Great Lakes Echo (https://greatlakesecho.org/tag/capital-news-service/page/22/)
As workers at many farms and orchards become more and more scarce, the need for mechanical harvesting is rising.
Blueberries, cherries and grapes are all increasingly being harvested by machines rather than farm workers.
A curious, century-old population trend in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula shows a yo-yoing cycle of growth and decline every 20 years.
It could be rooted in natural resource issues.
Perhaps the timber or mining industries are behind it… or maybe the weather.
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources says the number of feral swine – known to infect farm pigs – is significantly decreasing. But one interest group is at odds with the DNR over the numbers, saying the problem is all but solved.
Homeowners whose property was contaminated by materials from a now-defunct chemical plant in Michigan’s Gratiot County have lost their lawsuit against contractors and trucking companies that removed toxic sediments from the adjacent Pine River.
Two miles of pristine Lake Superior shoreline, sand dunes and an 83-acre inland lake are now open to the public as part of a 3,816-acre expansion of state-owned forestland in the central Upper Peninsula.
Michigan state Sen. Darwin Booher, R-Evart, wants you to keep your roadkill — please. He, along with colleague Sen. John Pappageorge of Troy, are trying to lessen the paperwork involved in those interested in keeping roadkill.
More access to forests, lakes and trails are among the goals the Michigan Department of Natural Resources has in store for public lands.
Michigan’s most scenic destinations – like Traverse City and – are typically affordable enough to live at for the state’s tourism workers, according to a new report. This bucks a national trend which shows tourism workers typically can’t afford to live in the cities they work in.
A national trend in moose die-offs may be hitting the Upper Peninsula, Minnesota and beyond — and officials are pointing to climate change as the culprit.
The devastating spread of the emerald ash borer shows no sign of slowing and it is causing the pace of timber sales to quicken, as those in the timber sales industry race against the clock – and many dying trees.