North Woods Notes

TRAIL UPDATE:
The around 80 miles of the New York to North Dakota North Country Trail from Kalkaska to Petoskey, including the Jordan Valley, will be highlighted at the Tittabawassee Chapter of the North Country Trail Association 7 p.m. March 18 public meeting in Boyne Falls’ fire station.

Volunteers will be recruited to help maintain the stretch of trail. Call Gary Johnson at 989-289-4477. Or go to http://www.northcountrytrail.org/tbw/.

A WOLF?:
The call for wolf sighting reports below the Bridge has turned up “lots of dog tracks,” biologist Brian Roell says. But there is one---just one---that may have some credence.

A Cheboygan County farmer’s sighting “looks good,” Roell says. Biologists are checking it out.

Sightings can be called in to 989-732-3541 ext. 5901. Or sent to www.michigan.gov/wolves.

Though three wolves have been verified in the Lower Peninsula since 2004, they “disappeared.”

Since 1980, the Upper Peninsula’s wolf population has swollen from around zero to as many as 500, making it feasible some may have crossed the Straits on winter ice.


PURE MICHIGAN:
The application deadline for 2011 Pure Michigan Hunt raffle tickets is Dec. 31. They are on sale at license agents. Individuals can buy unlimited numbers of tickets, at $4 each.

The three winners get licenses for restricted elk, bear, turkey, antlerless deer and waterfowl hunts.

This year’s winners, for the first hunt, are Luke Haynes, Vicksburg; Mario Chiesa, Dearborn, and Joe Serafinski, Macomb. DNR wildlife chief Russ Mason says they are “going to experience the best hunting that Michigan has to offer.”

Go to www.michigan.gov/puremichiganhunt.


EAGLE BAIT:
Conservation officers have filed charges against owners of a remote Delta County deer camp who allegedly killed a deer Feb. 27 to bait eagles to a small lake for viewing. More than 100 gallons of illegal deer bait was also reported at the camp.


EAGLE REWARD:
A reward is offered in the killing of an eagle in northwest Clinton County around Feb. 6. The immature bird was found by CO Dick Nickols near Colony and Jones roads, north of Fowler, in Lebanon Township.

Information can be provided, anonymously if desired, on the toll-free RAP (Report All Poaching) hotline: 1-800-292-7800. Or to a local conservation officer.

Poaching violations can also be reported online at www.michigan.gov/dnre under Natural Resources then Law Enforcement.


TAKE A HIKE:
Nineteen state parks offer “plowed” trails for winter hiking, skiing and snowshoeing. In the Upper Peninsula they are Bewabic, Fayette, Straits and Wells. In the northern Lower they are Interlochen, Leelanau, Ludington, Traverse City and Young.

For more call Maia Stephens at 989-225-8573.


BEAR REGS:
Newly-formed Concerned Citizens Against Resource Exploitation (CCARE) charges the 12,300 bear tags the DNR expects to issue this year is “unsustainable” and “more than the total estimated number of bears in Michigan.”

Call Charles Markham at 906-483-4990, or go to www.ccare.ws.

DNR biologist Adam Bump estimates hunters tagged 2,026 bears last year; down from 2,346 in 2008.


JUNK TIRES:
The DNR is issuing grants of $967,152 to remove some 960,000 scrap tires at 23 sites. Sites in northern Michigan are in Arenac, Newaygo, Otsego, Clare, Alpena, Oceana and Mecosta counties.

For details call Rhonda Oyer Zimmerman at 517-373-4750 or go to oyerr@michigan.gov.


DIRTY COAL:
Opponents of a massive coal-fired stench/crud-spewing power plant on Lake Huron at Rogers City have created a website “to shed light on Wolverine Power Supply Cooperative’s plan.” It is www.Co-opConversationsUSA.org.

The local Citizens for Environmental Inquiry (CEI) has hired Jim Olsen’s renown Traverse City environmental law firm to challenge the company’s permit.

It has invested $5,000. But needs much more.

CEI’s Bill Lewis says, “We are very close to victory…and have overcome significant obstacles. To secure the final win we need your financial help.”

Send donations to Citizens for Environmental Quality, P.O. Box 93, Presque Isle, MI 49777.

