Great Lakes Echo (https://greatlakesecho.org/category/wildlife/page/56/)
This broad category encompasses fish. It is further divided on the main menu with tags for mammals, insects, amphibians, birds, mussels, invaders and endangered wildlife.
The Bay Shore power plant on Lake Erie has had a checkered environmental past.
But researchers have discovered that the coal-fired power plant near Toledo has also been a harbor in an ecological storm.
Scientists across Michigan oppose legislation to limit biodiversity by Great Lakes Echo
This past spring the Michigan Senate passed Bill 78, which prohibits state agencies from setting aside land to maintain biodiversity. The bill has drawn strong criticism from various environmental groups. Dr. Brad Cardinale, a professor at the University Of Michigan School of Natural Resources, along with 133 other scientists from around the state, wrote a letter to Governor Snyder requesting he veto the legislation.
If you’ve been boating on the Great Lakes this summer, it might it surprise you to know that deep below you lives a rare species of fish that’s been around since the dinosaurs. It can live past 100 years old and can be over six feet long. Most of us know next to nothing about the lake sturgeon, but it is a fascinating creature with a stormy history. Nancy Auer is a professor of biology at Michigan Technological University. She recently co-authored a book with environmentalist Dave Dempsey about the fish.
MSU entomologist Rufus Isaacs talks about declining bee populations, and that Michigan bees that pollinate the state’s blueberry, cherry and apple crops.
Rearing sturgeon for stocking has proven to be difficult, uncertain and expensive, but it may be the only practical way to rebuild sturgeon populations in the Great Lakes.
Its size and age make the endangered lake sturgeon a fascinating species for most people. But for many Native Americans, the fish is also sacred. And it’s survival of greed, oil spills and habitat destruction signals that the sturgeon remains vigilant in protecting the environment.
If you enjoy birdwatching, you may be able to use your hobby to help protect an endangered Great Lakes shorebird. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is relying on volunteers to monitor the critically endangered piping plover during its nesting season this summer, from May 1st to July 15th. Patrols have already been established in Michigan national forest and state parks, including Sleeping Bear Dunes lakeshore. Most remaining breeding pairs nest in Michigan — with the intensive patrol programs, the number of Great Lakes nesting plovers rose from 17 pairs in 1986 to 59 pairs in 2005, according to the National Park Service. But numbers have dropped in recent years: 25 pairs in 2009, 23 pairs in 2010 and 18 pairs in 2011.
Michigan and other Great Lakes states are weighing wolf hunting seasons.
Michigan wolves, numbering less than 1,000, were taken off the Michigan endangered species list in December.
Researchers studying the threats to lake sturgeon are using their findings to teach kids about the environment.