Great Lakes Echo (http://greatlakesecho.org/tag/conservation/page/2/)
A white-tailed deer and possibly a bald eagle were victims of a wildlife poisoning in Baraga County this spring.
Although poisoning cases are rare, Department of Natural Resources (DNR) officials said they want to find out exactly what happened, even if the survey takes an extended period of time.
By Joe Vaillancourt
Capital News Service
While hunting around 25 years ago, Dennis Fijalkowski used a turkey call on a late April morning in Oscoda County. A turkey called back–but he couldn’t shoot because it hid behind a sign that said Kirtland’s warbler, the rarest bird in Michigan, was known to inhabit the area so all hunting was prohibited. Frustrated, Fijalkowski was forced to skip the turkey, although warblers aren’t there that time of year. Things may soon change for hunters involved in similar scenarios. A resurrected bill would require the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to keep state land open for hunting seasons unless there are legitimate concerns for the environment or hunter.
Matthew Cimitile
Once seen as a region of endless water, the Great Lakes watershed is under stress thanks to inadequate water management, unrestrained growth and other pressures. Climate change stands only to make conditions worse, experts say, as increasingly thirsty neighbors look for additional water and changing weather harms quality and supply. Out of such gloom, however, has emerged what analysts describe as a most significant feat: Earlier this year, after almost a decade of talks, local and state leaders throughout the Great Lakes set aside differences and agreed to coordinate the protection of this vast but finite resource. The Great Lakes Compact, signed into law in October, controls transportation of Great Lakes water to parched areas outside the region. Thrust for this regional resolution came via fears of a 1998 plan by a Canadian firm to transport tankers of Lake Superior water to arid parts of Asia.
Water is a finite resource that will be mistreated and overused if not carefully defended, said environmental consultant and Michigan State University alumnus Dave Dempsey in a recent talk at MSU’s Communications Arts and Sciences building.
By Matthew Cimitile, cimitile@msu.edu
Great Lakes Echo
As the world gears up to turn off its lights for Earth Hour Saturday, researchers and stargazers suggest a need to reduce excessive light pollution permanently. In the industrialized world, dark skies pierced with radiant starlight are increasingly rare. Starlight that guided earlier humans down from the trees and through the wilderness and uncharted waters to every corner of the planet has rapidly vanished. That leaves a dimmer view that some researchers say may cause health problems from breast cancer to insomnia. But stargazers, astronomers, conservation experts and health advocates are attempting to regain the night sky to ignite wonder, save energy and protect health.
By Matthew Cimitile, cimitile@msu.edu
Great Lakes Echo
GRAND RAPIDS – From the highway, Grand Rapids, Mich. looks like any American city. Skyscraper shadows darken city blocks during the day. Streetlights, cars and the nightlife animate the city after sunset. But in Grand Rapids, businesses and government are investing in alternative technologies while incorporating sustainable practices to save money, earn profits and develop a struggling state economy.
By Matthew Cimitile, cimitile@msu.edu
Great Lakes Echo
EAST LANSING – There are economic, environmental and social benefits in sustainably managing governments and businesses. There are also costs for not doing so. The field of ecological economics studies the costs and benefits of the interaction between the human and the natural world. Daniel Kramer is an assistant professor at Michigan State University with joint appointments in Fisheries and Wildlife and James Madison College. His research details the human side of conservation biology; the interaction between humans and nature as it pertains to conserving biodiversity.
The Obama administration’s top environmental official indicated Tuesday that she will consider tougher rules to protect the Great Lakes from invasive species that hitch rides into the region aboard oceangoing vessels. Newly appointed Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson said she will take a fresh look at her agency’s new policy that requires oceangoing vessels to flush their ship-steadying ballast tanks in mid-ocean to expel any unwanted organisms.
The EPA ordered the flushing late last year after losing a lawsuit over its long-standing policy to exempt ballast discharges from provisions in the Clean Water Act. But the conservationists who sued the EPA say that merely flushing ballast tanks does not go far enough to protect the Great Lakes from the next zebra mussel. They want the agency to force ship owners to install ballast treatment systems that will go much further toward killing unwanted organisms.
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An army of invaders is marching north from Bay City. Tim Engelhardt wants to stop them in their tracks. The invader is phragmites, a giant, invasive reed that already rings most of Saginaw Bay, growing more than 10 feet tall and crowding out native plants, animals and views of the water. Engelhardt, an AmeriCorps volunteer, is the invasive species coordinator for Huron Pines, a Northeast Michigan conservation group headquartered in Grayling. Read more