Eye on Wildlife

Rarely Seen Michigan Animals

2012-02-24T12:20:00.000-05:00

What animals arerarely seen, are efficient hunters, and weigh up to 9 ounces? Any guesses? The least weasel, short-tailed weasel, and the long-tailed weasel. And guess what…they all live inMichigan. In fact, these are only threeof the ten members of the Mustelid family that inhabit the state of Michigan. (Future posts will be written about all otherMichigan Mustelds.)

NPS Photo

Mustelids (weasels) are characterized by their analglands. In other words, they stink. The odor created by these glands is used forboth defense and marking territory. Someweasels have the ability to delay pregnancies through “delayedimplantation”. This allows for thepostponing of births when harsh conditions are present.

Weasel	Weight	Length
Least Weasel (Mustela nivalis)	1-2 ounces	6-8 inches
Short-Tailed Weasel (Mustela erminea)	2-6 ounces	7-13 inches
Long-Tailed Weasel (Mustela frenata)	3-9 ounces	11-22 inches

All threeweasels are known for their big appetites. It is expected for a weasel to kill more animals than it can eat. This behavior is crucial for theirsurvival. Weasels have high energydemands and fasting for more than one day is detrimental. So when winter comes or prey is no longerplentiful, stockpiling food is a survival necessity.

They are alsoknown for their fierceness. Althoughtheir diet is primarily voles, they are able to take prey such as rabbits, ratsand snakes. The long-tailed weasel haseven been known to kill small woodchucks and even baby pigs. One bite to the base of the skull to reachthe brain or the spinal cord allows weasels to kill prey much larger than theyare.

It is sometimesdifficult to tell these weasels apart. The least weasel is of course the smallest of the three but, theshort-tailed and long-tailed weasel are a bit more difficult. Other than the length of their tails, thedifference between the short and long-tailed weasels is in their feet. The short-tailed weasel has white feet allyear long. The long-tailed weasel onlyhas white feet in the winter. Weaselsturn white in the wintertime to camouflage themselves from becoming prey toother predatory species. This is anadaptation developed by the species.

NPS Photo

They may besmall and cute but they are fierce and cunning creatures, and vicious when itcomes to hunting.

Dancing Crane Gift Shop – Remodeled!

2012-02-17T09:23:00.000-05:00

For thoseof you who have visited the Bengel Wildlife Center you know that housed insidethe building is a beautiful hidden gem, the Dancing Crane Gift Shop. I have some news for all of you! Our gift shop has been remodeled! We even have some new items! You are all invited to come back in and seeour gift shops’ new look and items. If you haven’t had a chance to visit theDancing Crane Gift Shop yet, come on in and wander around the grounds. We would love to meet you.

TheMichigan Wildlife Conservancy is located at the Bengel Wildlife Center at 6380Drumheller Road, Bath, Michigan 48808. Ifyou need directions or would like to contact us you may email us at wildlife@miwildlife.org or by phoneat 517-641-7677.

Come One, Come All

2012-02-10T09:14:00.000-05:00

As you may already know theMichigan Audubon Society has moved their offices to the Bengel WildlifeCenter. On Saturday, February 25, 2012they will be hosting one of their first events. And we are invited! Someone fromthe Michigan Audubon Society will be leading a bird walk and answer anyquestions you may have.

You will need:

a. Binoculars

b. Fieldguide (if you have one)

c. Dressfor the weather

Please come join the MichiganAudubon Society on a bird walk. Not onlywill you be able to look at the birds at the Bengel Wildlife Center but youwill meet new people too!

If you plan to attend please notifyme, Jennifer at (517) 641-7677 or email me at wildlife@miwildlife.org.

WHAT A CATCH!!

2012-02-03T12:25:00.000-05:00

(Courtesy of one of our members)

When fishing the waters off Alaska one hopes to catch anAlaskan king salmon, sockeye salmon or a halibut, but a black-tailed deer? How about four?

I know, it sounds like another fish tale. How can you go out fishing for an animal thathas gills and lives underwater and catch four four-legged mammals that live onland? For this fishing trip the proofwas in the pictures.

This story was first printed in the Sitka Gazette.

I've heard of salmon jumping into boats, butnever anything quite like this...Tom Satre told the Sitka Gazette that he wasout with a charter group on his 62-foot fishing vessel when four juvenileblack-tailed deer swam directly toward his boat.

"Once the deer reached the boat, thefour began to circle the boat, looking directly at us. We could tell right awaythat the young bucks were distressed.

I opened up my back gate and we helpedthe typically skittish and absolutely wild animals onto the boat. In all myyears fishing, I've never seen anything quite like it!

Once on-board, they collapsed withexhaustion, shivering."

We headed for Taku Harbour. Once we reachedthe dock, the first buck that we had pulled from the water hopped onto thedock, looked back as if to say 'thank you' and disappeared into the forest.

After a bit of prodding and assistance, twomore followed, but the smallest deer needed a little more help.

My daughter, Anna, and son, Tim, helped thelast buck to its feet. We didn't know how long they had been in the icy watersor if there had been others who did not survive. My daughter later told me thatthe experience was something that she would never forget, and I suspect thedeer felt the same way as well!"

I guess this proves that you can catch just about anythingon a fishing trip. Here are two articlesthat were written about the December 2011 experience.

http://heatherdennis.org/?p=287

http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/most-popular/4-deer-caught-by-charter-fishing-boat.html

Shooter To The Rescue!

2012-01-28T15:34:00.000-05:00

This year the Pocatello Zoo in Idaho had Shooter the elk fora lifeguard; at least around his water tank. Back in June Shooter saved the life of a marmot (large ground squirrels)that had fallen into his water tank.

Dr. Joy Fox thought that it was odd that Shooter had beenplaying around his water tank. So shegrabbed her camera. “We thought he wasjust going to climb in the tank. He wassniffing and pawing and he kept shifting around and looking into the tank,”said Dr. Fox.

For about 15 minutes Shooter circled his water tank. He then put his head into the water andpulled out the marmot. After being seton the ground the marmot was nudged by a large hoof until it started tomove. After a few minutes of catchingits breath the ground squirrel scurried home. “This is incredible, he deliberately took that animal out of the tank”said Zoo employee Kate O’Connor.

As for why Shooter rescued the marmot from drowning the zoois not sure. Maybe he did not like themarmot in his water tank or even sensed that it was in distress. But upon reflection employee, Kate O’Connerfelt that since Shooter’s lifestyle needs are being met he could be using moreproblem solving techniques instead of survival techniques.

To read more about a lucky marmot and his rescue fromdrowning click here: http://www.krtv.com/news/elk-rescues-marmot-at-idaho-zoo/

To watch the YouTube video click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fdyc3rUOaLk

Another Invasive Species?

2012-01-19T08:57:00.000-05:00

Is there anotherspecies in Michigan’s Saginaw Bay and Lake Huron? According to The Great Lakes EnvironmentalLaboratory in Ann Arbor there is. It iscalled the Neoergasilus japonicus. This copepod latches onto the fins of fish in the Great Lakes and eatsorganic material off their scales.

Althoughthere is no proof, yet, of danger economically or environmentally we still haveanother new species in our Great Lakes. The Great Lakes Environmental Laboratory has looked into this newcreature. They said “As long as itdoesn’t impact some sort of fishery in the Great Lakes or cause somecompounding of water intake, like zebra mussels, it’s probably of no interestfor most people.” As of right now, notmuch is known on its affect on the fish.

Becauseof its size the question of how it traveled to Lake Erie has been raised. A theory to answer this question is that theymay have been on pet fish that were dropped into the lake.

Tosee the full article click here http://greatlakesecho.org/2011/12/22/lake-eries-tiny-new-invader/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+greatlakesecho%2Fall+%28Great+Lakes+Echo+%28All%29%29

Education Fund Now Up and Running

2012-01-12T08:53:00.000-05:00

As many of you know,we started an Education Fund this past year. This was the idea of one of our members that would like to see moreeducational and environmental speakers at the Bengel Wildlife Center. If any of you attended our 2011 HarvestSocial we hosted Mr. Wayne Jackson, a Native American speaker and tribal elderwith monies from our Education Fund.

Thisyear we would like to have a speaker for Earth Day and perhaps another later inthe year. Ideally we would like to hosttwo programs a year. Our intention isthat the speakers brought in would educate people of our community about environmentalissues that affect Michigan. TheMichigan Wildlife Conservancy would like to help preserve the naturalenvironment that we have been blessed with.

Wehave a few ideas about speakers we would like to bring in this year. If you would like to learn more about ourEducation Fund or the speakers and/or issues we want to present, please contactJennifer at wildlife@miwildlife.org or call at(517) 641-7677.

