For Friday, June 11, 2021
***web-only episode this week***
1 – More lake sturgeon will be released into rivers in the Saginaw Bay watershed.
The Conservation Fund and Bay Area Community Foundation are supporting Sturgeon For Tomorrow with an $8,000 grant to raise lake sturgeon at a Black River Sturgeon Facility.
The fish will be released into the Cass, Tittabawassee, Shiawassee and Flint rivers. The Black Lake hatchery is operated by Michigan State University.
Efforts to restore the Saginaw Bay lake sturgeon population began in the 1990s. In 2018, a partnership of agencies took the first step of releasing juvenile lake sturgeon.
The goal for the most-recent grant is to stock 500 sturgeon per year in the Saginaw Bay Watershed over the next three years.
Since stocking began in the Saginaw River Basin in 2017, the state is beginning to receive regular reports of juvenile sturgeon being incidentally caught by walleye anglers in the Saginaw River and Saginaw Bay.
Officials say the anglers have been pretty excited to accidentally catch a rare fish and typically snap a photo before quickly returning the fish to the river.
The 2021 sturgeon release events are tentatively scheduled for August 20 at sites along the rivers.
For more information, visit SaginawBaySturgeon.org.
2 – Some environmental groups are praising state action related to a voluntary green pricing program that’s run by the DTE Electric Co.
The Michigan Public Service Commission this week approved a partial settlement involving DTE’s renewable energy plan.
The settlement includes approval for the utility to increase its voluntary green pricing program and provide low-income customers with greater access to renewable energy.
The program allows customers to voluntarily specify a certain amount of electricity purchases to be from renewable energy resources, with costs of the program billed to participating customers.
An advocate from the Natural Resources Defense Council, which intervened in the case along with other groups, called the decision “a step forward for Michiganders looking to get their power from clean energy.”
3 – You can go cicada hunting for Brood X, or Brood 10.
And you can avoid the “up north” traffic at the same time.
State natural resources officials say warmer nights are enticing a group of 17-year cicadas – known as Brood X – to come out of the ground and look for a mate.
Some of the insects have emerged in the Ann Arbor area, which is expected to be the epicenter for cicada activity in Michigan.
Numbers statewide likely will peak around mid-June.
Cicadas are not dangerous, but they are big and loud.
Michigan has a cicadas page with information on where to find them and how people can play an important role in cicada science by sharing sightings of the bugs using a Cicada Safari smartphone mapping app.
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