Northern Michigan Conservation Network

October 26, 2012 Regular readers of this site may recall our National Sportsmen’s Organizations Not Exempt from Party Politics post from October 4, 2012. In it, we waxed nostalgic about a time when hunters, anglers and conservationists resisted party politics for the advancement of their collective causes. These issues joined sportsmen (gender-neutral as always) of […]

By Drew YoungeDyke, NMCN Contributing Editor It would be nice if hunting never got to this point: where the single-minded focus of killing a big buck sometimes overshadows the cultural and culinary experience of hunting an elusive animal and honoring it by sharing its meat with friends, family and the needy. Anyone who watches much […]

Following up on an earlier post appearing on this site back in July (Wolf in the Room – https://nmconservationnetwork.org/2012/07/24/the-wolf-in-the-room/ ), legislative hearings have begun in both the Michigan House and Senate on bills which would add wolves to the list of Michigan game species. As we have discussed in the past, this is a necessary […]

by Drew YoungeDyke – NMCN Contributing Editor A bill in the Michigan Senate would literally change the definition of conservation and remove biodiversity restoration from the Department of Natural Resources (DNR)’s responsibilities. SB 1276, introduced by Sen. Tom Casperson (R – Escanaba), prohibits the DNR from designating land for biological diversity. The bill is designed […]

As we approach the culmination of another painful election cycle, it has become increasingly clear that many national conservation and sportsmen organizations have found it necessary to choose sides and align more closely with one political party over the other.  It’s not a coincidence our collective voice as sportsmen-conservationists has been weakened in recent years […]

In reviewing one of the more recent legislative proposals involving natural resource management and all that is the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, we noticed that Senate Bill No. 1280, introduced on September 19, 2012 by Senators Casperson and Booher, contained one sentence which has the potential for a wide range of interpretations. The key […]

Please call your U.S. House of Representatives member and urge his or her support of the current Farm Bill.  As we’ve previously written on this site, the 2013 Farm Bill has significant implications on numerous northern Michigan conservation/restoration programs. For many of us in the northern Michigan area, our Representative is Dr. Dan Benischek. His […]

The Michigan Conservation Coalition, a diverse partnership of sportsmen’s organizations and conservation groups, is seeking grassroots support for its opposition efforts regarding Senate Bill 1212 (see NMCN post “Reversing Course on Great Lake Ballast Water” (https://nmconservationnetwork.org/2012/08/29/reversing-course-on-great-lakes-ballast-water/).  The Coalition is asking that its partner organizations and members sign on to this letter (or one of their […]

“Ballast Water, Shmallast Water.”  Well, at least that’s what some in the Michigan Senate are apparently saying with the introduction of SB-1212.  We’re not sure that there’s much we can add to what has already been written by the Michigan League of Conservation Voters, Drew YoungDyke and others on the topic, but there has been […]

To most residents and visitors to our state, public land is, well, public land.  Other than the obvious distinctions between a municipal park, federal forest lands and a state lake access site, few realize that under the umbrella of State of Michigan ownership significant differences exist within this inventory.  We raise this discussion now because […]