recognize the budgetary situation in which our nation find itself, the conservation funding portion of the Farm Bill represents only a fraction of its total and this version […]

Although I had been told over the weekend that I really needed to see a segment that had been included in last week’s Michigan Out-Of-Doors television show, it wasn’t until last night that I was able to see it.   It included some wonderful video of breeding sharp-tailed grouse on a lek near the Seney Wildlife […]

Wow, that didn’t take long. We no sooner digested the content of a Michigan Department of Natural Resources email on Friday afternoon announcing a new position for Director Stokes elsewhere within the Snyder Administration, then it was followed Monday by the announcement that Keith Creagh has been appointed as its new Director. Before we begin […]