The Most Viewed Stories of 2016 – A Year End Review
In March of this year, we launched Nature Change to offer educational short videos and photo-essays on how people are responding to on-going
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Managing Resources
Citizens rely on nonprofit organizations, educational institutions and governmental agencies to discover, research and respond to changes in the natural resources of Northwest Lower Michigan. In fact, there are dozens of nonprofit groups across the region dedicated to measuring, assessing, limiting and managing the impacts of development, invasive species, climate change and climate variability. The region’s land conservancies, watershed groups, conservation districts, hunting and fishing organizations and many others are playing critical roles in preserving our natural resources and preparing for what comes next.
These short multimedia stories explore some of the many ways public organizations are working to retain the regions abundant natural resources while helping to add resilience against the adverse impacts caused by invasive pests and diseases, development and disruptive climate changes.
The stories in this section answer the question: What are our nonprofit and public organizations doing to conserve, preserve and protect the natural resources, critical ecosystems and heritage landscapes of Northwest Lower Michigan?
Discovering Lake Trout Secrets in the Deeps of Elk Lake
This short video essay, tells the story of Lake Michigan’s lake trout populations and the efforts to restore this iconic species of fish.
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Escaping Ornamentals: A Threat to Natural Area Biodiversity
Essay by: Miriam Owsley, Outreach Assistant, Northwest Michigan Invasive Species Network Northern Michigan boasts some of the most beautiful natural landscapes in the country,
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Voluntary Wetland Restoration to Preserve Ecosystem Services
Submitted by: LIAA & the UpNorth Media Center. Northwest Lower Michigan has a diverse array of highly productive wetlands that provide essential habitat
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Phenology & Climate Change – Changing Nature’s Clocks
Each spring, people in Northwest Lower Michigan witness the emergence of wildflowers on the forest floor. Then, the buds of hardwood trees burst open, unfurling
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The Future of Nature: Panel Discussion
Climate change, climate variability and invasive species threaten the future of natural resources in Northwest Lower Michigan. Changes in rainfall patterns and increased
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Quaggas! Lake Michigan’s Ecosystem Disruptors
For the last 10 years or so, a team of scientists from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee and the National Park Service
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Monster Weed! Battling Japanese Knotweed in Manistee
About 3 years ago, Mary Hurley and her neighbors at Harbor Village in the City of Manistee noticed an unpleasant change nearby. What
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Cleaning Up the Bay – The Rain Garden Way
In this short video, we learn how the Village of Suttons Bay has embraced green infrastructure to remove pollution from the stormwater runoff –
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Biological Surveys Along the Boardman River
Submitted by the Conservation Resource Alliance, this article describes biological monitoring along the Boardman River to measure the success of habitat restoration. In
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Tracking Change in Lake Michigan’s Fisheries
The SV Steelhead is operated by the Michigan DNR out of the Charlevoix Fisheries Research Station. The trawler has been used for scientific
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Improving Road-Stream Crossings: Better Habitat & More Resilient Rivers
Maybe you’ve noticed them driving county and local roads, the culverts and little bridges passing a stream under the roadway. And maybe you’ve
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Game Changer! A New Fruit Fly Puts Northern Michigan’s Orchards at Risk.
A new, particularly dangerous species of fruit fly has invaded Northwest Lower Michigan. Not the ordinary fruit fly that loves overripe and rotting
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Lake Michigan Fisheries: Facing Invaders and Warming Waters
There have been dramatic changes in the fisheries and overall ecology of Lake Michigan over the last few decades and Dave Clapp has
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Thinking Like an Investor: Diversified Forests Hedge Against an Uncertain Future
Essay By: Stephen Handler, Climate Change Specialist Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science; USDA Forest Service Northern Research Station In a recent essay
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Eagles: Messengers of Climate Change
An Upper Peninsula native, Dr. Willam Bowerman began studying Michigan’s bald eagles in 1984. Now a professor and department chair at the University
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Demonstrating Sustainable Forestry – Palmer Woods Forest Reserve
Last year, the Leelanau Conservancy exercised an option to buy a 700-acre tract of land just east of Big Glen Lake and the
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Grand Traverse Baykeeper: Advocating for Clean Water
The Watershed Center Grand Traverse Bay joined the Waterkeeper Alliance in 2002, hiring John Nelson as their first Baykeeper. As a Navy veteran and
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Managing Resources: The Re-Wilding of Bowens Creek
The Conservation Resource Alliance (CRA) began a project to restore the aquatic habitat of Bowens Creek in 2010 under a partnership with
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