Ifyou have heard a speaker that you believe we should consider contact Jennifer. Your input is very much appreciated.

Ifyou would like to donate to our Education Fund you may use our secure websiteat http://miwildlife.org/donate-form.asp, download thisform http://miwildlife.org/Mail_In_Donation_Form.pdf and identifythat your donation is for our Education Fund, or contact Jennifer over the phoneat the above phone number.

Talk On Cougars To Highlight Lenawee Conservation District Annual Meeting

2012-01-04T14:36:00.000-05:00

DECEMBER 23, 2011

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Judith Holcomb

(517) 263-7400 Ext. 101

TALK ON COUGARS TO HIGHLIGHT LENAWEE CONSERVATIONDISTRICT ANNUAL MEETING

The public is invited to the Lenawee ConservationDistrict Annual Meeting & Director Election on Thursday, January 12th, 2012at the Christian Family Centre on 1800 West U.S. 223 in Adrian, Michigan. The evening begins at 6:00 p.m. with dinnerfollowed by awards and a short review of the 2011 District programs. The eventshould prove to be exceptionally interesting with guest speaker Dr. DennisFijalkowski, Executive Director of the Michigan Wildlife Conservancy (MWC),bringing a presentation on cougars in Michigan and their activity in LenaweeCounty. With cougar sightings morefrequently making the news in recent years, Dr. Fijalkowski will present MWC researchand study work on the elusive cat. Therewill be a question and answer period after the presentation.

Ticketscan be purchased in advance or at the door, but RSVPs are needed. Tickets are $12.00 apiece for adults and$8.00 apiece for children age 12 and under. Deadline for ticket reservations isThursday, January 5^th, 2012. Toreserve or for more information call (517) 263-7400 Ext. 5. Be sure to bring the whole family for an enjoyableevening that is a sure cure for the “after holiday blahs”.

http://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=6380+Drumheller+Road,+Bath,+MI&daddr=Adrian,+1100+Sutton+Road,+MI+49221&hl=en&sll=42.465273,-84.439184&sspn=0.010669,0.026157&geocode=FbsqjQIdSpv3-ilTd9CgqugiiDFyHKsjVkojlw%3BFSQVgAIdEDf--inZ-Y5QxO08iDGbOWtNNXW_Xg&vpsrc=0&mra=ls&t=m&z=9

January February Issue of The Wildlife Volunteer

2011-12-28T09:07:00.000-05:00

If you aren’t receiving our newsletter, The WildlifeVolunteer, you may want to. OurJanuary-February issue will concentrate especially on the Great Lakes and someof the threats to them. We had threewonderful and talented journalists from the Great Lakes region write articlesfor us that will open your eyes to issues that you may not have known about andthe extent of these challenges. EricSharp, Jeff Alexander and Dave Dempsey have graciously agreed to write ontopics that range from invasive species to water levels to pollution from ourvery own sewage plants.

If you would like to request a copy of our newsletter to seewhat our newsletter has to offer, please contact me at wildlife@miwildlife.org with yourname, address and email address. Onecopy per family, please.

$40 a year is all it takes to become a member of theMichigan Wildlife Conservancy and receive 6 issues of our newsletter, TheWildlife Volunteer. Our membership andnewsletter is a great gift for adults and environmentally concerned citizens ofMichigan. Each issue has interesting articlesthat focus on Michigan issues, native animals and exotic species.

To become a member and receive our newsletter, please clickhere: http://miwildlife.org/memberships.asp.

Remember to Smile

2011-12-23T09:12:00.000-05:00

When I see wasps, I say to myself “Stay Away!” But after reading an article this morning Ihave gained a little respect for the little creature. This is why:

Researchershave found that wasps that live in hierarchal colonies use facial recognitionto recognize friends and foes. Waspsthat do not live in colonies have the ability but it is not as fine tuned asthe colonized wasps.

The Study:

Researchersprinted out pictures of insects, shapes and other species and put them in amaze. Each photo would represent a pathand to get to the end of the maze our stingy little friend would have to followthe right photo. They found that thewasps recognized the photos of their fellow wasps. When the pictures of the wasps were alteredslightly, the wasps in the maze found it harder to go through the maze.

Anothertrait found in wasps was the trait of aggression. When these wasps did not recognize a facethey became agitated and more aggressive.

Perhaps weshould smile next time we see a wasp. Itwould be a lot less painful if they don’t sting us.

To see thewhole article click here: http://greatlakesecho.org/2011/12/20/pay-attention-to-the-end-without-the-stinger/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+greatlakesecho%2Fall+%28Great+Lakes+Echo+%28All%29%29

Trash to Electricity: Covanta Kent Inc. Waste-to-Fuel Facility

2011-12-16T16:00:00.000-05:00

Have you ever considered that burning trash could serve asan alternative energy source? Michiganhas.

Kent county is home to Covanta Kent Inc. a waste-to-fuelfacility. Built in 1990 it receivestrash from Grand Rapids and surrounding areas, recycles what it can and burnsthe safe waste. (Waste that cannot beburned is sent to a landfill.)

In a 2004 study such facilities were shown to emit carbondioxide, but have half of the greenhouse effects of the methane created by a landfillwith equal amounts of waste.

The Michigan Environmental Council would like to see moreeffort on the issue of recycling. TheCouncil supports the waste-to-energy facilities, but feel they don’t do a goodenough job recycling. According to HughMcDiarmid, Communications Director of MEC, these waste facilities’ incineratorscompete with recycling programs.

Please see attached link for the full article and let usknow what you think.

http://greatlakesecho.org/2011/12/13/burning-trash-powers-michigan-cities-fuels-debate/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+greatlakesecho%2Fall+%28Great+Lakes+Echo+%28All%29%29

Texas Department of Agriculture and Wild Hogs

2011-12-13T10:54:00.002-05:00

Texas has the largest wild hog population in the U.S. with about 2.6 million roaming that state. In response to the $500 million in annual damages to crops, fences, roads, and livestock caused by the hogs, the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) is providing grants to counties for wild hog abatement. The funds can be used for education or programs that directly reduce hog number. Each year, the five counties that can document the most wild hogs eliminated and/or the most participants at TDA- approved education programs focusing on wild hog abatement get grants ranging from $7,500 to $20,000. Would this kind of grant program make sense for Michigan?

Hog Training on Web

2011-12-06T14:53:00.001-05:00

In the last year, more than 150 volunteers have beentrained to assist biologists and technicians in the Michigan Wild Hog RemovalProgram. The effort is a partnership ofthe Michigan Wildlife Conservancy and the U.S. Department of Agriculture withsupport from the Michigan Pork Producers Association, the Michigan Corn GrowersAssociation, the Michigan Forest Association, and others.

Volunteers have received instructions on trappingprocedures as well as the biology and impacts of wild hogs at sessions held atseveral locations around the state. NOW, THE SAME TRAINING IS AVAILABLE ON THEMICHIGAN WILDLIFE CONSERVANCY’S WEB SITE, WWW.MIWILDLIFE.ORG.

The entire training session takes less than one hourto view. This information is valuable toanyone wanting to learn more about wild hogs and the threat they pose toMichigan.

To access the material and volunteer as a trapper goto www.miwildlife.org/michigan_wild_hog_removal_program.asp

Ifyou have any trouble finding the site, please contact Jennifer at wildlife@miwildlife.org or517-641-7677.

2011 Holiday Reception!

2011-12-02T11:13:00.001-05:00

Members, Volunteers, and Friends of the Conservancy

YOU’RE INVITED

Join us to celebrate 2011 successes at the

Michigan Wildlife Conservancy

Holiday Reception

Wednesday, December 14 ● 7:00 – 9:00 p.m.

Complementary hors d’oeuvres and refreshments

Shop for unique holiday gifts in the

Dancing Crane Gift Shop

Raise a toast to more habitat for wildlife in 2012

RSVP by Friday, Dec. 5 to Jennifer Pierce at 517-641-7677 or wildlife@miwildlife.org

The Unexpected House Guest

2011-11-23T16:35:00.001-05:00

A member told us of an unexpected adventurehe had experienced earlier this month. Aneighbor of his had had a house guest. Hereis a summary of his story:

About 10:30 a.m. on Monday he hearda commotion and went to investigate. Hethought perhaps that something had fallen down due to the recent strong winds. As he entered his screened in porch henoticed that he had a visitor. This wasno ordinary visitor! Entering through thescreen this visitor found itself trapped.

He tried to coax his visitor out of the screened porch, but was unsuccessful. So heleft the door open and called his neighbor.

