Northern Michigan Conservation Network

One website that recently attracted our interest was the Detroit District U.S. Army Corp of Engineers (USACE) website which tracks historic Great Lakes water levels. Our interest was due, in part, to the concerns and discussions taking place in recent years surrounding the levels of Lakes Huron and Michigan. There is no place where the […]

July 19, 2012 Please call your U.S. House of Representatives member TODAY and urge them to support the conservation provisions in the Farm Bill. by Bob Marshall (posted with permission) “Conservation groups this week are sending a desperate plea to sportsmen: Contact your House members today and urge them to bring the Farm Bill up […]

Regardless of the causes or circumstances, we are in the midst of yet another “unseasonably” warm summer which is again placing stress on many of our northern Michigan cold-water systems.  In the coming days, we will be asking several of our contributors to weigh in on their take on the situation and perhaps offer possible […]

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 […]

05/01/12 By Mark Spencley Cheboygan Daily News   INDIAN RIVER – The Inland Waterway, a famed walleye fishing destination, will enter the second year of a three-year study looking into all of the factors that affect the fishery’s walleye population. To track the movement of walleye within the waterway, DNR, Tribal and Michigan State University […]

It seems somewhat sadly ironic that at the same time states have struggled to get Federal officials to take the issue of Asian Carp seriously as a threat to the Great Lakes, the northern snakehead is now making its way up the Potomac River.  Let’s just hope that the Maryland DNR’s characterization of this “angling […]

A new documentary highlights the efforts of the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians and their pioneering techniques to restore the lake sturgeon in the Great Lakes. Published April 2, 2012 Dan O’Keefe, Michigan State University Extension Kathy Johnson saw a dinosaur in the Big Manistee River. She was ready; the camera was rolling. After […]

Not to go all “climate-change” on you, but here’s some interesting research which hopefully flies above the politics.  The Great Lakes region appears to be competing with a variety of forces as it relates to seasonal ice cover. Regardless of cause or circumstances, no arguing with the fact that less winter ice cover means increased […]