Saginaw Bay Scavenger Hunt, Goodbye Winter, and Lake Huron Fish

Mr. Great Lakes (Jeff Kart). As heard in Bay City, Michigan, at 9 a.m. Fridays on Delta College Q-90.1 FM. Part of Friday Edition. 

1 – Calling all photographers. 

Ducks at the Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge.

Ducks at the Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources is holding a Saginaw Bay Photo Scavenger Hunt at Fish Point State Wildlife Area in Tuscola County, Nayanquing Point State Wildlife Area in Bay County, and the Shiawassee River State Game Area in Saginaw County.

Successful hunters in the Wetland Wonders Challenge are eligible for prizes, and there will be nature walks scheduled at each area to help people find items to shoot — with a camera.

To participate, sign up your team online by midnight on Wednesday, May 8.

The hunt list includes 90 items, and you have to find at least 65 to win.

You can find more information at the Facebook page for Michigan Waterfowl Legacy and via the Michigan DNR.

The Waterfowl Legacy program is sponsored in part by the Bay City-based Saginaw Bay Watershed Initiative Network.

- Wetland Wonders Challenge II Saginaw Bay Photo Scavenger Hunt Rules

2 - Goodbye winter.

The U.S. Coast Guard and its Canadian counterpart recently concluded ice-breaking operations on the Great Lakes, including Lake Huron.

The efforts were dubbed as Operation Taconite and Operation Coal Shovel.

Operation Taconite began in December was carried out in Lake Superior, the St. Marys River, the Straits of Mackinac, and northern Lake Huron.

Operation Coal Shovel began in January was carried out in southern Lake Huron, the Detroit and St. Clair River systems, Lakes Erie and Ontario, and the St. Lawrence Seaway.

A group of cutters spent more than 3,000 hours breaking ice, assisting with hundreds of vessel transits, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

Ice-breaking enables commercial shippers on both sides of U.S.-Canada border to transport an average of $2 billion worth of cargo each winter, including heating fuel and food supplies.

3 - A follow-up on those Lake Huron fishery workshops held last month (April) in Ubly, Oscoda and Cedarville.

According to a summary from Michigan Sea Grant, this year researchers had mostly positive news to share regarding the status and trends of fish populations and fishing on the lake.

The overall message was that Lake Huron is proving to be resilient and still offers a diverse and valuable fishing experience, despite drastic ecosystem changes driven by invasive species.

Fisheries researchers and managers have gained a better understanding of how invasive species have re-designed Lake Huron’s food web, and explored new research and management strategies over the past several years.

Findings presented at the workshops include a healthier population of naturally reproducing Chinook salmon, and an expanding number of native species including lake trout and walleye.

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Taking Out Weeds, Taking Back the Tap, and Taking Care of Northern Michigan

Mr. Great Lakes (Jeff Kart). The Environment Report. As heard at 9 a.m. Fridays (Eastern) on Q-90.1 FM, Delta College.

1 - Invasive species are under attack in the Saginaw Bay watershed. 

The first Cooperative Weed Management Area meeting for the watershed was held recently by the Saginaw Conservation District and the Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program.

The Saginaw Bay watershed is the largest in Michigan, and one of the largest freshwater watersheds in the nation. Several Weed Management Areas have been established in the state and across the United States in recent years.

The Saginaw Bay watershed drains about 15 percent of Michigan, and includes about 8,700 square-miles, more than 175 inland lakes, 7,000 miles of rivers and streams, and 15,000 acres of coastal wetlands.

The objective of the Weed Management Area is to organize treatment of invasive species in the watershed, which includes all or part of 22 counties.

Invasive species that are a problem here include phragmites, an invasive reed that can grow to more than 10 feet tall and choke out native plants.

The first Weed Management Area meeting for the watershed discussed the development of a plan, goals and objectives. Some of the group’s priorities include early detection, rapid response, education and outreach.

The organizers are working with the Michigan Invasive Species Coalition and Midwest Invasive Species Information Network on the weed management efforts.