Dan, his neighbor, came over armedwith gloves and a fish net. After a bit ofwork and determination this unexpected visitor was caught, uninjured, and takenoutside. Once free it looked warily aroundkeeping a watchful eye on its rescuer and host. Both men stood back observing the beautiful visitor and finally, after afew minutes, saw it fly away free. Hereis a close-up photo:

This is a beautiful photo of the unexpected house guest, an immaturered-tailed hawk.

Both Dan and the home owner remainuninjured; same as the house guest. Theonly damage was done to the screen.

Wild Hogs....Time For Damage Control

2011-11-22T12:38:00.000-05:00

This Fall (2011) we've had a substantial increase in reports of wild hogs. There seems to be more crop damage by wild hogs this year in western Saginaw and eastern Gratiot Counties. We recently photographed some of that damage and other hog sign, and are sharing two photos. That is not a plowed field, hogs did that! Suppose they decide to root in your yard?

The Rarest Bird In North America Here In Michigan!

2011-11-09T15:14:00.003-05:00

This story was inspired by a member of ours, Bill Botti, of Eaton Rapids, who saw a white crane and thought he was crazy. We researched this for you! I have also attached some links to other articles that I read on the subject.

Seeing white cranes? No, you’re not crazy. There have been a couple of sightings of a large white crane flying with smaller sandhill cranes. What people have been seeing is a misplaced whooping crane.

These are larger cranes that are almost entirely white except for some red and black on their heads and black wingtips. One problem….there are between 400 and 500 whooping cranes in existence today, according to 2008-2009 information.

There is only one flock of whooping cranes that are naturally wild. That flock breeds at the Wood Buffalo National Park, in Canada, and winter at the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, in Texas. In 1942 whooping cranes were the rarest animal in the country, numbering only 16 individuals. Throughout the 1950’s and 60’s their numbers held at only 35. When the Federal Endangered Species Act passed in 1973, the whooping crane became the poster child of this new wildlife recovery effort. By 2006 the number of birds in the wild numbered only 200.

(Adult and young whooping crane - (c) International Crane Foundation)

Since 1975 several organizations have been trying to increase the number of whooping cranes. Eggs were taken from the cranes at the Wood Buffalo National Park and taken to Gray’s Lake National Wildlife Refuge, in Idaho. The eggs were then raised by sandhill cranes. Because these cranes suffered high mortality rates the project was ended in 1989.

The idea of starting a second flock was not left behind though. Another program was started in the 1980’s by the U.S. and Canadian Whooping Crane Recovery Team. In 1993 they released 33 cranes, raised in captivity, at the Kissimmee Prairie in Florida. This established a non-migratory flock similar to the Louisiana flock that had existed in the past. In 2002 the flock had 86 birds, but by 2008-2009 had dropped to 29 birds.

In the late 1990’s an organization formed that would go even further. Made of many private, government and non-profit organizations, the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership (WCEP), established a flock of migratory whooping cranes in Wisconsin. In 2008-2009 the newest flock had 106 birds.

(Dressed like a whooping crane to feed crames raised in captivity before their first migratory trip (c) International Crane Foundation)

The flock migrates from the Necedah National Wildlife Refuge, in Wisconsin, and flies 1200 miles to the Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge in Florida. For the chick’s first migration they follow an ultralight aircraft. They return to Wisconsin on their own in the spring. And thanks to the WCEP there are 60 new birds in one new flock, however, the whooping crane remains the rarest bird in North America.

(Cranes following an ultralight aircraft to Florida for their first migratory trip - (c) International Crane Foundation)

As recently as October of this year one whooping crane was sighted near Munith (Jackson County). And according to Eva Szyszkoski, of the International Crane Foundation, “cranes have been spending summers in Michigan since 2008.”

If you are in Jackson County keep an eye out for this 5 foot tall beautiful white bird. After all, it is not every day that you see one of the rarest birds in North America!

(Baby whooping crane - (c) International Crane Foundation)

http://www.savingcranes.org/whoopingcrane.html

http://www.mlive.com/news/jackson/index.ssf/2011/11/jacksons_rare_whooping_crane_o.html
http://www.mlive.com/news/jackson/index.ssf/2011/11/news_in_review_rare_whooping_c.html

Boulder cat has close encounter with mountain lion in Boulder

2011-11-04T12:29:00.001-04:00

We have just received a link to an interesting article from Denver, CO. It was sent with some pictures as well. What do you think? The pictures are fun. A link to the article is at the bottom of this post. Enjoy!

By Kieran Nicholson
The Denver Post

Posted: 10/18/2011 09:43:57 AM MDT

Updated: 10/18/2011 05:01:30 PM MDT

Zeus, an 11-year-old Maine coon cat, had a curious encounter with a young mountain lion about 6:30 p.m. Thursday in the Pine Brook Hills area of Boulder. (Specal to The Denver Post | Gail J. Loveman)

Photos: Mountain lion checks out Boulder house cat

View slide show of a mountain lion checking out a Boulder house cat
Zeus, an 11-year-old Maine coon cat, had a curious encounter with a young mountain lion.
The cats checked each other out — from opposite sides of a sliding glass door — about 6:30 p.m. Thursday in the Pine Brook Hills area of Boulder.

Gail Loveman, Zeus' owner, said she was busy in the office of her home when she heard a noise and turned to see a young mountain lion on the porch.

"There was this cat 4-feet away from me!" Loveman recalled during an interview Tuesday.
That's when Zeus entered the room and got into a stare down with the mountain lion. Another house cat, Bacchus, a litter mate of Zeus, peeked in but decided he was better off staying in the hallway out of sight, Loveman said.

A mountain lion pauses near a statue Oct. 13 at the Pine Brook Hills home of Gail Loveman. (Special to The Denver Post | Gail J. Loveman)

Loveman, a volunteer firefighter with the Boulder Mountain Fire Protection District, grabbed a camera and started taking photographs.

The interaction between the cats went on for about 5 minutes.
Zeus typically stands tall, hisses and acts fairly aggressive when he sees other animals - mostly squirrels, other house cats or even dogs - through the glass door. But Zeus remained calm as he appraised the big cat.

"I think he thought 'Hmmm! This is different,' " Loveman said.
When the lion left the porch, Loveman went to an upstairs balcony and spotted a second lion, which Loveman thought was likely the mother of the first lion.

She watched and took photos as the cats wandered off, jumped a fence and disappeared.
The Colorado Division of Wildlife describes the foothills of Boulder County as prime mountain lion habitat.

"We have a healthy population there," said Jennifer Churchill, a division spokeswoman.
Still, human encounters with the secretive big cats are rare.

"People can live there their entire lives and not see them," Churchill said.

Residents in lion country should take precautions to avoid potentially dangerous encounters, Churchill said, especially pet owners, and families with children.

Lions hunt prey to survive and should not be encouraged to visit, Churchill said.
People should safely try to scare wild animals off of their property, typically by making loud noises. Motion lights are a good deterent, Churchill said, and pets, even large dogs, should not be let out alone for long periods.

Churchill recalled an incident in which a lion killed a German shepherd and pulled it over a 6-foot fence.

"It's rare, but it happens," she said.

People should be deliberately noisy when they come and go from their homes, especially at dusk and dawn, prime feeding times for lions.

Loveman said she never felt threatened by her visitor last Thursday. She habitually takes measures to protect her house cats — they never go outside.

She had never seen a mountain lion prior to Thursday's visit, and she hasn't seen one since.
"The first cat looked at me but was clearly more interested in Zeus," Loveman said. "The mother was clearly leery of me. I didn't do anything to shoo them away."

Loveman said she'll be more aware of her surroundings when outside, especially around dusk and dawn.

Meanwhile, the thrill of the encounter remains fresh.

"I feel blessed."

Kieran Nicholson: 303-954-1822 or knicholson@denverpost.com.

http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_19138303

Senate Lets Ban on Wild Hogs Stand

2011-10-19T08:53:00.000-04:00

The long-awaited ban on possessing wild hogs in Michigan went into effect on October 8, after the Senate failed to take up legislation that would let game ranches and breeding facilities continue to import and raise the animals. In December 2010, the DNR had classified the wild hog as an invasive, exotic and prohibited species under Public Act 451, Michigan’s Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act. The DNR was required by the act to prohibit possession of any invasive species that met certain criteria. The wild hog, which does more than $1.5 billion worth of damage annually to crops, forests and livestock nationwide, met all criteria. The action, originally scheduled to take effect on July 8, was seen as critical to “shutting off the faucet” of wild hogs escaping from game ranches and breeding facilities across the state over the past ten years. But the game ranch industry pushed legislators to replace the ban with a regulatory approach that would allow game ranches to continue to import and keep wild hogs.

