Wildlife
Sturgeon studies and students
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Researchers studying the threats to lake sturgeon are using their findings to teach kids about the environment.
Wildlife
Crossbows gain popularity with Michigan deer hunters
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The number of deer hunters in Michigan using crossbows has doubled since 2009, according to a survey by the Department of Natural Resources. While the overall number of hunters in the state have declined, the method of crossbow hunting is growing in popularity.
Wildlife
Lake Erie a test for birds and energy
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Lake Erie businesses are gearing up for The Biggest Week in American Birding, scheduled for May 3-12. What fascinates me is how quickly the issue of birding has gelled and what that could mean for the future of energy production and the environment by getting more people engaged with our natural resources.
Wildlife
Proposal advances to let public pet bear cubs
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Oswald Bear Ranch in Newberry has allowed the public to interact with bear cubs for 15 years, but Michigan law and animal rights activists would end the practice unless a bill passes to make the activity legal.
Wildlife
Invasive gobies staking out new territory
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An uninvited outsider is rapidly showing up in new freshwater territory in Wisconsin–and a recent scientific study indicates the increasing impact of the small fish. Researchers at the University of Wisconsin Center for Limnology found the invasive round goby has increased 10-fold in some of the state’s lakes and rivers. In addition to the Great Lakes, the fish are now showing up in 175 miles of inland streams, according to Matthew Kornis, doctoral candidate at the Center for Limnology. Like many of the known invasive species inhibiting the Great Lakes, the round goby arrived by an ocean-bound ship and was first seen in the Saint Clair River in 1990. “The study,” Kornis says, “raises significant concern of negative effects round gobies will have or already have on Great Lakes tributaries.”
Researchers found a related dramatic decline in native fish in places where gobies thrive.
Wildlife
Black Lake sturgeon season ends with six fish landed
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These fish live more than 70 years and grow to be more than six feet long. But they are so rare that the season ended this year once six were landed. The Black Lake Shivaree festival celebrates the prehistoric species.
Wildlife
Michigan mussels disappear within a child’s lifetime
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Native mussels have rapidly declined in the Great Lakes region, casualties of the zebra and quagga mussels brought in the ballast of ships. The foreign mussels attach to the native ones so that they can’t open, feed, breathe or breed.
Wildlife
Michigan expands Great Lakes muskie stock
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The muskie production program of the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has turned a huge corner by stocking only Great Lakes muskies. The department has raised muskellunge for stocking for decades but had always used northern muskies. This is the second year it produced strictly Great Lakes muskies.
Wildlife
Great Lakes researchers fear killer shrimp and other looming invaders
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Killer shrimp are on a list of organisms scientist fear could yet invade the Great Lakes.
They are among at least 53 potential invasion threats researchers have identified on a new watchlist.