Funding for the project comes from the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. Plans include inventory and treatment work, beginning this summer.


2 - Another group at Central Michigan University is working to gradually phase out the sale of water bottles on the campus in Mount Pleasant. 

fiji over lake michigan anderson

Fiji over Lake Michigan, by Seth Anderson

It’s a group of CMU students, and the initiative is called Take Back the Tap.

According to a news release, CMU has responded to the initiative by purchasing about 15,000 fewer units of bottled water for resale between 2011 and 2012.

Last year, CMU installed retrofit kits at more than 40 drinking fountains across campus. The kits make it easier to fill reusable water bottles, and also record the number of water bottles filled over time.

As of February, the kits have helped eliminate the use of more than 400,000 plastic water bottles.

The student group is working to rally the support of other student, faculty and staff organizations on campus.

The hope is that the university will end the sale of bottled water at CMU by 2015.

3 - What’s on the Mega List?

Huron Pines, a nonprofit in Grayling, has a master database of conversation priorities for Northeast MIchigan.

The list is used to rank proposed projects according to their impact across watersheds, and apply for grant funding.

It’s also used to track the progress of fixing problems, and sites are crossed off when they’ve been restored.

The nonprofit is in the midst of a spring cleaning to update its Mega List, and is looking for projects that should be on the radar for the future.

In particular, Huron Pines is updating information on the Au Sable River Watershed, which has new inventory data for road and stream crossings, erosion sites, invasive species locations and small dams.

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Saginaw Bay Could Benefit from Sustain Our Great Lakes: See the GLEAM Map

Mr. Great Lakes. As heard on Fridays on Q-90.1 FM, 9 a.m. Eastern. The Jan. 11, 2013, broadcast is below … (starts at 6:37)

great lakes gleam map saginaw bay

Saginaw Bay, on the GLEAM map.

1 — The Saginaw Bay area could see an influx of funding for habitat restoration and other environmental improvements.

The Sustain Our Great Lakes program, a public-private partnership, is accepting applications for funding through its 2013 grant cycle.

The submission deadline is Feb. 14.

This year, grant funding will be awarded in three categories:

  • Habitat restoration
  • Private landowner technical assistance, and
  • Delisting of habitat-related Beneficial Use Impairments.

Beneficial Use Impairments refer to Areas of Concern in the Great Lakes, which include the Saginaw River and Bay.

To apply for funding, projects must occur within the Great Lakes basin. Eligible applicants include nonprofits, educational institutions, and local governments.

Up to $9 million is expected to be available for Sustain Our Great Lakes awards, with individual awards ranging from $25,000 to $1.5 million.

- Request for proposals (pdf).

2 — Saginaw Bay is red on a new map of environmental stressors in the Great Lakes.

The map comes from the GLEAM project, which stands for Great Lakes Environmental Assessment and Mapping.

The map, three years in the making, identifies environmental stressors from Minnesota to Ontario, according to University of Michigan researchers.

The project’s lead researcher says the condition of the Great Lakes continues to be degraded by stressors including coastal development, pollutants transported by rivers from agricultural and urban land, fishing pressure, climate change, invasive species, and toxic chemicals.

“Large sub-regions of moderate to high cumulative stress were found in lakes Erie and Ontario as well as in Saginaw and Green bays, and along Lake Michigan’s shorelines.

In contrast, extensive offshore areas of lakes Superior and Huron, where the coasts are less populated and developed, experience relatively low stress,” researchers say.

The map is designed to be used by federal and regional officials to sustainably manage the Great Lakes.

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Fighting Phragmites by Satellite, Exotic Earthworms, and State of the Great Lake Huron

As heard Dec. 21, 2012, 9 a.m. Eastern on Delta Q-90.1 FM, unless the world ends. 

Photo by Steve Jurvetson

Photo by Steve Jurvetson

1- A project that used satellites to map Great Lakes wetland may go a long way to help control phragmites.

Towering, invasive plants known as phragmites have sprouted up along shorelines throughout the lakes, including in Saginaw Bay.