Several bills were debated, but none made it out of the House of Representative’s Agriculture Committee. However, in late June, a substitute bill was hastily sent (without committee review) to the House floor. After unprecedented political arm-twisting by House Speaker Jase Bolger and Governor Rick Snyder, the House passed the bill despite strong opposition from the state’s agricultural leaders and conservation community.

The bill lacked the support to pass the Senate and so did not become law. But just hours before the ban was to take effect on July 8, Governor Snyder ordered the DNR to extend the effective date until October 8, 2011 to “allow the Senate time to pass the legislation.”

The Conservancy has testified several times in support of the ban and in opposition to the proposed legislation. The group believes the ban is necessary and that a regulatory approach would be contrary to the intent of Public Act 451. The Senate agreed and did not move the ill-conceived legislation forward. Implementation of the ban should now proceed, with aggressive enforcement expected on or before April 12, 2012. Hopefully, no further political mischief will hinder efforts to control wild hogs in Michigan.

As this issue went to press, the DNR was sending mixed messages about how the ban would be enforced. One statement suggested the agency might delay enforcement to again give the legislature more time to approve a regulatory approach. This would be ill-advised and probably illegal. Michigan also has the huge challenge of eliminating wild hogs that are already roaming the State. The wild hog situation requires a lot of work and continued vigilance.

Harvest Social 2011 - Great Turn Out!

2011-10-11T15:37:00.000-04:00

The Michigan Wildlife Conservancy would like to thank all of you who came out to our Fall Harvest Social of 2011 on Saturday, October 8. Between 200 and 250 Mid-Michigan residents attended.

The event which was free to the public featured special presentations by Mr. Wayne Jackson, a Native American Elder, who took the crowd on a historical journey of the Anasazi and Hopewell cultures; and docents from Lansing’s Potter Park Zoo who brought a menagerie of animals and animal skins to help teach young people about endangered species and some of the animals that live around us.

Harvest Social guests also enjoyed participating in an Apple Bob, Nature Scavenger Hunt, carving a duck head, making a pine-cone bird feeder, horse-drawn wagon rides (P.J.'s Percherons), bog tours, and habitat hikes. Everyone had a chance to browse the Conservancy’s Dancing Crane Gift Shop for unique wildlife-and-garden-themed gifts and collectables.

Displays from Risks Apiary and the Bath Farmers Market rounded out the activities.

Thank you to all of our volunteers who helped make the Fall Harvest Social perfect!

The Politics of Cougar Management

2011-10-07T14:09:00.000-04:00

We recently had a question about cougars and our president asked me to post this article. This was published in the September-October issue of The Wildlife Volunteer in 2010. Comments are welcome.

In January 2009 the Michigan Senate Agriculture and Bioeconomy Committee held a hearing that concluded that the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment (DNRE) was stonewalling the presence of wild cougars in both peninsulas. Committee Chairman Gerald Van Woerkom stated that he wanted to get to the bottom of this situation at the hearing’s conclusion, but I have still not seen an analysis that ties all of the pieces together with a set of probable motives. So, I am offering these ideas on how the dots connect on a fascinating wildlife story and a surreal bureaucratic one.

The DNRE actions that angered Senator Van Woerkom’s Committee included dismissing thousands of plausible cougar sightings as meaningless, disputing or ignoring a large body of credible physical evidence, and repeatedly suggesting that any cougars that do show up here must have wandered 1,200 miles from South Dakota’s Black Hills. The agency is widely suspected of doing these things to dodge its responsibility to manage cougars under the Michigan Endangered Species Act, but it also has some equally important and less well-known Federal motivations.

These potential Federal motivations surfaced in 2001 when the Michigan Wildlife Conservancy published a technical paper that provided strong evidence that cougars were never totally eliminated from Northern Michigan and that our present ones are descended from native animals. This possibility is important because Michigan’s traditional native cougar is the Federally endangered Eastern cougar, a separate subspecies from the endangered Florida panther to the south and a common western subspecies across the Mississippi River.

Several Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states also have a few cougars that could conceivably be Eastern ones, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) is conducting an Eastern cougar status review that will identify the locations that require field research. Michigan should be a slam dunk research location because we have a large body of anecdotal cougar evidence from the 1930s to the present and numerous virtually irrefutable pieces of physical evidence that begin in 1966 and include clear photographs, sighting reports by DNRE personnel, and professionally verified hair, scat, tracks, and DNA. (Interested readers can find more information on this evidence in a document entitled “Milestones in the History of Cougars in Michigan” in the cougar section of the Michigan Wildlife Conservancy website at www.miwildlife.org )

The USFWS has excellent research capabilities and could use harmless hair traps and advanced DNA techniques to determine how Michigan cougars relate to other cougar populations and to the historical Eastern cougar. This research is not apt to identify our cougars as endangered Eastern ones for a variety of taxonomic and practical reasons, but it probably would find a geographically distinctive cougar population with some small DNA differences from its South Florida and Western cousins. And it certainly would end the Michigan coverup by finding wild cougars.

However, nothing involving Michigan cougars goes this smoothly, and my occasional exchanges with the USFWS’ Eastern cougar team suggest that it is not receiving much evidence from the DNRE and is not interested in evidence from the MWC regardless of its scientific merits. This looks like a recipe for grossly understating the Michigan evidence, and the Cougar Network’s “Big Picture Map” web page adds to this concern by showing a ridiculously low three pieces of Michigan cougar evidence. This figure actually raises a whole set of concerns because of the Cougar Network’s close ties to the USFWS and state wildlife agencies, but my purpose here is to simply show how the USFWS study created potential motives for denying cougars and cougar evidence.

Those frequent DNRE insinuations that any cougars in Michigan must be wanderers from South Dakota’s Black Hills mesh with the agency’s forgetfulness about historical evidence and reluctance to accept new Michigan evidence. The Black Hills cougar population did increase substantially in the 1990s, and an occasional male could conceivably have wandered to Michigan after the Black Hills became crowded by cougar standards. However, 1,200 miles is a very long trip for a male cougar and even more unlikely for a female. And eighty years of sightings and other evidence suggest that Northern Michigan had a small breeding population of cougars decades before the Black Hills population reached visible proportions. As a result, the Black Hills scenario is extremely questionable and looks like a backup effort to discourage USFWS interest in Michigan cougars by portraying them as common western ones.

While this is speculative, the dots tell me that a few DNRE managers are so opposed to managing a charismatic carnivore that they are willing to ignore Michigan law, conveniently forget a large body of historical evidence, and understate the evidence portion of an important Federal scientific study to avoid doing so. Needless to say, this could not be happening without the fundamental problem of a broken oversight process.

The DNRE does deserve credit for establishing a cougar team of specially trained biologists that has been conducting professional investigations and confirming cougar evidence in the Upper Peninsula for the past two years. However, everyone also needs to remember that Michigan has an 80 year record of cougar evidence, and that our cougar history did not begin in 2008 when the cougar team began confirming evidence. And cougar team investigations have been curiously absent in the Lower Peninsula.

Bill Taylor

President

Michigan Wildlife Conservancy

2011 Fall Harvest Social

2011-10-04T09:34:00.001-04:00

FALL HARVEST SOCIAL

Hosted by the Michigan Wildlife Conservancy & Clinton County Department of Waste Management

Saturday, October 8 – 1:00 – 5:00 p.m. – Rain or Shine! Bengel Wildlife Center – 6380 Drumheller Rd – Bath

· 1:30 p.m. – Wayne Jackson – Join Mr. Wayne Jackson in a historical journey dating back 10,000 years. With Mr. Jackson, a Tuscarora Indian, as your guide you will travel back in time and explore the Anasazi and Hopewell cultures through storytelling and dance.

· 3:00 p.m. – Endangered Species! - Visit with animals brought by the Potter Park Zoo Society. Mostly endangered species and some common Michigan animals. Learn more about these animals and even touch them!

The following activities will run throughout the day –

Explore the Bengel Wildlife Center grounds by taking a habitat hike or bog tour
Take a horse-drawn wagon ride and learn about the history of prairies in Michigan.

Bob for apples, create a craft, carve a duck head or go on a nature scavenger hunt. Win a prize!

Learn about honey bees, visit the Dancing Crane Gift Shop and more.

The Harvest Social is Open to the Public and Most Activities are Free

(there is a .25 fee for some activities) – Rain or Shine!

Who Will Be Here

Wayne Jackson

The Potter Park Zoo Society (with animals)

P.J.'s Percherons L.C. (Horse Drawn Carriage Service)

Risks Apiary and Honey House

Farmers Market

Please JOIN US for a day of fun!

The Michigan Wildlife Conservancy

Trail Camera 2011

2011-09-28T10:28:00.000-04:00

This came to us a few days ago. What do you think it could be?

