Some states confirm water pollution from drilling

Posted on January 25, 2014 by Howard Meyerson
An oil rig in the middle of a Pennsylvania farm field. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

Tower for drilling horizontally into the Marcellus Shale Formation for natural gas, from Pennsylvania Route 87 in southern Upper Fairfield Township, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, USA. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

One of the big questions that communities and rural land owners face these days is whether the benefits that come from oil and gas drilling outweigh any risk of pollution. Many flat-out say ‘no.’  Others say there are very few real problems and that a lot of fear mongering takes place among those who oppose fracking.

This excellent report from Associated Press provides some perspective on how frequently problems occur. It’s not a comprehensive review of drilling across the nation, but it is an eye-opening account of just how frequently water pollution does occur in four states where the question was explored.

Read more: Some states confirm water pollution from drilling.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Raising a Legacy: Young hatchery fish planted in state waters are the seeds of Michigan’s multi-billion dollar recreational fishery

Posted on January 24, 2014 by Howard Meyerson
MDNR.

Wolf Lake Hatchery personnel drain ponds and collect 25,000 muskies that will be transported to various waters. Photo: Dave Kenyon, MDNR

By Howard Meyerson

When winter snows drift across the fruit farms and asparagus fields outside of Mattawan and the region’s fertile soils lie dormant and frozen, Martha Wolgamood is typically busy tending to a crop of young fish that will be planted in Michigan waters come spring. They are the seeds for the state’s multi-billion dollar recreational fishery.

Wolgamood manages the Wolf Lake Fish Hatchery, one of six operated by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR). The facilities provide a crucial boost to recreational fishing in Michigan. More than 19.5 million hatchery fish were stocked at 728 locations on Michigan waters in 2012.

The state’s world-class sport fishery provides millions of hours of public recreation annually, in turn energizing the economy. A 2013 American Sportfishing Association Report showed anglers spent nearly 28 million days fishing Michigan waters in 2011. They contributed $4.4 billion to the state’s economy and supported nearly 38,000 jobs.

“As long as there is a desire for a recreational fishery there will always be a place for the hatchery,” said Wolgamood, who began working at Wolf Lake in 1987.

The pale of winter is often a quiet time at the hatchery, which was built in 1927 and renovated in 1983. Millions of young fish swim in its raceways and tanks. They are monitored regularly to make sure they stay healthy and reach target size. Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Recreation passport sales eclipse 2 million mark in ’13; shy of goal

Posted on January 21, 2014 by Howard Meyerson
Grand Haven State Park and other Michigan state parks were poplar during the summer of 2013. Photo: Howard Meyerson

Grand Haven and other Michigan state parks were poplar during the summer of 2013. Photo: Howard Meyerson

By Howard Meyerson

State recreation passport sales didn’t hit the goal that state park officials had hoped for last year, but it still proved a good year for Michigan state parks and other related camping programs.  Michiganders purchased nearly 2.1 million passports in fiscal year 2013.

The passports allow holders to enter all state parks, state recreation areas, state forest campgrounds, state pathways and 73 boat launching sites.

“We had 26.6 percent participation,” said Ron Olson, Michigan’s state park chief. “Our goal was originally 30 percent (of the registered vehicles in the state), but we had adjusted that down to 28 percent and we’re still below that, but not bad.”

Passport sales dipped during core summer months, according to Olson, who said the weather was cooler and may have kept some from going to state parks during a part of the year when additional passport sales are made on-site to those who opt not to purchase them when they renew their license plate. Passport sales spiked during June, July and August of 2012 due to the warm weather that brought people to the beaches at state parks.

“We still have five percent who buy their passports in the summer months,” Olson said, suggesting that the choice to buy, or not, is, in part, weather driven. Others may not know what they get for the $11 investment. Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

X-C Ski Performance: Don’t forget the glide wax

Posted on January 19, 2014 by Howard Meyerson
Pack a lunch, some extra clothes and some glide-wax on a long trail ski. Photo: Howard Meyerson

Pack a lunch, some extra clothes and some glide-wax on a long trail ski. Photo: Howard Meyerson

By Howard Meyerson

It was cold and the snow was fresh and deep; the cross-country skiing should have been terrific. But, as I shuffled along through the woods one day recently, it felt as though I was skiing in molasses. No joyful kick and glide for this cowboy.