The map, created over a three years, shows the locations of large stands of phragmites located within about six miles of the water’s edge throughout the five Great Lakes, according to officials from Michigan Technological University.

Lakes Huron and Erie had the greatest amount of phragmites.

The map is the first of its kind. The lead author, with the Michigan Tech Research Institute in Ann Arbor, says the data will allow resource managers to visualize the extent of the phragmites invasion in the Great Lakes, and strategically plan efforts to manage existing populations and minimize new ones.

What’s more, the map can be used to create models that predict future invasion areas, and target control efforts.

(For more, see the Journal of Great Lakes Research.)


2 – A new State of the Great Lakes report is out, offering a look at water quality and quantity, recovery efforts, and other issues.

The annual report comes from the Michigan Office of the Great Lakes, and covers the year 2012.

This year’s State of the Great Lakes report (pdf) focuses on Michigan efforts to improve water quality, best use water resources, fight aquatic invasive species, and restore degraded areas.

Sections detail efforts to protect and restore coastal areas. Experts are featured from estate and federal resource agencies, Michigan Sea Grant, universities, and environmental organizations.

For Lake Huron, the report notes several items:

  • The highest phosphorus concentrations in Lake Huron are in Saginaw Bay, where shoreline beach muck problems have persisted.
  • The lake’s food web has “changed dramatically” in the past decade, and the most productive zones have shifted from offshore to nearshore areas, affecting which fish species dominate the lake.
  • The Nature Conservancy is working to identify watershed-based priorities to help conserve migratory river-spawning fish in the basin.

3 - Earthworms introduced from Europe may be adversely affecting the forested ecosystems of Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge in Saginaw County.

That’s according to a study published in the most recent Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management.

The Journal article is on a study involving the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The study showed that the Shiawassee Refuge had the second-largest mean biomass of exotic earthworms of six Upper Midwestern refuges surveyed.

According to an abstract, the invasion of exotic earthworms into forest of the Upper Midwest region is a concern, because the worms act as ecosystem engineers and can modify existing systems.

Those modifications can degrade habitat used by some migratory birds.

- – - 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Big Phragmites, Lots of Trees, and Great Lakes Gift Ideas

As heard Dec. 7, 2012, @ 9 a.m. Eastern, on Friday Edition, Delta College, Q-90.1 FM

photo phragmites fire

Photos by S. Reynolds and M. Venn

 

1.

Do you loathe phragmites, the invasive, towering plant that covers shorelines throughout the Great Lakes region?

Well, you might be interested in a new resource from the Great Lakes Commission and U.S. Geological Survey.

It’s a digital hub for phragmites information by the Great Lakes Phragmites Collaborative (greatlakesphragmites.net).

At the website, there’s an interactive forum where people can share ideas, showcase success stories, and discuss common problems.

Phragmites has become increasingly widespread throughout the Great Lakes region, including Saginaw Bay. The plant “spreads rapidly and can negatively affect biodiversity, impair recreational use, decrease property values and increase fire risk,” officials say.

The site is part of a larger project funded by the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, which is working to develop sustainable phragmites management strategies throughout the Great Lakes basin.

Webinars on phragmites will be archived on the site, along with videos, presentations, management documents and the most up-to-date science and research.

2.

The Au Sable tree drop was a success.

Officials from U.S. Forest Service say an Au Sable River Large Wood Great Lakes Restoration Initiative was completed this fall on a section of the Huron-Manistee National Forest.

A total of 126 trees were placed in the Au Sable River, below the Alcona Dam, using a heavy lift S-61 helicopter.

In total, more than 1,200 trees have been placed along a 10-mile stretch of the river in the past decade. This last round marked the completion of the large-scale restoration effort.

The project was funded by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

Huron Pines, a conservation organization in Gaylord, was the primary contractor.

The Au Sable River watershed drains almost 2,000 square miles, flowing into Lake Huron.

The Au Sable channel has been altered in the past by logging and dam construction, officials say.

The trees were placed by helicopter to help restore function and structure to the river’s aquatic habitat.

