Environment

Trust fund awards $28 million for public lands projects

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By YUEHAN LIU
Capital News Services
LANSING— The Natural Resources Trust Fund will award nearly $28 million for public lands projects, including funds for the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Wildlife and Parks and Recreation divisions. Jon Mayes, DNR recreation grants unit manager, said the fund received 149 applications this year asking for $50 million, and 70 of the projects received grants. The fund’s board decided which of them would be most valuable to the public and state. Among the winners are Bear Lake Township in Manistee County, which will receive a $82,500 grant for a kayak/canoe launch project. It will develop 114 feet of frontage on Bear Lake for a launch facility, according to township Supervisor Vern Best.

Business & Economy

Wildlife researchers unsure about drones

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By MARIE ORTTENBURGER
Capital News Service
LANSING — Perhaps drones could track feral swine to help oust the invasive critter from Michigan. But local researchers hesitate to employ the technology for wildlife management. “There’s a lot of potential for uneasiness,” said Stephen Beyer, who manages wildlife research for the Department of Natural Resources (DNR). He cited public fears of surveillance and intrusion on privacy. “We’re a state agency,” Beyer said.

Environment

Beware the new invaders – New Zealand mud snails

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By SIERRA RESOVSKY
Capital News Service
LANSING – New Zealand mud snails were found in the Pere Marquette River and are invading the Great Lakes region, according to the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and Department of Natural Resources (DNR). Now outdoor groups are taking steps to prevent their spread to other bodies of water across the state. The agencies announced in September that the invasive New Zealand mud snails
had been found near Baldwin in Lake County. Measuring only 1/8 of an inch long, it’s easier for them than for larger native snails to “hitchhike” on waders and fishing gear, the departments said. And although they live in streams primarily in the western United States, they’re now on the move.

Environment

Collared feral hogs turn traitor to their herds

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By MICHAEL KRANSZ
Capital News Service
LANSING — Michigan’s feral swine problem just got a biblical solution. Over the past year, a number of feral swine have been collared with radio trackers and released back into the wild for research, said Dwayne Etter, the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) wildlife specialist spearheading the eradication efforts. But in winter 2016 these swine will unknowingly lead armed parties to their herd’s position, earning them the title of “Judas hogs,” Etter said. While the hogs won’t earn 30 pieces of silver, they will be left alive for research until the following spring, he said. Until then, research efforts include recruiting more hogs via collaring and examining the behavior of several preliminary Judas hogs after their herds are killed off and they’re left alone, he said.

Agriculture

State partners with U.S. government on forest management

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By YUEHAN LIU
Capital News Service
LANSING– Michigan has signed an agreement with the U.S Forest Service to boost collaborative management of Michigan’s forest lands. The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) said the Good Neighbor Authority master agreement is “a broad pact allowing the state to supplement the work being done by the Forest Service staff on the national forests.”
The agreement would involve the three national forests in Michigan: Hiawatha, Ottawa and Huron-Manistee. “This agreement would help both the Forest Service and the state,” said Jane Cliff, a public affairs specialist at the Forest Service. Cliff said that the agreement would help the Forest Service because natural emergencies have used more of its budget lately, leaving less money for forest protection. Cliff said there are a lot of emergency situations, especially as winter approaches.

Agriculture

Grants boost hunter access in northern Lower Peninsula

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By MICHAEL KRANSZ
Capital News Service
LANSING — In portions of the northern Lower Peninsula next year, farmers in need of relief from hungry deer and hunters in search of turf might mutually benefit from an expanded state land-access initiative. The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) initiative, called the Hunting Access Program, would open more private land to hunters in the northern Lower Peninsula with a new federal grant of nearly $1 million. Among the counties included are Alcona, Montmorency, Emmet, Cheboygan, Antrim, Leelanau, Grand Traverse, Manistee, Mason, Lake and Wexford. Currently, only landowners in Southern Michigan, mid-Michigan and the eastern Upper Peninsula who want to be paid to open their property for hunting are eligible, said Mike Parker, the DNR biologist spearheading the program. Landowners set restrictions on the type of hunting and can earn up to $25 per acre, depending on the type of hunting allowed and habitat quality, according to DNR.

Agriculture

Land cap not a problem for DNR

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By STEPHANIE HERNANDEZ McGAVIN
Capital News Service
LANSING — The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) reports no negative outcomes from the initial cap on its land ownership of 4.626 million acres statewide, which was implemented by state law in 2012. While some feared that the initial land caps would hurt the DNR’s ability to maintain its lands and achieve its environmental goals, Sen. Tom Casperson, an Escanaba Republican, said that the caps were never meant to harass or limit the department, but simply give it guidelines. “It has been irrelevant because we had put some grace that allowed the department to keep buying. The intent was to not cut them off but set up a parameter,” said Casperson. “Right now, there’s 20,000 acres still left and the cap hasn’t held anything up — it’s just more that it’s there.“

DNR public information officer Ed Golder said that although the initial land cap has yet to hurt the department, it continues to work with the Legislature to avoid being limited in future land management.

Environment

Salmon face spawning season challenges

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By AMELIA HAVANEC
Capital News Service
LANSING – Every fall, thousands of chinook and coho salmon return to northern Michigan rivers to spawn, counted at state collection sites in Manistee County and Traverse City. But this year’s fishing season has its own set of challenges – a balancing act between weather and food supply has gone off-kilter – with fewer salmon as a consequence. “From what we’re seeing, it’s looking like a pretty low year,” said Edward Eisch, the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) acting fish production manager. Salmon fishing has been part of a 50-year saga since Pacific salmon were introduced to Lake Michigan in the mid-1960s. To alleviate the environmental impacts of exotic and invasive fish in the Great Lakes, fisheries increased the number of Pacific salmon that would feed on rainbow smelt and alewives, according to Randy Claramunt, a DNR fisheries research biologist based in Charlevoix.

Environment

Court tosses elk farm’s damages suit against state

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By ERIC FREEDMAN
Capital News Service
LANSING – The owner of an elk breeding facility that was shut down during a year-long chronic wasting disease – CWD – quarantine waited too long to sue the state for damages, the Court of Appeals has ruled. Ranch Rheaume LLC in Memphis, St. Clair County, also failed to follow the proper procedures to pursue its claim against the state, the court said. The dispute is rooted in the August 2008 discovery of CWD in one whitetail at a deer-breeding facility in Kent County. The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) said it was the first such incident in Michigan.