Environment

New study questions river sand trap strategy

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By MICHAEL GERSTEIN
Capital News Service
LANSING — Researchers based in Marquette have potentially grave news for Michigan anglers: Hundreds of shallow basins dug into riverbeds to collect trout- and salmon-harming sediment might be more like fish coffins than protectors. After two reportedly successful experiments in the 1980s, sand traps were constructed worldwide in an attempt to save fish populations hurt by excessive sand in freshwater streams. Michigan has more than 250. But now, researchers from the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) say they doubt whether these measures have had any benefit. In some cases, sand traps could even harm river ecosystems, experts say. Popular species like salmon and brook trout need coarse riverbeds of gravel or small pebbles.

Environment

Projects protect U.P.'s coaster brook trout

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By CELESTE BOTT
Capital News Service
LANSING – Removing sand from the Salmon Trout River in Marquette County has helped protect the spawning sites of coaster brook trout, according to researchers. A sand collector was installed upstream last spring to intercept sediment before it reached the endangered trout’s spawning habitat, according to a report from the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Marquette Fisheries Research Station. The machine pumps sand out of the river, preventing it from covering stream-bottom rocks where the majority of coasters spawn. The Salmon Trout River is the last Lake Superior tributary with a natural breeding population of the species, said Casey Huckins, the project leader and professor of biological sciences at Michigan Technological University. “They were once common throughout Lake Superior basin tributaries and nearshore waters, but the populations were wiped out due to over-fishing and habitat degradation,” Huckins said on the project’s fundraising website.

Environment

Spring brings fish stocking, regulation changes

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By EDITH ZHOU
Capital News Service
LANSING – This year’s fishing season is starting on the wheels of stocking trucks, new regulations and programs to attract more participants. The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) said its $9 million program is stocking 19 million fish – 370 tons – including eight trout and salmon species and four cool-water species, including walleye and muskellunge. This year, DNR’s fish-stocking vehicles will travel nearly 138,000 miles to more than 700 spots around the state. Christian LeSage, a biologist at DNR’s Fisheries Division, said that overall, locations and species don’t change much from year to year. However, some locations are not always stocked, and new places are added.

Environment

Harbor dredging could stir up PCB-contaminated sediments

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By MAX KING
Capital News Service
LANSING – Dredging may be a solution to part of the Great Lakes low water problem, but it can also lead to contaminated sediments re-merging into the water, experts warn. A new law provides an additional $20.9 million for 58 emergency harbor dredging projects this year to help recreational and commercial boaters operate in low water levels. The most common contaminant in the bottom of the Great Lakes is polychlorinated biphenyls, also known as PCBs, according to the Department of Natural Resources. PCBs got into the water because of automotive industries near the lakes, said Andy Buchsbaum, director of the Great Lakes office of the National Wildlife Federation in Ann Arbor. “A lot of PCB-laced oil was used by the automobile industry before it was banned and “leaked into the ground and ultimately found its way into the Great Lakes,” he said.

Environment

Land conservancies no substitute for state land

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By MICHAEL GERSTEIN
Capital News Service
LANSING – Green groups like the Little Traverse Conservancy and Mid-Michigan Land Conservancy are pushing to protect and preserve as much of Michigan’s pristine beauty as possible. That’s what they do. But at a time when a new law limits the ability of the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to acquire more land, more responsibility might fall on the shoulders of conservancies in the state; a role experts say conservancies can’t fill. The law that took effect in July 2012 caps the amount of state-owned land to roughly 4 million acres. That’s disconcerting for environmentalists, who call the limit arbitrary and argue it will render the state potentially unable to cope with rising demand for public land.

Environment

Short sturgeon season quickly fills quota

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By MAX KING
Capital News Service
LANSING – The Black Lake winter sturgeon season ended after only four days when the last of a six-fish quota allowed this year was speared. Gil and Brenda Archambo have a long history of fishing for and preserving lake sturgeon. Both work with Sturgeon for Tomorrow, a Cheboygan-based nonprofit organization devoted to the conservation of a fish that can live more than 70 years and grow to be more than 6 feet long. This year, Claudia Wright of Onaway speared the largest sturgeon at 66 inches and 67 pounds, according to the Department of Natural Resources (DNR). Brenda Archambo, president of the group, remembers the first time she saw a lake sturgeon.

Environment

Brook trout brouhaha brews in the U.P.

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By SAODAT ASANOVA-TAYLOR
Capital News Service
LANSING – Brook trout experts have asked the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to put on hold a proposal to double the brook trout creel limit in 10 streams in the Upper Peninsula. They claim the proposal carries a political agenda and lacks scientific data, potentially threatening the overall brook trout habitat. The agency’s proposal would allow anglers to take 10 fish per day per person. The current limit has existed for more than a decade. The daily possession limit would be 10 fish and the minimum size would be 7 inches.

Environment

State grant would pay for dam removal and maintenance

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By YANJIE WANG
Capital News Serivce
LANSING — The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) will spend $2.35 million for its dam management program in 2013, the first time the department has been granted money by the Legislature to address problems of aging dams.
The program will focus on dam removals and maintenance. Individuals, nonprofit organizations, and state and local government agencies would be eligible for grants. Michigan has more than 2,600 dams. More than 90 percent of them will reach or exceed their designed life by 2020, according to the department. Chris Freiburger, coordinator of the program, said many were built since the 1830s for purposes such as power generation and millponds. “Chunks of dams lacked regular maintenance because they don’t serve an economic purpose any more,” Freiburger said.

Environment

Hunting for a hunting spot? Check out DNR website

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By EDITH ZHOU
Capital News Service
LANSING – The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has enhanced its Mi-HUNT computer app and made it more user-friendly in time for the fall deer hunting season. Michael Donovan, a DNR wildlife biologist, said that the most important and useful enhancement lets users “view 7 million acres of public hunting lands and print hunting maps highlighting the vegetation of most interest to hunters.”
The other improvements include detailed information and printable maps of Hunting Access Program lands and state game and wildlife areas, and capacity to load that information directly into the user’s personal GPS. The free application, originally released in 2010, can be customized to fit hunters’ and other outdoor enthusiasts’ trip-planning needs. It allows them to view, print, measure and create custom routes. Donovan said, “The application makes it easier for people to find a place close to them and hunt.

Agriculture

State takes aim at mute swans

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By ERICA HAMLING
Capital News Service
LANSING — Officials want the public to help kill 13,500 mute swans. But before hunters and fearful lakefront property owners grab their rifles, defenders who hope to save the birds want more research. The mute swan is non-native to North America, and it’s increasing in population by 9 to 10 percent each year. And that’s causing big problems, according to Barbara Avers, a waterfowl and wetlands specialist at the Department of Natural Resources (DNR). One question is whether these lake dwellers are being confused with swans that are native to Michigan, says Karen Stamper, a mute swan advocate from Walled Lake.