3.

If you’re looking for gift this holiday season, how about the gift of Great Lakes environmental knowledge?

There’s a Great Lakes Gift Giving Guide that might help.

The guide was developed by the folks at Michigan Sea Grant, a joint program by the University of Michigan and Michigan State University.

Some suggestions include a cookbook for local eaters, on selecting and preparing Great Lakes whitefish.

There’s also a tome on the Great Lakes fishery, “examining the management, ecology, history, present and future of the lakes from a regional perspective.”

Another “Guide to Great Lakes Fishes” is waterproof, and describes 62 of the region’s most commonly found species.

There’s a “Lake Huron Rock Picker’s Guide,” too, “for anyone who has walked along a Great Lakes beach, picked up a rock and wondered what it was.”

You can find more ideas online at the Michigan Sea Grant website.

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Native Plants from Prison, and Drugs in our Drinking Water

photo syringe drugs great lakes

Photo by Andres Rueda

As heard Nov. 30, 2012, on Delta Q-90.1 FM, NPR (audio, at 7:00) …
1. Inmates are helping growing native plants for a national wildlife refuge.

Inmates from the Saginaw Correctional Facility in Freeland are helping conserve wildlife habitat at Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge in Saginaw County by growing native prairie grass and wildflowers from seed.

The program is modeled after one from Minnesota; that prison has since closed.

The local inmates sow seeds collected from the Saginaw County refuge and tend plants once they’ve germinated.

When the plants are mature, they are trucked to the refuge for transplanting on former cropland.

Last year, 60,000 plants were transplanted.

Freeland prison officials hope to see the program spread to other areas of Michigan, and other states.

This is the program’s third year. Among the species planted this year were swamp milkweed, spotted Joe-Pye weed, common boneset, and wild bergamot. Native plants are good because they provide habitat for birds, attract pollinating insects, and help keep out invasive species.

Funding for the program has been provided by grant from Ducks Unlimited, and the Saginaw Bay Watershed Initiative Network.

Recently, 35,000 plants were delivered to the refuge with a market value of $175,000.

2. There’s drugs in our drinking water. And treatment plants are having a tough time dealing with it.

According to reports from Great Lakes Echo and the Alliance for the Great Lakes (document), traces of pharmaceuticals, everyday chemicals, and personal care products in our drinking water are an emerging concern.

Treatment plants can use membrane technology to remove some pharmaceuticals from wastewater. But, they can’t catch all of what’s contributed by humans and animals.

A total of 35 treatment plants in the Great Lakes use membrane technology, including 13 plants on Lake Huron.

The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality is aware of the issue, and officials say various federal research projects are ongoing about pharmaceuticals in water.

The DEQ says pharmaceuticals have been detected in groundwater, lakes and streams in Michigan. The drugs can harm aquatic life. And, as concentrations in our water increase, the presence of these drugs may lead to human health damages.

The federal government doesn’t currently have any requirements about pharmaceuticals in drinking water, but standards are reviewed periodically.

( See also – “Great Lakes Syringes” )

Cleaning up the Rifle, Asian Carp Salesmen, and 1 Million Michigan Campers

As heard 9 a.m. Eastern, Oct. 26, 2012, on Q-90.1 FM, Delta College NPR … 

Photo by Willie Lunchmeat (really)


1 - The nonprofit Huron Pines group in Gaylord is expanding its Rifle River Watershed Project. 

The group recently received a grant of nearly $700,000 for the work.

The broader program will cover the entire northern Saginaw Bay, according to the group, adding in the AuGres and Tawas watersheds.

The aim is to improve the water quality of the bay, increase and improve stream habitat for fish, and reduce runoff that negatively impacts rivers. Goals of the project include reducing sediment pollution by 850 tons a year and phosphorus inputs by 200 pounds a year.

With the most recent grant, from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s Sustain Our Great Lakes program, Huron Pines has added a fulltime watershed project manager.

The Rifle is one of 16 Designated Natural Rivers in Michigan and is a tributary to Saginaw Bay.