Harvest Social 2011

2011-09-19T15:20:00.004-04:00

FALL HARVEST SOCIAL

Hosted by the Michigan Wildlife Conservancy & Clinton County Department of Waste Management

Saturday, October 8 – 1:00 – 5:00 p.m. – Rain or Shine! Bengel Wildlife Center – 6380 Drumheller Rd – Bath

The following activities will run throughout the day –

Explore the Bengel Wildlife Center grounds by taking a habitat hike or bog tour

Take a horse-drawn wagon ride and learn about the history of prairies in Michigan.

Bob for apples, create a craft, carve a duck head or go on a nature scavenger hunt. Win a prize!

Learn about honey bees, visit the Dancing Crane Gift Shop and more.

The Harvest Social is Open to the Public and Most Activities are Free

(there is a .25 fee for some activities) – Rain or Shine!

Who Will Be Here

Wayne Jackson

The Potter Park Zoo Society (with animals)

P.J.'s Percherons L.C. (Horse Drawn Carriage Service)

Risks Apiary and Honey House

Farmers Market
Harris Nature Center

Please JOIN US for a day of fun!

The Michigan Wildlife Conservancy

http://www.miwildlife.org/Community_Events-Index.asp

Tennessee Declares War on Wild Hogs

2011-09-17T13:20:00.002-04:00

Tennessee has done an “about face” on wild hogs. State officials no longer consider wild hogs as game animals and will try to eradicate the invasive exotic species.

“Back in the early 20^th Century, Tennessee and North Carolina were the epicenter of “wild boar” hunting in the eastern United State,” noted researcher Dr. John Mayer, of South Carolina. “North Carolina now has a bill in the state legislature to remove the game status of wild pigs statewide…Tennessee has now decided to change its stance on wild pigs as big game…..”

Despite environmental and agricultural threats, Tennessee has, until now, been ambivalent about wild hogs. State biologists even periodically trapped hogs around the National Park and other areas and released them in several state game areas. That long-standing practice has now been dropped under the new plan.

With wild hogs now placed in a “nuisance” category, Tennessee allows aggressive action to get rid of the animals, especially on private land.

Membership

2011-09-15T15:13:00.001-04:00

Did you know that for only $40 a year you can become a member of Michigan Wildlife Conservancy? With a donation of $40 you will receive a copy of each issue of our bi-monthly newsletter, The Wildlife Volunteer. With the great articles and information given it is always interesting and fun to read. If you would like to become a member please contact Jennifer at wildlife@miwildlife.org or see our website at miwildlife.org.

I don't know if you have heard or not but we do have a Facebook page. We have many members, great articles and lots of information. LIKE us! If you have any questions feel free to ask and we will answer them as quickly as possible. Please click here https://www.facebook.com/pages/Michigan-Wildlife/279699622123.

Also, let us know if there is an issue you would like to know more about. I will use it as a subject for this blog or even perhaps use it as the subject for one of our stories in our newsletter.

Thank you,

The Michigan Wildlife Conservancy

Sturgeon Get Help From New Reef

2011-09-12T13:44:00.000-04:00

Lake sturgeon will find prime spawning grounds next spring thanks to a new reef underway in the St. Clair River. The reef is being constructed of limestone and other types of rock and is modeled after a reef installed three years ago at the head of Fighting Island in the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge. The Fighting Island reef was the 2008-2009 Featured Project of the Michigan Wildlife Conservancy and the first Canada-U.S. jointly funded fish restoration project in the Great Lakes. The Conservancy was the only U.S. non-profit organization to make a substantial financial contribution to the Fighting Island Reef and also provided valuable technical assistance during the design and cost analysis phases of that unique project.

The Conservancy is also playing a key role in the St. Clair River reef construction, administering a $75,000 construction grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Coastal Grant Program. The Conservancy is working with University of Michigan Sea Grant Program personnel as well as the Fish and Wildlife Service. The total cost of constructing the reef will be more than $335,000. Most of the cost is being covered by other federal grants which will also fund a long-term research project to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of reef building in the Great Lakes.

Once common and widespread, the lake sturgeon dramatically declined around 1900; it now has a limited distribution in the Great Lakes region, and is a threatened species in Michigan waters. Inland populations in Michigan are sparse and restricted primarily to the Manistique, Menominee, Sturgeon, and Indian Rivers in the Upper Peninsula, and the Cheboygan River (including Burt, Mullet, and Black Lakes) in the Lower Peninsula. Occasionally, sturgeon show up in other rivers such as the Kalamazoo, Grand, Muskegon and Saginaw.

Lake sturgeon spend a lot of their time in waters 20 to 40 feet deep. They spawn in May or June in a variety of depths, typically 6 to 28 feet. While on river spawning grounds, sturgeon often break the surface with porpoise-like jumps. Females lay several hundred thousand eggs at a time, become sexually mature at 25 years of age and spawn every 4 to 6 years. Males mature at age 15 and spawn every other year. Some individual sturgeon have lived 150 years. Sturgeon feed on sand or muck bottoms where they suck in bottom organisms including crayfish, snails, and larvae of mayflies and other insects.

The new reef is located at the head of the Middle Channel in the St. Clair River delta. Project planners with the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service consider the site nearly ideal. The water currents and bottom type are well-suited for reef construction. The site is near an old coal cinder dumping grounds that lake sturgeon have been spawning on and just upstream from a large wetland complex which will ensure that larval sturgeon will be carried to good nursery habitat as they leave the spawning beds.

The St. Clair River historically served as an important spawning grounds for many other native species as well as sturgeon. But channelization, loss of coastal wetlands, filling/armoring shorelines, water pollution, and dredging limestone bedrock and gravel caused the sturgeon population to drop to less than one percent of its former abundance. Many conservationists doubted whether the area’s once famed lake sturgeon fishery could ever bounce back. However, with improvements to water quality over the past 40 years, federal scientists have begun to test whether small, strategically-placed spawning reefs can benefit the unique species. The Fighting Island reef’s success helped pave the way for the St. Clair River reef and this new effort may be a catalyst for a series of reef projects in the future. Young sturgeon are already coming off the reef at Fighting Island and planners expect the St. Clair reef to also be successful.

The St. Clair River reef will likely benefit walleyes, whitefish, the endangered northern madtom and other fishes in addition to sturgeon. “We will continue to monitor the Fighting Island reef as well as thoroughly evaluate the St. Clair River reef,” said Jim Boase, a fisheries biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The slow growth and longevity of the sturgeon requires long-term studies to determine impacts of reefs on the population, but we will gradually gain important clues.”

Natural Salt Licks: A Glimpse of the Past

2011-09-06T10:50:00.000-04:00

The term “lick” is an old name for places where deer and other wildlife come to lick salt. Such North American sites are typically fed by saltwater springs. Michigan originally had licks in places such as Saginaw and the appropriately named Saline, but salt licks gained their greatest fame in Kentucky Territory. The settlers who pushed across the Appalachians into present day Kentucky and Tennessee in the 1770s found numerous licks there, and prized them for the game they attracted and the salt that could be extracted in iron boiling pots. Salt was almost as important as game on the frontier because of its use in preserving meat and tanning hides.

These trans-Appalachian licks also became famous for the bones of animals that had gotten mired in the soft soil or been ambushed by predators. These included the bones of Ice Age species like mastodons and giant ground sloths. In fact, Kentucky’s Big Bone Lick is commonly described as the birthplace of American vertebrate paleontology because of its importance in understanding extinct ice age fauna.

Nearly all of the natural salt licks that dotted the Eastern United States in pre-settlement times were changed beyond recognition by salt works and other development in the 1800’s. However, I had an unusual opportunity to visit an unspoiled salt lick that provides an interesting glimpse of an all-but-vanished part of our natural history.

I never imagined seeing a large lick in an unspoiled condition like Daniel Boone and his contemporaries found them until I was fishing in Northern Ontario a few years ago. One of my Canadian friends had mentioned visiting a remote salt lick during his days as a trapper. After he described the lick as a large one that was heavily used by wildlife and scattered with animal bones, three of us quickly decided it would be more interesting to visit this lick than go fishing.

The lick that we found in thick boreal forest in the Lake Nipigon region of Ontario consisted of a large patch of clay with salty water percolating through it to the surface. We visited the lick in heavy rain when it probably had more standing water than usual, but my photograph still provides a sense of how thoroughly the surface was churned by animal tracks. The photograph also shows the surrounding forest that contained several well-worn animal trails leading to the lick.