You might think I’d know better, having made the same mistake last year. In my haste to get out for the first ski of the season, I hadn’t taken the time to apply a glide wax to my skis.

The result was predictable: lackluster performance. I’d glide two feet with each kick rather than four or five. I was slow schussing down hills and worked harder to get where I was going. That meant expending much more energy over several miles.

Five minutes spent waxing before I left would have made a big difference.

Glide waxing is one of the more important steps for enhancing ski performance on the snow. It doesn’t matter whether you ski waxable or no-wax skis.

I ski waxless skis most of the time as do most people across the U.S. But a misnomer is that no waxing is required. Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Out of nowhere: Deer hits moving snowmobile

Posted on January 16, 2014 by Howard Meyerson

 This Kalamazoo snowmobiler, Dave Osborn, had the surprise of his life while on a recent night ride in Michigan’s  Upper Peninsula. He was trailing another on a machine, running his Gopro  camera and  a young deer jumped out of nowhere and crashed into him on the trail. Impact at 50 seconds.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Winter Fun Close to Grand Rapids, MI

Posted on January 14, 2014 by Howard Meyerson
The luge at the Muskegon Winter Sports Complex will deliver to you to Nirvana at 30 mph. Photo: Courtesy of Muskegon Winter Sports Complex

The luge at the Muskegon Winter Sports Complex will deliver to you to Nirvana at 30 mph. Photo: Courtesy of Muskegon Winter Sports Complex

One thing that can be said about west Michigan is there are plenty of ways to enjoy the outdoors and find your winter bliss. My newest post on Experience GR Blog, the City of Grand Rapids website, lays it all out: winter birdwatching, adrenaline charged-luge runs, great cross-country skiing, even in town. Check it out and have fun this winter.

Read more: Winter Fun Close to Grand Rapids, MI.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

2014: The year ahead – for starters

Posted on January 12, 2014 by Howard Meyerson
DSC_0019 copy

Snowshoeing on ungroomed winter trails in Michigan forests can provide an excellent day of exploration in the woods. Photo: Howard Meyerson

By Howard Meyerson

Last year was full of interesting developments: The endangered Kirtland’s warbler was reported to have made a comeback, Lake Michigan salmon were huge but proved less plentiful, the DNR moved to reopen some state forest campgrounds, camping participation climbed at Michigan state parks, and deer hunting proved a hit and miss proposition for hunters, though the incidence of Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease (EHD) was down from 2012.

Only seven deer in six counties were diagnosed with EHD. State wildlife officials estimate a total of 100 to 400 deer may have died, far fewer than the 13,000 in 30 counties in 2012.

Now that the New Year is upon us, what lies ahead looks just as interesting. Expect developments in a variety of areas, from hunting and fishing to parks and trails. Here’s a look at a few things on the horizon:

Coho on the Grand: Look for a bigger fall run of coho salmon on the Grand River in 2014. The DNR revised its stocking plan in 2013. Fewer hatchery coho were planted at Lansing. Far more were planted downstream at Lyons and the Rogue River in Kent County. More cohos are expected to return to the river next fall from Lake Michigan.

Groomed Forest Ski Trails: Nineteen state forest pathways are being groomed for cross-country skiing this winter, two more than last year. Any of those are worth the trip north. Nine other state forest pathways are opened for skiing but are not groomed. They can be just as much, if not more, fun to explore on skis or snowshoes.

Parking lots will be plowed at all but one Upper Peninsula site. You can see a complete list of cross-country ski/snowshoe trails on the DNR website at: Michigan.gov/dnr. Just click camping and recreation in the left column, and then scroll down to the link under events. Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Bike-share programs rolling out across Michigan

Posted on January 9, 2014 by Howard Meyerson

Bike Sharing, an idea whose time has come in Michigan, has taken root in several communities around the state. A story in Bridge Magazine  spells out the appeal and how it work in towns like Traverse City, Ann Arbor, Mount Pleasant, Lansing and Detroit.