2 - Hey, wanna buy some Asian carp?  

The Great Lakes Commission is helping crack down on people who sell aquatic invasive species online.

The Commission is developing web-crawling software to troll the Internet for the sellers of plants and animals for use in aquariums, nurseries, water gardens, aquaculture, and as live bait.

Accidental or intentional releases of live organisms sold online can adversely impact the Great Lakes.

But officials say little is being done to prevent potentially invasive species from being imported, traded, or released into the lakes via the Internet.

Sellers identified by the software will be contacted about relevant regulations and potential risks associated with the species they’re selling. The tool also will be available to regulators who may take further action.

3 - Camping season is pretty much over for the year, and Michigan state parks are celebrating a milestone.  

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources recently marked the 1 millionth camp night of the 2012 season at a state park in St. Clair County.

There haven’t been that many campers in one season since 2005, officials say.

Michigan state parks have seen a 7 percent increase in advance reservations this year, compared to 2011.

Officials attribute the rise, in part, to travelers with strained vacation budgets, and a lower-cost Recreation Passport for entrance to state parks.

For the record, some Michigan state parks offer year-round camping and cabin rentals, so you can camp this winter if you’re up for it.


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CMU Invasives Project, Saginaw Solar Energy, and Michigan Fall Color

As heard Oct. 5, 2012, 9 a.m. Eastern, Friday Edition, Q-90.1 FM, Delta College …

Photo by ellenm1

 

1 - The battle against invasive species in the Great Lakes basin just received an $8 million bump.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency this week announced 21 grants totaling nearly $8 million for projects to combat invasive species in Michigan and other states in the basin.

The money, from the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, includes funding for work by Central Michigan University researchers.

CMU will receive about $356,000 to assess the risks that aquatic invasive species pose to the Erie Canal Corridor.

The project will catalogue non-native species in the Mohawk-Hudson River and Lake Champlain basins.

The idea is to identify aquatic invasive species that have the potential to spread into the canal.

The work will use environmental DNA surveys, like those done to track of presence of Asian carp in the Great Lakes basin. The range of invasives, potential pathways and future survelliance needs will be explored.

The CMU work falls under the Prevention category of grants award. Money also is going to Early Detection and Control efforts.


2 - The city of Saginaw is powering up with solar energy. 

And the equipment comes from the Saginaw Bay region.

The city has installed a 20-kilowatt solar array on the roof of its Public Services Building, according to Saginaw Future.

A total of 96 panels on the array will provide about 10 percent of the building’s power.

Consumers Energy will purchase power from the panels for up to 15 years.

The panels were made using polycrystalline silicon from Hemlock Semiconductor in Saginaw County.

Saginaw City Hall also is getting a smaller, 4-kilowatt unit, which will use the Sunsteer tracking system, developed by Nexteer Automotive in Saginaw.

3 - The colors of fall are coming about a week early this year. 

High fall color has been reported in higher elevations in the Western Upper Peninsula of MIchigan.

In Northern Michigan, fall color is reported to be moderate, including for Bay City and the Thumb.

In Southern Michigan, most of the leaves aren’t changing just yet.

For much of the Midwest, color change is running about a week early, according to The Foliage Network.

The early color change is attributed in part to dry weather earlier this year.

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Monitoring Lakes and Streams, Dam Removal, and Flying Trees

photo au sable river large woody debris michigan

Screenshot from MDNR slideshow.

As heard at 9 a.m. Sept. 28, 2012, on Friday Edition, Q-90.1 FM, Delta College NPR …

1 - The Michigan Clean Water Corps is closing in on 40 years of monitoring waters in the state. 

The Corps, known as MiCorps for short, assists the state Department of Environmental Quality in collecting quality data for use in management protection programs.

The group this year is celebrating 39 years of the Cooperative Lakes Monitoring Program, which began in 1974.

In that time, thousands of volunteers have taken measurements on water clarity, temperature and content. They’ve also reported on ice melt and the effects of exotic species.