While the rain and sticky clay prevented us from conducting a thorough examination, the lick was roughly square and at least 100 by 100 feet in size. It did not have any vegetation except some scattered clumps of grass. The salty water appeared to be seeping up to the surface in numerous locations, and there was no sulfuric smell or other distinctive odor. We did not find any evidence of other human visitors to the site, and did not see any large animals there on a very stormy day. However, one of my companions saw two moose using the lick when he re-visited it in better weather a few weeks later.

Most of the tracks that literally covered the lick were moose tracks, and most of the bones scattered around it also appeared to come from moose. However, we also saw wolf, bear, and caribou tracks. Bone counts could be misleading because moose bones undoubtedly persist much longer than ones from smaller animals.

It is extremely unlikely that this remote lick has ever been studied, but Ontario scientists did examine some similar-looking but more accessible licks in the same Nipigon region in the 1980’s. Among their findings, the scientists confirmed that these springs were being pushed up to the surface through fractures in the bedrock by hydrostatic pressure and were very salty. They also tentatively concluded that this salt was being dissolved out of the bedrock instead of coming from ancient seawater.

Our own historical licks in the U.S. functioned in the same basic way, but probably had a few chemical differences from these northern ones. They also had the potential to hold more fossils because of the timing of the great glacial retreat. Southern Michigan has produced a large number of Ice Age fossils like mastodons, mammoths, woodland musk oxen, and giant beaver for hundreds of years after the ice front receded northward. But none of these animals ever slurped salt from the lick that I visited because Northern Ontario was still covered by the Laurentide ice sheet when they mysteriously disappeared about 11,000 to 12,000 years ago.

I Spy Something.....

2011-08-31T14:25:00.002-04:00

This was taken in Luce County, MI by Ken with one of his trail cameras. Look to the left of the screen and you will see the subject of this photo. This animal is sitting on a propane tank (there is a hook on the propane tank) and this animal is sitting on top of it.

What do you think?

Cat v. Dog

2011-08-30T15:35:00.000-04:00

J. from Kalamazoo asked us this question:

I was wondering if there have been any cougar sightings in Kalamazoo or Van Buren counties? Back in June, our 17 lb. cat vanished and this past week, we had another large cat disappear. The neighboring mobile home park had 7 inquiries about missing cats this week and another neighbor said their cat was missing, as well. In years past, we had coyotes in the neighborhood but as our area developed, they disappeared. We could always tell when the coyotes had captured prey, as the yelping could be heard for some distance. This time around, no noises and multiple disappearances. We have lots of deer in our neighborhood, as well, and our dog is disturbed by something in the vacant lot next door (our neighborhood is heavily wooded). Could it be a cougar?

Pseudorabies Found in Michigan

2011-08-24T14:51:00.002-04:00

Pseudorabies was found in a wild hog trapped in Midland County in June. The animal was one of five wild hogs trapped in back-to-back nights on a farm north of U.S.-10. The trapping effort was part of a program in that area involving the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Michigan Wildlife Conservancy.

Pseudorabies is a disease potentially devastating to domestic swine. Yet, Michigan Department of Agriculture Director Keith Creagh downplays the recent find, saying it was "not unexpected." Creagh has vehemently fought a ban on rraising/possessing wild hogs in Michigan, but also say the state must reduce its wild hog numbers. Is there a disconnect here?

http://www.miwildlife.org/Feral_Swine_Pseudorabies_2011.asp Click here to read the Gongwer report written in August of 2011.

Strange Politics Threaten Feral Hog Ban

2011-08-19T12:29:00.004-04:00

Michigan has a problem on its hands. Please see our latest editorial.

Trading A Landscape For A Bridge

While many citizens are aware that Michigan has a growing wild hog problem, few know about the strange politics threatening to eliminate the ban on these invasive pests. Michigan has a feral hog problem because game ranches began stocking wild hogs with razorback or Eurasian blood lines for their shooting clients in the 1990s. By 2001, some of these animals had escaped and began proliferating in the wild, and causing the same type of damage to agricultural and natural resources as occurs in many other states. No amount of hunting and trapping can reverse this situation until the stream of escapes from game ranches and breeding facilities is stopped. That’s why the Michigan DNR issued a possession ban on non-domestic swine last December.

This ban order included a July 8, 2011 enforcement date, but several game ranchers elected to use the intervening six months to lobby for anti-ban legislation instead of phasing-out their hog stock. This legislation was introduced in the Michigan House in May, and proposes to replace the DNR ban with a set of fencing standards and other requirements that experts say will not contain these escape-artist animals. Moreover, most game ranches have deer and other species to offer their clients in lieu of hogs. As a result, informal vote counts showed that the ban order was comfortably ahead of anti-ban legislation in both the House Agriculture Committee and the full House following the Committee’s four hearings.

However, House Speaker Jase Bolger, of Marshall, and several representatives from districts with major game ranch operations continued to push for anti-ban legislation. Speaker Bolger has been a consistent opponent of a ban, and his role has generated a large amount of speculation about his motives because he does not have a game ranch constituency and does have an agricultural district that would be badly damaged by feral hogs. But, the Speaker also has a staff member who used to work for one of the most aggressively anti-ban Michigan game ranch operators.

Whatever the motivation, Speaker Bolger was so determined to obtain anti-ban legislation that he used his leadership powers to move it directly to the full House when it became apparent that the House Agriculture Committee would not approve it. This “discharge” process is rarely used, and was extraordinary for legislation that could not gain Committee approval following four well-attended hearings.

The full House seemed to provide the Speaker with another impossible hurdle, but the Snyder Administration quickly stepped in and began assisting him. Governor Rick Snyder, Lieutenant Governor Brian Calley, and some of the Governor’s top aides launched an intense vote wrangling effort in the House that allowed anti-ban legislation to pass on June 30. The pressures were particularly intense on Republican House members, and representatives Mike Callton, Bob Genetski, Holly Hughes, Joel Johnson, Kenneth Kurtz, Matt Lori, Aric Nesbitt, Amanda Price, and Bruce Rendon deserve special mention for ignoring these pressures and joining a large majority of the House Democrats in voting against anti-ban legislation

The Snyder Administration’s involvement has been peculiar for its intensity and lack of interest in facts. The common assumption in Lansing political circles is that the Governor is assisting the Speaker on feral hogs in exchange for the Speaker’s help on some other issue. And this help is widely assumed to involve delivering Republican House votes for a publicly rather than privately financed new bridge across the Detroit River. In other words, the feral hog threat to Michigan’s $71 billion agricultural industry and priceless natural resources seems to have become a pawn in a cold political bargain.

The Michigan Senate will vote on the same anti-ban legislation in September, and the Governor has pressured the DNR to extend its ban enforcement date until after that action. Our Senators are obviously going to receive the same top-down pressures that turned the House vote. But Senators are more independent, and citizens can help save the DNR ban by asking their Senator to ignore the politics and vote against anti-ban legislation.   The anti-ban bills that need to defeated are HB 4503, HB 4504, HB 4505, HB 4506, and HB 4699, and the website at http://www.senate.michigan.gov/fysenator/fysenator.htm identifies our State Senators by district and provides contact information for each of them.

Michigan has all of the ingredients for the “Hogs Gone Wild” devastation that is commonly shown on reality television if our political leaders do not start treating feral hogs as a dire threat instead of a political bargaining chip.

Emeral Ash Borer

2011-08-16T10:41:00.001-04:00

Many Michigan land owners have had trouble with the emeral ash borer; espcially when it comes to their ash trees. Personally, I know that my parents have lost some ash trees to these insects.

After you are done reading perhaps you will tell us of your problems that you have had with these insects and/or solutions to saving your trees. Comments are welcome.

The outbreak of emerald ash borer (EAB), an invasive, exotic insect, has left many Michigan woodlot owners wondering how to best utilize ash trees. There are still lots of spots in our state that have not yet been affected much by EAB and cutting larger ash trees (greater than 15 inches in diameter) before EAB moves in certainly makes good economic sense and could play a role in disease control. But, it is sometimes tough to predict how soon EAB will hit some of those (currently) disease-free trees. Inquiries to local Michigan Department of Agriculture may yield some insight about how quickly landowners need to act.

Once a tree is infested by EAB, the leaves start coming off and new shoots start to sprout near the base of the tree. The ash wood will retain most of its lumber value for a year or two after that, perhaps bringing $80 to $100 per thousand board feet. But once the bark starts falling off, timber buyers will likely consider the wood suitable only for making pallets and the value drops off dramatically. Thus, landowners wanting the most cash for their trees must move quickly to attract buyers. There is a lot of ash available to be cut, but most of it is smaller than timber buyers seek and many landowners don’t have enough of it to warrant a logging project. So, landowners with big ash trees and good volumes can still expect a number of timber buyers to bid.

