Northern Michigan Conservation Network

Over the past nearly 80 years, the Sport Fishing and Wildlife Restoration programs (authorized by the Pittman-Robertson & Dingle-Johnson Acts) have provided well over fifteen billion dollars in grant funds to state fish and wildlife agencies for projects to restore, conserve, manage, and enhance all species of fish and wildlife – $1.1 billion will be […]

If you’re like me, you may have often wondered about the forest fire and wildfire hazard ratings you see posted outside of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources field offices. While I’ve always known that these ratings were based on more than just an empty rain gauge, it wasn’t until a presentation made by Atlanta […]

It seems worthy of note that six of the top ten states in the nation as ranked by a recent USA Today for the perceived “well-being” of their residents are also among the top 12 states in the Percentage of Public Land area. The main exceptions to this trend were the three states which have been more […]

We recently shared a story which included a video segment from a Traverse City area television station (TV 9 & 10) whose byline read “DNR Plans to Remove Acres of Trees” (click here to view segment). Since the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and others who conduct professional forest management “remove” acres of trees every […]

When John M. O’Shea, the Emerson F. Greenman Professor of Anthropological Archaeology at the University of Michigan, and associates from the University of Michigan’s Museum of Anthropological Archaeology first began to suspect that the unnatural rock formations lying beneath Lake Huron were those of an earlier hunting culture, they stated that they were reserving celebration […]

by Elaine Carlson – This could be a sci-fi thriller. A deceptively harmless white fuzz appears and begins to grow on the unsuspecting and sleeping victims. In short order, the fuzz disturbs its hosts, causing abnormal and erratic behavior which leads to exposure, starvation, and death. The devastation to the defenseless creatures is nearly complete […]

by David Smethurst – The last Saturday in April is always a special day to trout fisherman. It’s the Trout Opener. Even though today it is more of a tradition that an event, with so many streams open, some under special regulations, I think you can fish for trout somewhere every day of the year. […]

by Kay Charter – As you read this, Neotropical songbirds are in the midst of migrating back their to breeding grounds in North America. Among those species on the move is the brilliant and beautiful Baltimore Oriole. This bright orange and black bird nests across the northeastern U. S. and south central Canada. Orioles may […]

by Kay Charter – Twenty years ago, the state of Texas released a birding trail map for the center section of the Gulf Coast. The map was the first of its kind in the country, and the first of what would eventually be fifteen regional maps that would encompass every part of the state. That […]

The 2013 Forest Health Report for the state of Michigan has been released. In simpler times this would have merely been viewed as an annual trip to the timber doctor – but not today. As we have now come to expect, much of the document is dedicated to the discussion of the growing threat to […]