A recent dispatch from MiCorps notes that more than 800 inland lake basins are monitored by the program, including several counties in Northeast Michigan.

The monitoring data is public and searchable.

The monitoring indicates that there has been an improvement in water quality in Michigan lakes and streams since 1980, according to a MiCorps staffer. But the lakes have responded in variety of ways to zebra mussels.

MiCorps is looking for volunteers. You can find out more at micorps.net.

2 - Fish migration will be improved in Northeast Michigan with the help of other volunteers from Huron Pines, a nonprofit in Gaylord. 

The group is adding sites to its Small Dam Removal program. Work on the Grayling Hatchery Dam Removal is to begin with design work this winter, on the East Branch of the Au Sable River.

The project is being done to allow fish to migrate further upstream into the upper East Branch, and enhance the ability of the hatchery to rear fish.

Plans are to remove the dam and install a series of small rock ramps in 2013.

The small ramps will allow for movement of fish, while still maintaining upstream water levels, according to Huron Pines.

The project is funded by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Also on the Au Sable, more than 100 large trees are being flown in by helicopter to enhance instream habitat on the lower portion of the river.

- SEE Michigan DNR Au Sable Tree Drop Slideshow –

That “large woody debris” program is a partnership between Huron Pines and the U.S. Forest Service and Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

Placing a goal of 125 trees is expected to take two days. This is the final year of a 10-year program.

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Lake Huron and Saginaw Bay See Study Focus, and Restoration Funding

photo rv lake guardian great lakes research vessel

Via U. of Michigan

As heard Aug. 10, 2012, on Delta College Q-90.1 FM, Friday Edition, Environment Report … (I’ve been on vacation) …

The Least-Studied Great Lake

Lake Huron is home to a new long-term research program by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Researchers from NOAA, and the agency’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Lab in Ann Arbor, have set up a base in Alpena, at the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary.

According to Great Lakes Echo, scientists at the Alpena station are studying water quality, invasive species, nutrient levels and physical properties of the lake.

The program’s lead researcher says Lake Huron is the least-studied of the Great Lakes, although previous work has been done in Saginaw Bay.

The latest research is to focus mainly on significant changes in the Lake Huron ecosystem, including increases in algal blooms and shoreline muck.

The research is being done, in part, to help develop more effective methods for managing fish production and water quality in the lake.

The work also is being done with equipment including the Research Vessel Lake Guardian, which used to dock in downtown Bay City.

Watershed Management Gets Money

The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality has announced $4 million in grant funding for water quality improvement projects.

The money, from the state Clean Michigan Initiative and federal Clean Water Act, will go to restore and protect state wetlands, lakes and streams.

Those eligible to apply include local governments, nonprofits, and universities.

The Clean Michigan Initiative money totals about $1 million and is available for watershed management plans

The Clean Water Act funding totals about $3 million and is available to develop watershed management plans or implement key parts of previously approved watershed management plans.

Areas in the Saginaw Bay District with approved watershed management plans include the Kawkawlin River, Pigeon River, Pinnebog River and Rifle River.

Matching funds of 15-25 percent are required for the pools of grant money. For more information, see the DEQ website.

Watershed management plans considers all uses, pollutant sources, and impacts within a drainage area, according to DEQ. The plan serve as guides for communities to protect and improve their water quality.

Sustain Our Great Lakes

Meanwhile, a public-private group called Sustain Our Great Lakes has announced more than $8 million in grants to fund restoration projects throughout the Great Lakes basin.

The funding from Sustain Our Great Lakes is intended to improve “the quality and connectivity of tributary, wetland and coastal habitats.”

The money includes almost $700,000 to improve 150 acres of wetlands, and improve water quality in the northern Saginaw Bay watershed. That work will be overseen by the Huron Pines Resource Conservation & Development Area Council.

The Saginaw Basin Land Conservancy also is receiving $150,000 to control invasive phragmites and restore 101 acres, 11,700 linear feet of stream bank, and 10,100 linear feet of coastal habitat along Saginaw Bay.

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