The plant would burn millions of tons of coal, from ecosystem-ravaged coal mines, via taxpayer-subsidized Great Lakes freighters.

It is also viewed as spurring residential/commercial/industrial sprawl across the northeast Lower Peninsula from Tawas to Cheboyban.


FEN FUN:
A 106-page, full color, book on Michigan’s prairie fen wetlands is available. It can be ordered, for $14, by going to http://web4.msue.msu.edu/mnfi/.

Fens are described as “biologically diverse habitats nestled in depressions in hills of the southern Lower Peninsula. They are dominated by sedges and grasses and form the pristine headwaters of many lakes and streams.”

Call Daria Hyde at 517-373-4815 for more.


BAY CITY:
The DNR is seeking public input on its proposed management plan for 2,100-acre Bay City Recreation Area on Saginaw Bay. Call Paul Curtis at 517-335-4832.


CCC HISTORY:
Hartwick Pines State Park historian Bob Burg pointed out at a recent presentation that the Depression Era Civilian Conservation Corps planted more than 4000,000 trees across Michigan, fought thousands of forest fires, established the Higgins Lake tree nursery and Higgins Lake Conservation School and operated the Grayling fish hatchery.

For more go to www.michigan.gov/loggingmuseum. Or call Burg at 989-348-2537. The park’s Logging Museum is open to visitors.


SUMMER JOBS:
More than 1,200 seasonal jobs are available this summer at Michigan’s 98 state parks, 700 boating access sites and 16 recreational harbors. Details at www.michigan.gov/stateparks. Or by calling Karen Gourlay at 248-349-3858.


CONSERVATION DOLLARS:
The Resource Stewards conservation retirees group continues to explore getting an earmarked, constitutionally-secured conservation tax on the ballot. (Possibly as early as this November.)

Resource Stewards secretary Bill Murphy, a retired conservation law enforcement executive, says the fund would be protected so politicians can’t raid it.

Some advocates also call for mandating that hunting, fishing and other user fees automatically keep pace with inflation.


SPRAWL BUSTER:
June 18 is the deadline for placing conservation easements on sprawl-ripe private forest lands. Owners who want to prevent their property from being developed in the future are paid to put it under an easement to the state.

Other benefits can include reduced property taxes.

Details at www.michgan.gov/privateforestland, or by calling Kerry Wieber at 517-373-9905.


TURKEY BONUS:
More than 56,300 “leftover” spring turkey hunting licenses---46,000 of them for private land in southern Michigan---went on sale at license dealers March 8.

According to biologist Al Stewart, Michigan hunters bagged 40,000 turkeys last year, making the state one the top ten in the country.


Bluebirds for kids:
Spearheaded by Straits Area Audubon, Cheboygan fifth through ninth graders build bluebird houses for a Bluebird Nesting Trail they will create this spring. Audubon club president Kathy Bricker says the experience launched the kids on a conservation “journey.” (Call Kathy at 231-627-4830.)


PORK BINS:
Live traps may be the best way to control feral pigs, according to the Michigan Wildlife Conservancy. It costs $450 to build a trap. Funds are needed. Details at 517-641-7677.

Feral hogs may have spread to all Michigan’s counties. They are seen as devastating to wildlife and a threat to humans, livestock and pets. They are thought to originate from escaped game farm animals that proliferate rapidly in the wild.

(Oh, they’re said to be darn good eating.)


FOREST MEET:
The Michigan Forest Association holds it annual meeting August 13-14 at the Cole Canoe Base Boy Scout camp on the Rifle River near West Branch. Call 517-663-3423. Or go to www.michiganforests.com. Membership is $20.


INVADERS:
Zebra mussels, brought into the Great Lakes via the St. Lawrence Seaway, are blamed for a more than three-fold increase in rooted aquatic plants in Grand Traverse Bay in the last decade.


WOLF LAKE:
The Wolf Lake fish hatchery visitor center is open for the season. It focuses on the habits and biology of fish and the history of fishing in Michigan. Tours are available Saturdays.

Located on M-43 in Mattawan six miles west of US-131, call Shana McMillan at 269-668-2876.

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