Great Lakes Echo (https://greatlakesecho.org/tag/echo/page/5/)
By Clara Lincolnhol
One of Michigan’s most rare, iconic and celebrated bird species is the Kirtland’s warbler. Once nearly extinct in the 1970s, decades-long, targeted conservation efforts helped their population rebound. But this year’s census revealed something concerning: a significant drop in warblers– nearly 700 fewer pairs.
By Clara Lincolnhol
You may notice new bright and colorful murals surrounding a number of Mid-Michigan storm drains in your community by the end of this summer.
By Emilio Perez Ibarguen
The popularity of groups like Wednesday Night Ride, Black Girls Do Bike and Soul Roll is an indicator that Detroit, long known for its ties to the auto industry, is making strides in becoming a cycling destination. However, Detroit streets remain unsafe for cyclists and pedestrians compared to other cities.
By Emilio Perez Ibarguen
For students hoping to become conservation officers for the state Department of Natural Resources — tasked with enforcing fish, game and natural resource protection laws — one Northern Michigan University class gives a glimpse into their day-to-day work.
By Rachel Lewis
The Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians’ Natural Resources Department has been working to conserve the threatened wood turtle. Their top team member is Mooz, a 9-year-old labradoodle who has been helping his owner, Bill Parsons, find wood turtles for the past five years.
By Emilio Perez Ibarguen
In 2023, community organizers from the outdoor Discovery Center, an outdoor education and conservation-focused nonprofit in Holland, Michigan looked for ways to further sustainability efforts in the west Michigan community. This led to a partnership with another local nonprofit to create the Carbon Community Fund, which accepts donations from residents to fund local conservation efforts.
By Maya Moore
If Congress approves President Donald Trump’s proposal to cut hundreds of millions of dollars from the operations and science budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, the scale and intensity of Great Lakes environmental restoration will be significantly diminished, experts say. Among the programs that could be dismantled entirely is the 70-year-old program to control sea lampreys, an exotic parasitic fish that attacks game fish and has caused billions of dollars in damage to Great Lakes fisheries.
By Emilio Perez Ibarguen
Michigan’s attempt to adopt new home energy efficiency standards is facing more delays because of stiff resistance from homebuilders. The new standards were supposed to go into effect in August but are on hold while a lawsuit filed in June by representatives of the construction industry plays out in court.
By Donté Smith
Butterfly populations are in decline across the continental U.S., dropping by 22% between 2000 and 2020 according to a study in the journal Science. Almost a third of the 342 species studied have seen their numbers fall by more than half. To help combat that trend, the John Ball Zoo in Grand Rapids, Michigan, launched its Great Lakes Rare Butterfly Program in 2021 to protect the region’s most threatened species.
By Clara Lincolnhol
On a cool and cloudy summer day, Michigan high school students recently drove the car they’d been engineering for months around the block and parked it in front of the state Capitol. The three wheeled, sharply angled, gray, white and black camo-print car seats two people and is powered by solar-charged batteries.