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(Provided by Michigan DNR)
The Michigan DNR filed an appeal of a December 2014 federal district court ruling that returned wolves in Michigan and Wisconsin to the federal endangered species list and wolves in Minnesota to federal threatened species status.
The appeal - filed by the Michigan Attorney General in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia - asks the court to uphold the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services December 2011 decision that removed the Great Lakes Distinct Population Segment (DPS) of wolves from the federal endangered species list.
The federal district courts December 2014 decision came in response to a lawsuit filed by the Humane Society of the United States, in which the State of Michigan participated as a defendant-intervener arguing against returning the Great Lakes DPS of wolves to the endangered species list.
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Provided by Michigan DNR
Michigan recorded no fatalities during all hunting seasons in 2014, according to reports compiled by the DNR Law Enforcement Division. Ten incidents involving injuries were recorded in the state - nine in the Lower Peninsula and one in the Upper Peninsula.
We had 10 incidents reported for 2014, which ties with last year for the fewest number of reportable hunting incidents since Michigan started tracking them in the 1940s," said Sgt. Tom Wanless of the DNR's Recreational Safety, Education and Enforcement Section.
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Wolf & Coyote Tracks
(Provided by Michigan DNR)
Michigan will begin its next wolf tracking survey Feb. 16 through March 13 to detect the presence of gray wolves in the northern Lower Peninsula.
"The probability of observing an actual wolf or its tracks in the Lower Peninsula is low," said DNR wildlife biologist Jennifer Kleitch. "It's helpful to have as many eyes as possible looking, so public reports are important for this survey."
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(Provided by Michigan DNR)
A trapper pulls a muskrat out of an ice-covered marsh.Doug Reeves remembers his first time as though it were yesterday.
The first thing I ever caught was an ermine, a white weasel, said Reeves, assistant chief of the Department Natural Resources Wildlife Division and a lifelong trapper. I sold it for 50 cents to a traveling fur buyer. To me that was big time.
He was 9 years old. And he was hooked. The next year he got three traps and starting chasing muskrats. He progressed from there.
Back then you had to be 12 years old to trap beaver, he said. The first one I got I brought home in the basket of my sisters fat-tire bike.
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The Michigan DNR announced that a discount of just over 10 percent has been approved for non-resident annual fishing licenses for 2015.
The cost of the non-resident annual fishing license will go from $76 to $68 starting on March 1.
The decision came during yesterday's meeting of the Natural Resources Commission.
Michigan's fishing license options originally were restructured March 1, 2014. Since that time a review of feedback from customers, local businesses and others suggested substantial merit in discounting the annual fishing license fee charged to non-residents. In response to those concerns the DNR has discounted the price.
"Discounting the non-resident annual fishing license will encourage more out-of-state visitors to come and experience Michigan's world-class fisheries - and the many other outstanding recreational opportunities available in this state," said DNR Director Keith Creagh.