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(Provided by MDNR)
Kalamazoo River Project Targets Spawning SturgeonRecently an excavator was moving rock out into the middle of the Kalamazoo River in southwest Michigan. An interested angler stopped to ask the crew what was going on.
"I told him we're building a spawning riffle for lake sturgeon," said Jay Wesley, Lake Michigan Basin Coordinator for the DNR. "That's a place where adult lake sturgeon can deposit their eggs. The eggs fall into the crevices of the rock and protect them against predators and turbulent flows."
The Kalamazoo River sturgeon riffle is approximately 26 miles upstream from Lake Michigan and 800 feet downstream of Allegan Dam. It is made of 4- to 24-inch field stone that is placed across the river. The overall size of the riffle is 22,400 square feet - about half the size of a football field.
The project was made possible by a $200,000 contribution from Consumers Energy and a $190,000 Great Lakes Tribal Coastal Grant provided to the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians (also known as the Gun Lake Tribe). The project features numerous partners; including the DNR's Parks and Recreation Division and Allegan Heavy Equipment Crew, Stantec (provided design) and Grand Valley State University (providing monitoring).
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(Provided by MDNR)
Agreement Provides $550,000 for Pheasant Habitat in SW Michigan
The Michigan DNR is partnering with Enbridge Energy Partners, L.P. and Pheasants Forever in an agreement that will see Enbridge provide half a million dollars for pheasant habitat restoration in Michigan.
Improvement projects are scheduled to take place over the next three years in various areas in Michigan, focused on Michigan Pheasant Restoration Initiative priority landscapes and oak savanna restoration.
"This partnership allows the parties involved to work together cooperatively, producing significant habitat improvements for wildlife and the betterment of upland game hunting opportunities," said DNR Director Keith Creagh.
In 2013, Enbridge replaced a 30-inch pipeline, which runs for about two miles across the Crane Pond State Game Area in Cass County. As a result of the permitting process, the DNR and Enbridge worked together to improve the pipeline infrastructure and restore and improve habitat impacted during construction.
Enbridge transports, generates and distributes energy, employing more than 11,000 workers, mostly in the U.S. and Canada.
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(Provided by MDNR)
85% of Michigan’s Early Season Elk Hunters SuccessfulThe Michigan DNR announced that Michigan's first elk hunt of 2016, which ended Oct. 3, had a hunter success rate of 85 percent. One hundred state hunters had 12 days to fill their elk license, with 30 any-elk and 70 antlerless-only licenses issued.
"It's hard to believe the first hunt period is in the books," said DNR wildlife biologist Jennifer Kleitch. "Overall, we had good weather to hunt, no notable law issues and good success. The last few days were the wettest, which slowed efforts just a bit."
The first hunt period of the elk season is staggered and open for a total of 12 days, from Aug. 30-Sept. 2, Sept. 16-19 and Sept. 30-Oct. 3. This early hunt period is open only in areas outside the core elk range, helping to control the distribution or locations of elk. The management goal for elk hunting is to control the number of elk and their locations and also the herd composition, or the male-to-female ratios. Hunt period 1 targets elk outside the location where the DNR wants the majority of the population to be.
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(Provided by MDNR)
DNA Test Cougars Killed in the Upper Peninsula
Genetic testing on tissue samples from two cougars poached in the Upper Peninsula shows the two animals likely came from a population found generally in South Dakota, Wyoming and northwest Nebraska.
"This genetic research lines up with what we've presumed previously, that cougars found in the Upper Peninsula are males dispersing from this population east of the Rocky Mountains," said Kevin Swanson, a Michigan Department of Natural Resources wildlife management specialist with the agency's Bear and Wolf Program. "These males dispersed from the main population are looking to establish new territories."
Since 2008, the DNR has confirmed 35 cougar reports in the Upper Peninsula, but so far there remains no conclusive evidence of a breeding population. No reports have been confirmed from Lower Michigan.
Cougars are an endangered species in Michigan protected by law.
The U.P. cougar confirmations were derived from trail camera video, photographs, tracks, scat or in the case of the two males poached, carcasses.
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(Provided by MDNR)
No Bighead or Silver Carp Detected In Michigan's WatersThe Michigan DNR announced that so far in 2016, no bighead and silver carp environmental DNA (eDNA) has been found in Michigan waters.
The eDNA surveillance program ñ a collaborative effort between the Great Lakes states and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) - samples high priority locations for the presence of bighead and silver carp genetic material.
Since 2013, the DNR has partnered with the USFWS to implement a portion of the eDNA surveillance program in major tributaries to all the Great Lakes except Lake Superior, because it has been deemed very low-risk for introduction. This year, more than 2,445 samples will be collected, bringing the total from the last three years to approximately 7,200 water samples collected and analyzed. The majority of samples are taken from Lake Michigan tributaries such as the St. Joseph, Kalamazoo, Grand and Muskegon rivers.
Of the 2016 samples collected and analyzed, The DNR is still waiting for results from the third and final round of sampling in the St. Joseph, Grand, Kalamazoo, Muskegon, Macatawa, Galien and Black rivers. The final results are expected soon, but all other samples analyzed have come back negative at this point.
ìAlong with our participation in the eDNA surveillance program, we continue to be diligent with early detection efforts, such as conducting fish population surveys, increasing awareness among anglers, and maintaining an invasive carps reporting website for anglers to share any suspicious catches or observations that occur during their outings,î said Seth Herbst, the Fisheries DivisionÃs aquatic invasive species coordinator.
During the course of these sampling efforts, a single eDNA sample tested positive for silver carp genetic material in the Kalamazoo River in 2014. Based on further testing and work on the river, it was unlikely that the single detection out of 1,850 samples in 2014 was associated with a live fish.
ìA more likely explanation for that positive sample was a contamination source, such as visiting boaters or anglers from an area where silver carp is already established,î said Nick Popoff, manager of the DNRÃs Aquatic Species and Regulatory Affairs.
Results from eDNA testing conducted by the USFWS and its partner agencies throughout the Great Lakes basin can be viewed at: https://www.fws.gov/midwest/fisheries/eDNA.html.
For more information on invasive carp, visit Michigan.gov/invasives.