A white-tailed deer on a snowy November day in Marquette County. Image: Michigan DNR
Wildlife

Michigan is part of multi-state effort to track chronic wasting disease

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By Elinor Epperson

Researchers at Cornell University are studying whether machine learning can help states and tribes predict the spread of a dangerous disease plaguing North American deer. A recent study done in partnership with Michigan State University showed that machine learning could calculate where chronic wasting disease will spread at the county level. That information will help state and tribal agencies address a problem much larger than their individual jurisdictions, said Mitch Marcus, the wildlife health supervisor at the state Department of Natural Resources. “Wildlife and associated disease and or wildlife pathogens don’t understand or know jurisdictional boundaries,” he said. Chronic wasting disease is a neurological, degenerative disease caused by prions.

Land

Illegal dumping nets probation sentence in Ohio fish kill

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By Eric Freedman

 

A federal judge has sentenced an Ohio business owner to one year on probation and a $5,000 fine for illegally dumping a hazardous ammonia-containing substance into the Scioto River near Kenton. The crime killed more than 40,000 fish. U.S. Magistrate Judge Darrell Clay also ordered Mark Shepherd, 72, to perform 150 hours of community service and pay $22,509 to the Ohio Division of Wildlife for violating the Clean Water Act. Shepherd, who co-owns a chemical and fertilizer transportation business, had pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor charge after an investigation by the Environmental Protection Agency and state agencies. Here’s what happened, according to court documents: In April 2021, Shepherd commingled water from a tanker trailer used to transport anhydrous ammonia – a nitrogen fertilizer — with 7,000 gallons of clean water, then disposed of it into a catch basin.

Land

Commentary: Michigan joins federal program that collects native flora and champions restoration

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By Elinor Epperson

Of all the things I could step in while wandering the Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge in Northeast Michigan, vulture vomit was not on my list. My hosts, a team of scientists looking for native plant seeds, warned me to avoid it. Elizabeth Haber is a lead botanist with Seeds of Success, a federal program that conserves and restores native flora. She and her team are combing through Michigan prairies, wetlands and forests looking for native plant seeds. “A lot of our days are just wandering around, using our intuition of where we think cool things might be,” she said.

Bee City USA sign in downtown Detroit. Courtesy photo
The Buzz

Detroit is the place to bee! How Detroit Hives is helping Detroit fight climate change through pollination 

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By Jada Vasser

Detroit resident Timothy Paule Jackson’s fascination with bees began in 2016 when he discovered the benefits of using honey to combat the common cold. He began researching the components in honey that provide medicinal benefits for the immune system. Soon, he and his partner, Nicole Lindsay, enrolled in beekeeping classes. They launched Detroit Hives was 2017 after the couple bought their first vacant lot in Detroit and set about keeping bees on the property. As native Detroiters, they saw the potential in beekeeping to transform vacant and blighted lots and inject energy into underserved communities.

Water

From pet to ‘monster.’ The battle to rid Michigan’s Glen Lake of giant koi

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By Gabrielle Nelson

Robert Karner and the Glen Lake Association are on a mission to preserve the crystal-clear waters of Glen Lake next to Sleeping Bear Dunes and protect its ecosystem from invasive species. That includes Eurasian watermilfoil and one that’s gaining attention, Japanese koi. In May, bowfishers partnered with the association, a preservation and protection organization for the 46 square miles of the Glen Lake/Crystal River watershed, caught and removed four invasive koi from Little Glen Lake on the Leelanau Peninsula. “Not all invasive species are actionable,” or able to be removed, once they are introduced to a lake or river, said Karner, a biologist at the Glen Lake Association. “But a big fish like Japanese koi, at least that’s something we think is manageable.”

The removal is part of a three-year effort to remove invasive koi from the lake to protect native plants and animals.

: A Blanding's turtle stands at the edge of a wetland. Image: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
Water

Michigan and Ohio receive $500,000 to study rare turtles

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By Ruth Thornton

State wildlife agencies in Michigan and Ohio have received nearly $500,000 in federal funding to study rare turtles. The grant is part of more than $7 million distributed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to benefit rare and declining fish and wildlife and their habitats across the country. Other states receiving funding under the program this year include Minnesota, Iowa, Hawaii and North and South Carolina. Michigan’s work will focus on Blanding’s and spotted turtles, two rare species that often occur in wetlands. The funding will allow researchers to understand how the populations of both species are doing, especially the survival of nests and baby turtles.

An Isle Royale wolf. Image: National Park Service
Wildlife

Wolves hit Isle Royale campgrounds in search of food

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By Gabrielle Nelson

A warning for campers on Lake Superior’s Isle Royale National Park: Wolves are venturing into campground trash cans for easy meals. The park reminds visitors to secure and monitor food and trash to keep people and wolves separate and safe. “Wolves are very opportunistic and will utilize just about anything as a food source, and obviously getting in the garbage is an easy one,” said Brian Roell, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources’s large-carnivore specialist. Liz Valencia, who manages cultural resources for the national park, said a couple of wolves started knocking down trash cans at the Rock Harbor campground, one of the park’s busiest areas. Rangers’ efforts to secure trash cans and scare away the wolves failed, she said, and the wolves keep coming back.

Student researchers Ava Whitlock and Brody Glei get ready to fly a drone equipped with a heat-sensitive camera to find rare eastern massasauga rattlesnakes. Image: Ruth Thorton/WKAR
Wildlife

Researchers use drones to find elusive Michigan rattlesnake

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By Ruth Thornton

Standing together at Pierce Cedar Creek Institute near Hastings, Michigan, two students stared intently at the screen, looking for the subtle signs of the small rattlesnake they were trying to find. The eastern massasauga, Michigan’s only rattlesnake, typically hides in dense vegetation in wetlands, and conservation biologists are concerned about trampling their sensitive wetland habitats to study them. To avoid that problem, researchers are using drones equipped with heat-sensitive cameras to find them. “What I’m looking for is anything that looks what we call ‘snakey,’” said Brody Glei, a student at Grand Valley State University, as he looks at the screen with the camera feed – “where it’s either kind of looking like an S-curve or if it’s in some weird shape that doesn’t really look like vegetation.”

Those studying the rare and elusive eastern massasauga rattlesnake are hampered by its secretive behavior. Massasaugas hide so well that researchers often walk by just inches away without seeing them, Glei said.

Water

Michigan program helps hobbyists safely rehome aquatic flora and fauna

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By Elinor Epperson

Don’t flush that unwanted goldfish – find it a new home instead. Home aquariums and water gardening are two of the many routes invasive species take to enter Michigan habitats. A Michigan State University Extension program provides educational materials and resources for rehoming unwanted aquatic pets. Reduce Invasive Pet and Plant Escapes (RIPPLE) works with hobbyists, retailers and gardeners to minimize the release of invasive species into the wild. Most people may not give much thought to letting one or two pets go for a variety of reasons – financial, lifestyle changes or change of seasons, for example – but Paige Filice, the program’s primary coordinator, said those numbers add up.