Ash trees killed by EAB have value as firewood, provided that wood is not moved outside quarantined areas. Ash logs split and dry fairly easily and have long been favored by homeowners who heat with wood and campers alike. And there are unique local markets for ash wood. For example, some Native Americans occasionally purchase ash wood for basket-making.

The ash tree (white ash, green ash, and black ash) has great importance in Native culture as it was and still is the tree used to make baskets and other utility containers, according to Eva Menefee, of the Oneida Tribe. “Many of the most beautiful baskets that have lasted throughout the years were those made from wood of the ash tree,” she added. “While this tree was not one of the defined sacred plants, through tradition, the ash tree played an important role in the daily lives of Native people. It was used for thousands of years, to provide Native peoples with material to make items that were used daily and on special occasions.”

Landowners who aren’t interested in selling ash wood can opt to leave some or all of the larger (greater than 12 inches in diameter) diseased trees standing. That will benefit cavity dwelling wildlife, especially woodpeckers, owls, song birds, squirrels, raccoons and opossums.

In 1988, the Forest Service not only began retaining dead and dying trees after timber harvests, it began experimenting with different methods of creating such habitat components in stands where they were absent. In one effort the Forest Service and the Michigan Wildlife Conservancy joined in a partnership to create snags by topping trees at a height of 20-25 feet with a mechanical shear. This was found to be a cost effective way to help cavity nesting wildlife. Ash trees tend to develop valuable cavities in about six to seven years regardless if the trees are killed by EAB or a mechanical method.

You Can Save Your Ash Tree

Most homeowners in the Lower Peninsula have already lost the ash trees in their yard. But if you have a specimen tree or two that you want to keep alive, the following is recommended:

Purchase the soil insecticide imadacloprid at your garden center or box store. A common brand is Bayer Advanced Tree and Shrub Insect Control. Follow the instructions to mix the appropriate amount for the size of tree(s) and spread around tree, about 18’’ from the trunk.

Before drenching the soil remove all mulch and organic material so that the insecticide gets into the soil immediately. Don’t treat your tree if the soil is water-logged. Treat ash trees once annually in mid-fall or mid to late spring.

Keep it Wild!

Flies on the Beach

2011-08-11T09:24:00.001-04:00

This is an amazing story that was published in our newsletter, The Wildlife Volunteer, earlier this year. It is amazing to think that a third or fourth generation Monarch butterfly can fly back to a place that they have never been before, and know their way. After the article there are some fun facts of the life cycle of a Monarch butterfly. I hope that you all enjoy this article as much as I did. Also, if you would like to become a member of the Michigan Wildlife Conservancy you would recieve The Wildlife Volunteer as part of your membership. Please contact the Conservancy if you are interested.

Thank you,

Please let me know what you think about the article. Comments are welcome.

And onward they come in an endless string stretching hundreds of miles to the east, from Canada and the Eastern Upper Peninsula. Their line goes back countless millennia to a time when those who would change the environment lived in caves. How does this creature know to follow the beach as it begins its 2500 mile trip to the forests of north central Mexico?

Each year in August I go to the beach to witness their herky-jerky dance westward occasionally flirting with the water’s edge of a lake called Michigan. They flit and they flat past me as I stand motionless on the beach. If I’m still enough they may land on my head or my arm. The air to the east is filled with butterflies as far as can be discerned and every 15 seconds one passes by. In the Manistique area the best fly watching seems to be mid-August.

Most of the butterflies following the lakeshore west tend to pile up on the Stonington Peninsula where they rest before making the big water crossing, perhaps the most perilous part of their pilgrimage. They wait until a north or northeast wind aids them in their crossing. After hitting the Dorr Peninsula, in Wisconsin, the rest of their trip is over land all the way to Mexico. The only insect in the world that migrates like a bird will spend the winter in a grove of oyamel fir trees near El Rosario.

The monarch butterfly was first described by the early taxonomist Linnaeus in 1758. It is called a milkweed butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. Members of the family can be found on several continents. The monarch has the peculiar behavior of going south to overwinter. Most insects winter in place as adults or as eggs.

Since most insects live less than one year, how does the monarch return to its northern range to breed every year? Easy – the trip spans multiple generations, as many as four.

In late winter, a 7-month old butterfly in Mexico may breed and then begin the northward journey to Texas where she will lay her eggs on a milkweed plant. Two months later the new adults will wing farther north to find milkweeds for egg-laying. Monarchs that lay eggs in Michigan are the third or fourth generation of the year. It is thought that the offspring of these butterflies will return in four generations to breed in roughly the same location.

After the last generation of the year, born in Canada and the Northern United States, reach adulthood they face the arduous task of keeping their bloodline alive by going the distance, to Mexico, to winter. But how do they find this ancestral wintering ground, never having been there? DNA! No animal on earth better symbolizes the mystery of DNA messaging than the monarch butterfly.

Scientists have discovered the monarch possesses a time-compensated sun compass that depends on an internal clock based in their antennae. Recent research has also shown that monarch butterflies can use the earth’s magnetic field for orientation. But only DNA guidance can explain how 2 month old adults beginning a journey in Michigan will end up in the same exact trees their great, great grandparents used to overwinter a year earlier.

To win World War II, the allies had to break the Nazi communication codes. Because of our increasingly unpredictable climate, mankind will have to decipher the DNA code that governs monarch behavior, to get clues how to protect these beautiful and unique creatures.

Witness the Spectacular

The flutterby takes place in late summer and early fall on the north shore of Lake Michigan. Delta County’s Stonington Peninsula, and in particular, the cedar trees and lands surrounding the Peninsula Point Lighthouse Park at the end of the point becomes the resting place for thousands of monarchs waiting to cross Lake Michigan.

The Park is managed by the U.S. Forest Service’s Rapid River/Manistique Ranger District office in Rapid River. To get daily updates on the monarch migration on the Stonington Peninsula call (906) 474-6442, extension 110.

The life cycle of the miraculous monarch butterfly has four distinct stages:

The eggs are laid on milkweed plants during spring and summer breeding months.
The eggs hatch after 4 days revealing worm-like larvae, the caterpillars. The caterpillars consume their egg cases, then feed on milkweed and store a toxin called cardiac glycoside which is poisonous to birds and mammals. During the caterpillar stage, monarchs store energy to carry them through the non-feeding pupa stage. The caterpillar stage lasts around 2 weeks.
In the pupa or chrysalis stage, the caterpillar spins a silk pad on a twig or leaf, and hangs from this pad by its last pair of prologs. It hangs upside down in the shape of a ‘J’, and then molts, leaving itself incased in an articulated green exoskeleton. At this point, hormonal changes occur, leading to the development of a butterfly (metamorphosis). The chrysalis darkens and the exoskeleton becomes transparent a day before it emerges, and its orange and black wings can be seen.
The butterfly emerges after about two pupal weeks and hangs from the split chrysalis for several hours until its wings are dry. Meanwhile fluids are pumped into the crinkled wings until they become full and stiff. Finally the monarch spreads its wings, quivers them to make sure they are stiff, and then flies away, to feed on a variety of flowers, including milkweed flowers, red clover and goldenrod.

Keep It Wild!

Asian Carp Debate Heating Up

2011-08-02T14:41:00.003-04:00

There is now ample evidence that the electrical barriers that the Army Corps of Engineers are counting on are not completely effective. But ACE seems oblivious to the facts. While the Great Lakes states are seeking to protect fishing and boating industries that generate about $25 billion annually, the ACE is more concerned about protecting shipping and tourism in the Chicago area. The electronic barriers have bought the agency and politicians time, but the evidence is mounting that time is really on the side of the carp.

Many citizens are concerned about the Asian carp crisis. But the complexity of the issues is overwhelming to much of the public. Around the same time the positive DNA samples were posted, the Detroit Free Press published a five-part series of articles by Tina Lam that clarified some of those issues, and provided useful historical background on the Asian carp invasion. Key points included:

· Federal and state governments actually played a major role in releasing Asian carp into the environment. Government biologists planted Asian carp in sewage lagoons and other waters in hopes the exotic species could help in pollution control. Some fish subsequently escaped. Officials admit they raised Asian carp in the 1970s and 80s when nobody seemed too concerned about invasive species.

· Government officials failed to recognize the extent of the problem as it grew; now Asian carp are in a third of the rivers in the central U.S. from Louisiana to Minnesota.

· Most of the public’s attention has focused on the adequacy of the electronic barriers to keep Asian carp out of the Great Lakes, but there has been little interest in getting rid of the menacing carp in the countless rivers and streams in 26 states where they have already taken over.

· A national strategy to combat Asian carp that was drafted five years ago has sat on the shelf as no funding has been provided for its implementation.