“Bike-sharing systems exploded across U.S. cities in 2013, with programs in New York City, Chicago, Boston, Washington, Chattanooga, and on more than 30 college campuses. The nation’s bike-sharing fleet doubled in 2013, will double again this year, and is expected to be four times as big in 2015 as it was in 2012, according to the Earth Policy Institute, an environmental group.”

–Bridge Magazine–

Read more: Bike-share programs rolling out across Michigan.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Black Lake Sturgeon: Stocking is paying off

Posted on January 9, 2014 by Howard Meyerson
Michigan DNR fisheries staffer, Crhis Schelb, holds up two small sturgeon netted in Black Lake in August 2013. Photo courtesy MDNR.

Michigan DNR fisheries staffer, Chris Schelb holds up two small sturgeon netted in Black Lake in August 2013. Photo courtesy MDNR.

By Howard Meyerson

ONAWAY, MI – Preliminary findings from a sturgeon mark-and-recapture study in August on Black Lake show that most are stocked and raised in a hatchery, a small number are wild, and a large percentage are juveniles. The netting study was done to evaluate sturgeon stocking practices and the extent of lake’s wild population, state officials said.

“What surprised me was to find so many juveniles,” said Dave Borgeson, the Northern Lake Huron Unit supervisor for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. “We weren’t entirely sure how well we could implement the survey. To be able to catch so many young sturgeon– it came off as well as could be anticipated. “

The three-week netting effort was conducted by DNR crews with help from Michigan State University and the Little Traverse Bay Band of Ottawa Indians. The researchers collected 283 sturgeons. Most of those were juveniles.

The smallest was 22-inches. The largest was 71-inches long.

Ed Baker, the station manager for the DNR’s Marquette Fisheries Research Station, estimates that Black Lake contains 6,114 juvenile sturgeons from the 2009 year class or older. His estimate is statistically derived from the capture of 252 juvenile sturgeon that were less than 133 centimeters (52.3 inches) long.  Smaller fish were not “susceptible” to gill-nets that were used, Baker said.

“Ongoing analysis suggests that the vast majority of juvenile lake sturgeons in Black Lake are of stocked origin,” Baker wrote in a preliminary report. “…natural recruitment is very low in Black Lake and likely not sufficient to support the population under the current management (harvest) regime.”

Baker estimated that there are 28 wild sturgeons from the 2008 year class, and 150 others from 2004, both years when the lake was not stocked. Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Roadkill bill seeks to simplify keeping animals; clean up roads

Posted on January 8, 2014 by Howard Meyerson
Taking roadkill home would not require a state salvage permit if new legislation is passed. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

Taking roadkill home would not require a state salvage permit if new legislation is passed. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

By Howard Meyerson

If Sen. Darwin Booher, R-Evart, gets his way, it will be easier to have roadkill for supper in Michigan. Boorher and Sen John Pappageorge, R-Troy, introduced legislation that would allow motorists and others to take dead animals off the highway without first getting a required permit from the DNR.

“I am a hunter and have always been. As I drive back and forth to Lansing I see a number of deer on the side of the road that are going to rot. No one picks them up or uses them,” Booher said. “If you get 25 percent of them off the road, that’s an improvement.”

The impetus for the bill, SB 613, came from Booher’s constituents who approached him about wanting to use road-killed deer as bait when hunting predators like coyotes. State regulations currently do not allow the use of deer as bait.

State wildlife officials say there is little need for the bill and that a regulation change to allow the use of deer for bait is expected to get approval by the Natural Resources Commission in January.

“It (the legislation) is unnecessary,” said Russ Mason, the DNR’s wildlife chief.  “There is a wildlife order before the commission to expand allowable uses. People would still need to get a permit, but the use of deer for baiting would be allowed.

“You can get a permit from anyone, county law enforcement or conservation officer. It’s not like you have to sit on the side of the road and wait for a state police officer.” Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment