Forest Birds, Fish Slides, and Rare Butterflies: this week in environmental news

Magnolia Warbler. Image: Jon Swanson.

Great Lakes forest birds mostly stable or increasing (Great Lakes Echo): A record study that took 25 years and 700 birdwatchers and researchers has found that most birds at three different national forests in the Great Lakes region are either increasing or stable. The study is another great example of the important role volunteer bird watchers can play in tracking populations of the birds they love. The count became an annual tradition for many bird enthusiasts. The study is cause for guarded optimism about the state of forest birds in the Northwestern Great Lakes Basin.

Fish slides, anyone? (Great Lakes Echo): Sturgeon go back to the river to spawn safely. But hydroelectric dams often block rivers, forcing fish to spawn in more dangerous spaces. Listen to this podcast to learn more about how the River Alliance of Wisconsin is giving fish a little boost.

Healthy ravines for healthy watersheds (Great Lakes Echo): Created by the same retreating glaciers that carved and filled the Great Lakes, you could say lakeshore ravines are the lakes’ blood relatives. Great lakes ravines face deterioration at the hands of invasive species and pollution. Conservationists are working to address this issue.

The Poweshiek Skipperling is an endangered butterfly that lives mainly in prairie fen wetlands in southeast Michigan. Image: Dave Cuthrell, MSU Extension.

Rare butterfly rests its wings in unique SE Michigan ecosystem (Great Lakes Echo): Listen to WKAR’s radio story about Kevin Lavery’s expedition to find the endangered Poweshiek Skipperling. It’s only found in a half a dozen places on Earth, and two-thirds of them are in Michigan. The rare butterfly once thrived on the Great Plains is now fighting for its survival in Michigan.

Enter in MNA’s 2016 Photo Contest!

Do you love nature photography? Then the Michigan Nature Association is looking to showcase your photos in the sixth annual MNA Photo Contest!

Winners will be featured in an upcoming issue of Michigan Nature magazine and will appear in a special gallery on the MNA website. Visit the Photo Contest Gallery to see last year’s winners.

Photos can be taken anywhere in the state of Michigan, and can highlight Michigan’s natural beauty in any way. Photos will be judged in three categories: Flora & Fauna, Landscapes, and People in Nature.

To enter, download and fill out the entry form. Photos and completed forms can be emailed to michigannature@michigannature.org or mailed on a CD or flashdrive to the MNA office.

Entries must be received by September 1, 2016. 

All photos must be:
• taken in the state of Michigan.
• in one of the three categories.
• submitted with a filled-out entry form.
• submitted as a jpg, tif or gif file (photo quality of 300 dpi is preferred).
• received no later than September 1, 2016.

We look forward to seeing your favorite parts of nature and some of Michigan’s best flora, fauna and landscapes through your lens!

 

MI Invasive Species, Poweshiek Skipperlings, and Bees: this week in environmental news

Michigan Invasive Species (MI.gov): Does your work take you to several outdoor sites in one day? Do you fish or hunt at different locations in the same week? If so, your actions could be considered high-risk for spreading species around the state. Want to learn more? Take a few minutes to watch this new video that briefly explains the best ways to look for and remove invasive species.

Poweshiek skipperling. Photo: Erik Runquist/Minnesota Zoo.

The Poweshiek Skipperling: A Prairie Butterfly on the Brink (U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Endangered Species): Poweshiek skipperlings are small butterflies that live only in native prairies that have never been plowed, which makes them vulnerable. Until recently, the species (Oarisma poweshiek) was one of the most common prairie-obligate skipper in the Midwest. Yet, in the last decade, surveyors observed an abrupt and rapid decline in the species, and population after population began to vanish. Despite extensive surveys, the skipperling appears to exist in critically low numbers at just a handful of sites scattered between Wisconsin, Michigan, and Manitoba.

The proposed trail. Image: Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore

Trail segment installed at Sleeping Bear (Great Lakes Echo): A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held recently for a new segment of the Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail at the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. The trail will eventually run 27 miles from Empire northeast about halfway up the Leelanau Peninsula. To limit environmental impact, the trail follows existing utility corridors, abandoned roads and a narrow gauge railroad. That minimizes its impact on forested areas and wetlands. Boardwalks are built with helical piles, a more environmentally friendly alternative to cement foundations. Instead of digging up landscape and pouring permanent cement, the piles screw directly into the ground and can be unscrewed if needed.

MSU researcher: more wild bee habitat would benefit growers (Great Lakes Echo): For farmers across Michigan and the country, pollination is essential for making their crops grow. For years now, they’ve kept a close eye on a key pollinator, bees, mainly because their numbers have been declining. Listen to the podcast with Rufus Isaacs, a professor of entomology at MSU, to learn more.

Invasive Species Workshop, Salamanders, and Wildlife Grants: this week in environmental news

Invasive Species and Site Preparation Workshop (Michigan Society of American Foresters): Attend a free hands-on invasive species workshop in Wellston, Michigan on Saturday, May 21 hosted by the Michigan Society of American Foresters. During this workshop you will learn all about the ecological and economic effects of invasive species, how and why they spread, control options, pesticide laws, and site preparation methods for planting tree seedlings and how this is relevant to invasive species management.  There will be a large hands-on component where you will observe and use different types of equipment, such as personal protective equipment (PPE), the gas-powered forestry clearing saw for killing invasive shrubs and small trees, and herbicide equipment for mixing and applying chemical.

Wildlife grants awarded to tribes in Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota (Great Lakes Echo): Native American tribes will protect bats from logging and place sturgeon in school aquariums as part of a recent round of federal grants. The Tribal Wildlife grant program was established by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2003. This year, $5 million was awarded to 29 tribes, three from Great Lakes states. In Michigan, the Saginaw Chippewa tribe is receiving $199,431 to determine what plants and wildlife live in the area and how to protect important species.

Eastern red spotted newts like this one are at risk of fungal disease. Photo: Distant Hill Gardens, Flickr

A deadly fungus threatens salamanders (Great Lakes Echo): A deadly fungus is likely to threaten the health of salamanders in the United States. And one type of salamander found in the Great Lakes region – the eastern newt – is especially at risk. Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans – Bsal for short – is a fungus that eats away the skin of certain salamanders. It’s found in parts of Asia and Europe, and researchers say it could strike the United States next. Eastern newts in the region have an increased risk because Chicago is a port where diseased salamanders could be brought in.

Inland fisheries are important indicators of changes in ecosystems from things such as hydropower projects and deforestation. Photo: Ken Bosma

Inland fisheries’ importance underrated, study says (Great Lakes Echo): Inland fisheries and aquaculture account for more than 40 percent of the world’s reported fish production but their harvest is frequently under-reported and ignored in the Great Lakes region and elsewhere, a new study says. The central role of inland fish in aquatic ecosystems makes them good indicators of ecosystem change. Ecosystem change includes threats from agriculture, hydropower projects and deforestation, as well as overfishing and invasive species. Although the study focused primarily on inland fisheries in the developing world, it also addressed the situation in the Great Lakes and the region’s inland waters. The study cited massive die-offs of alewives in Lake Michigan in the 1960s, an occurrence that brought to public and political attention large ecological changes occurring in the Great Lakes.