· The government’s current reaction to Asian carp is still a patchwork, with funding for carp control only available to the geographically-restricted Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. What is needed is a coordinated, national effort supported by all states in the Mississippi River, Ohio River, and Great Lakes watersheds.

To view the Free Press’ articles see http://www.freep.com/article/20110718/NEWS05/107180327.

Miracle Solution for "Skunked" Pets

2011-08-01T09:08:00.002-04:00

Chemist Paul Krebaum discovered a miracle cure for eliminating the odor from pets that have been "skunked." Combine one quart of three percent hydrogen peroxide (available from the drugstore), 1/4 cup baking soda (sodium bicarbonate), and one teaspoon of liquid dish soap, such as Ivory. Immediately apply to the stinky pet, then rinse thoroughly. The result is astonishing, according to Gina Spadafori, who recently provided the recipe in the Sacramento Bee. The solution is not available in sotres because it cannot be bottled. The merging of the hydorgen peroxide and baking soda creates a lot of oxygen in a hurry. This reaction, which is key to the solution, would cause an explosion in the closed container. The oxygen combines with the molecules that make up the skunk odor and neutralizes them.

Keep It Wild!

Quill Pigs Moving South?

2011-07-27T15:43:00.001-04:00

Quill Pigs moving south?

In the 1980’s Hugh Pine, the porcupine character in Janwillem Van De Wetering’s children’s books, educated other less-intelligent animals about the danger of crossing roads. Unfortunately, not all quill pigs were listening as Hugh gave his advice because one of the prickly fellows was hit as he crossed I-69. But perhaps its existence on the side of the highway tells us that porcupines are headed south. This is the fourth porcupine reported to the Michigan Wildlife Conservancy in the past couple of years. Michigan porcupines are common in forests in the middle of the Lower Peninsula.

In June of 2009, Bill Botti, long-time friend of the Conservancy and Executive Director of the Michigan Forest Association, found two porcupines near his tree farm in Eaton County (southwest of Lansing). That’s about 80 miles farther south than they are usually found. Later that month a porcupine was found central Saginaw County. Porcupines are common in the forests north of a line from Muskegon to Standish, but don’t wander much from their home ranges. Even though, these four animals were found dead, on the side of the road, it may mean that the Michigan quill pigs are moving south. The move south could be linked to the regrowth of forests in Southern Michigan. Other animals gradually moving south are Bears and bobcats.

Something I just learned is that porcupines like salt licks. They are attracted to areas where salt is, roads where salt is used to melt ice, natural plants with a salty taste and materials that have been coated with salty sweat.

Let’s all learn from Hugh!

Has anyone else seen a porcupines in southern Michigan? Help us keep our Eye On Wildlife! You be the scientist!

If you have found porcupines or other wildlife outside their traditional ranges, dead or alive, please contact the Michigan Wildlife Conservancy by email, wildlife@miwildlife.org or by phone at (517-641-7677).

General Information about the porcupine

The name porcupine comes from the French words, porc espin (spined pig). Americans commonly called this animal the quill pig.
The porcupine can weigh between 12-35 lbs and come in the colors of brown, grey and even white. They live in forests, deserts, hillsides and trees.
Known for being a nocturnal rodent, they sometimes forage for food during the day. Porcupines are herbivores and eat things like leaves, herbs, twigs, green plants and bark. They will climb trees to eat these foods. Salt licks are also popular places to find porcupines.
Quills are removed when the body of the porcupine is shaken or if an animal or person has physical contact with them. They are released and fall out. However new quills will replace those that are lost.
In Kenya they are considered a delicacy and frequently eaten. Their quills and guardhairs are used to make clothing and materials.
Porcupines once held the record for being the longest-living rodent. They were just recently replaced by the Naked Mole Rat.

Keep it wild!

Testimony to the House of Representatives

2011-07-22T15:03:00.002-04:00

This is our testimony to the House of Representatives in April of 2011. As you may already know the House has passed some bills that would allow feral swine to be owned, raised and hunted behind fences at the end of June. We would like to know your opinion about this issue, thus the question earlier this week. This is some more information that may help you make a decision. Also see our website, miwildlife.org, for more information. We have a whole page on wild hog issues. There is also a YouTube video that is quite interesting the name of it is "Wild Hogs In Michigan." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrV9es13qgk. It is only a couple minutes long. It was done by the Free Press in September of 2008.

The next post will have more information about us as an organization and some new information. If you would like to know about any nature issues, wildlife or habitat questions please let us know! Perhaps it will be the subject of our next post. Feel free to contact us by email or phone.

As I said above this was written in the spring. The bills have already passed in the House of Representatives. Those bills will be voted on in the Senate soon enough. Read up and voice your opinion.

The Michigan Wildlife Conservancy has conducted a wide variety of projects for fish and wildlife in Michigan since 1982, and has been involved in research, education, and removal efforts focused on wild hogs for seven years. Our staff has observed the damage wild hogs do in several U.S. states and on four continents. All we have learned tells us that wild hogs are a huge threat to the agricultural and natural resources of our state. That’s why we are active in the Coalition To Preserve Michigan Agriculture and Natural Resources and are determined to see the faucet leaking wild hogs in Michigan turned off.

Michigan has long suffered problems caused by exotic species such as the sea lamprey, gypsy moth, emerald ash borer, giant reed grass, and zebra mussel. Conservationists wish our government could have kept such exotics out of Michigan, but relatively few people recognized the potential pathways by which such species invaded, nor the problems they might cause.
Our state and you as legislators have no excuses with the wild hog, perhaps the ultimate invasive exotic species. The wild hog’s destructiveness has been documented around the globe. Estimated damages to crops, livestock, and natural resources from wild hogs top $1.5 billion annually in the U.S. alone. Wild hogs kill livestock and wildlife ranging from birds to deer fawns. In some areas of Michigan they are destroying 10 percent or more of crops every year. Wild hogs can carry pseudorabies, a disease potentially devastating to our pork industry which generates half a billion dollars annually. Michigan could eventually be like Texas, where hogs cause $400 million in damages each year, and suffer enormous property losses to wild hogs. And this exotic species is not sneaking into our state via ballast water in ships, jumping dams or any other hard-to-track means. Rather, wild hogs are arriving in stock trailers being brought right up I-75 and our other highways and bound for game ranches and breeding facilities. This is outrageous.

The wild hog poses a threat to Michigan that is just as serious as the threat of Asian carp to the Great Lakes. Would any of you vote to try to regulate possession of Asian carp at fish farming operations? We trust you would want a ban in effect.

Several other states have banned possession of live wild hogs. Oregon has not only made it illegal to import or keep wild hogs, but requires landowners to contact state officials within 10 days of discovering wild hogs on their land. Our state’s wildlife biologists have been advised, repeatedly, by out-of-state experts to pull out all the stops to keep wild hogs out of Michigan and eliminate those already on the loose.

The Michigan Wildlife Conservancy trains volunteers to detect and trap wild hogs through its Michigan Wild Hog Removal Program. This is a partnership between the Conservancy and the U.S. Department of Agriculture with support from non-profit groups such as the Michigan Pork Producers Association and the Michigan Forest Association. Through this program, we have learned from landowners and other citizens that wild hogs are still escaping from some game ranches- it is not a thing of the past as game ranch industry representatives contend. One volunteer trapped and/or shot nine wild hogs since last September on a 38-acre property located about four miles from a Mecosta County game ranch, that offers feral hog hunts, and in fall of 2009 an owner of land in Dickinson County just three miles from a game ranch shot a wild hog with ear tag number 18. So, the source of our problem is clear.

In 2008, when pseudorabies was detected in free-roaming wild hogs in Saginaw County and in wild hogs at four facilities, subsequent actions by state agencies resulted in costs to taxpayers of about $415,000. More than $40,000 was paid to reimburse game ranch owners for wild hogs the state had to destroy.

State agencies estimate it would cost $750,000 per year to regulate and monitor wild hogs and the diseases they carry if the legislature passes some version of House Bills 4503-4507. Incredibly, your committee is being asked to forward legislation based on the hope that it might not cost that much, and the hope that the cumbersome and difficult to enforce regulations might stop future escapes, and the hope that fences can somehow stop pathogens like pseudorabies. Hope is not an acceptable basis for wild hog control in Michigan. The only responsible action the Michigan Legislature can take is to let the ban called for by Public Act 451 to stand. You must protect the jobs and environment of future generations of Michigan citizens.

2011-07-20T15:53:00.002-04:00

Wild hogs do an estimated $1.5 billion in damages to crops, lawns, livestock and other resources throughout the United States. Now Michigan has a growing wild hog population as a result of numerous escapes from game ranches and breeding facilities.

Should game ranches be allowed to continue importing and keeping wild hogs for shooting behind fences? What do you think?