Recreation
Exploring Michigan’s Pere Marquette River
|
Since his college years, Doc Fletcher has been canoeing and kayaking the countless waterways in the Midwest. One of his favorite places to paddle is on the Pere Marquette River in Michigan.
Wildlife
Mid-Michigan Peregrine Falcons expecting
|
Few parents will produce offspring as rare as those of Eckert and Viper.
Echo
Study indicates Asian carp may already be in Great Lakes
|
Study indicates Asian carp may already be in Great Lakes by EmanueleB
A new study released in April finds Asian carp may in fact be reaching the Great Lakes. The Asian carp is an invasive species with an appetite large enough to potentially decimate the food chain ecosystem of the Great Lakes. There have been many efforts to contain the spread of the fish in the Chicago Area Waterway System to connects to Lake Michigan. The study now raises new questions about the effectiveness of that system. Current State’s Mark Bashore talks with study co-author Dr. Andrew Mahon, assistant professor of biology at Central Michigan University, and Dr. Tammy Newcomb, senior water policy advisor for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
Wildlife
White-nose Syndrome still a threat to Great Lakes bats
|
Biologists discovered the disease in New York in 2006, and it has since spread into Pennsylvania, Ontario and 14 other states and provinces.
Wildlife
Cougar country: Big cats confirmed in Ontario and likely in Michigan
|
Whether cougars are prowling around Michigan and Ontario has been a small mystery. Michigan’s last known cougar was killed in 1906, and Ontario’s was shot in 1884. But evidence that they’re back is piling up. The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources confirmed the cats are back after biologists checked out scat, tracks and DNA in a three-phase, four-year study, reports Raveena Aulakh for the Toronto Star. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment recently released a trail camera photo of a vaguely feline blur in the Upper Peninsula.
Wildlife
PODCAST: hunt for the rich or poor?
|
Michigan has thousands of bear hunters. About 40 of them showed up for a recent Natural Resources Commission meeting in Lansing.
The commission was considering a new licensing system – one for hunting public land and another for hunting private land.
Echo
Michigan nears deer management decision
|
LANSING, Mich. — Hunting may soon have new guidance if the state Department of Natural Reseources and Environment approves its draft deer management plan.
The plan to manage 1.8 million deer goes to the agency director, Rebecca Humphries, on April 8.
Final approval would come on May 6; the agency would begin implementing parts of the plan immediately.
Echo
Falconry is a team sport with Great Lakes roots
|
The first falconry field meet in North America was in 1938 in Pennsylvania. It’s a sport that continues to be cherished throughout the Great Lakes states.
“It’s like a front row seat to an I-max movie to nature,” said Kory Koch, communications director of the Michigan Hawking Club.
Echo
Stormwater rushes into Great Lakes, threatens health and habitat
|
Little Black Creek in Muskegon, Mich., has a long history of abuse. And one of the stream’s biggest threats rushes in every time it rains. Rain is shunted into storm drains that lead straight to the stream.
Echo
Researchers study how climate change chases fish from streams
|
Facing an inhospitable habitat, fish have to move or die, says Bryan Pijanowski of Purdue University. “Some of the fish live in aquatic systems that are completely compartmentalized – they’re dammed off,” he says. “So they can’t move.”