Great News: Plovers nest on South Manitou Island.

Posted on June 24, 2012 by Howard Meyerson

This piping plover is the first one recorded nesting on South Manitou Island

Good news today from Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore which released this photo of the first piping plover nest on South Manitou Island in Lake Michigan.

Plovers are on the federal endangered species list. Michigan and federal authorities have been working for years to help restore their populations here. Piping plovers were first listed in 1986. The population declined from several hundred breeding pair to just 17 breeding pair, according to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. The primary cause of their decline was hunting in the late 19th century and early 20th century until passage of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 put a halt to it.

Their populations began to recover but declined again in the 1950s due to habitat loss, predation, contaminants, high water levels and recreational activity. Plovers build small nests on sandy lake shores where they are often destroyed by people unaware of their presence. Their eggs are small and are easily mistaken for small rocks.

To help protect the birds during nesting season, state and federal government programs have employed volunteer piping plover patrols. Researchers report that the population has fluctuated between 12 and 25 breeding pairs, with most breeding in Michigan.

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5 wounded warriors attempt Mount McKinley summit

Posted on June 22, 2012 by Howard Meyerson

In this June 13, 2012 photo released by Disabled Sports USA, shows Kirk Bauer, 64, a climber and executive director of Disabled Sports USA, posing in front of Mount McKinley, Alaska.

Five men who have fought America’s wars, four of which lost a limb, took on the biggest challenge of their life, a Fox News report says today.

They are all attempting to climb Mt. McKinley, North America’s highest peak.

The story says that after nine days on the mountain, all were resting at 14,200 feet and being warned by their guides that the climb would only get tougher. Read more: Warriors attempt Mount McKinley.

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25 years later: Michigan wilderness is still an oasis

Posted on June 22, 2012 by Howard Meyerson

The Sturgeon River Gorge is one of the 10 original federal wilderness areas designated in Michigan

By Howard Meyerson

Some of my favorite times have been spent in wilderness, those far away, wild and remote areas where nature is left alone, where motorized traffic is not allowed, where you might walk or paddle for miles and not see another soul.

Over the years, I’ve enjoyed several remote areas, having hiked in Arizona’s Superstition Wilderness and paddled for days in New York’s St. Regis Canoe Wilderness and Minnesota Boundary Waters. I’ve camped, hiked or paddled in several others that dot the wild zones of Canada and Michigan.

This year is the 25th anniversary for the Michigan Wilderness Act, which was passed in 1987. That law didn’t come without a fight. It took 10 years to pass.

The act designated 10 federal wilderness areas in Michigan, which preserved more than 90,000 acres of old growth forests, beautiful remote lakes and miles of Lake Michigan sand dunes. Since then, other areas have been designated. Continue reading →

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Poll: Americans see environment deteriorating

Posted on June 20, 2012 by Howard Meyerson

On eve of Rio summit, Americans see environment deteriorating - The Washington Post

We hear a lot in Michigan about how environmental quality has improved over the past few decades. And, no doubt, there have been improvements. We no longer read stories about tragedies like Love Canal or lakes and rivers catching fire because of the pollution.

On the other hand, that truth is sometimes tossed out as part of a rationale for loosening environmental regulations to benefit business and industry. This is typically a conservative position. Anything and everything goes if it gets in the way of business.

A poll reported today in the Washington Post  finds that two times as many Americans believe the environment will get worse over the next decade than think it will get better.

“Americans’ views of the environment divide along party lines, according to the poll. More than seven in 10 Democrats and independents say human activity has had a “mostly negative” effect on the environment over the past decade; only a bare majority of Republicans agree. Democrats and independents are also more apt to say the environment has gotten worse over the past decade and are more downbeat about its prospects.”

The story went on to say that some big corporations are pledging to do better.

“Coca-Cola pledged to develop plans to protect the water sources for its 200 bottling plants worldwide, while Dow Chemical said it will assess the economic value it gets from the ecosystems connected to its new bioplastics plant in Brazil.”

Is this real good – or window dressing?  Will it be better or worse?

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Top 10 Birding Spots In The National Park System

Posted on June 19, 2012 by Howard Meyerson

The showy green heron can be spotted in a number of parks, even the predominantly arid Big Bend National Park. Kirby Adams photo.

Birdwatching continues to be highly popular in the United States, drawing millions of people to great places all over the country where they can check one or another species off their life-list.

National parks also prove to be great places to see birds. Among them are places like Arcadia National Park in Maine, Apostle Islands National Lakeshore  in Wisconsin, and Olympic National Park in Washington.

If you enjoy birding and are contemplating a trip to a national park this summer, give some thought to this Top 10 National Parks for Birding list compiled by Kirby Adams at the National Park Traveler Blog. Read more: Birding In The National Parks.

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Ann Miller’s Guide to Midwest Fly Hatches sure to please

Posted on June 18, 2012 by Howard Meyerson

Ann Miller shows off a large brown trout caught on the Muskegon River

By Howard Meyerson

The dedication in Ann Miller’s new book, “Hatch Guide for Upper Midwest Streams,” is not unusual in its expressed gratitude to her husband, Ken Ankli, and their three daughters: Aura, Abbey and Aiden.

Authors often thank those close to them for putting up with their shenanigans during the time it took to write the book.

What’s unusual, though, is Miller thanking them “for lovingly putting up with escaped bugs in the house.” That, and her expressed appreciation for them coping with her 3½-year obsession, which led to constructing small, running streams in the garage so she could observe and photograph the life stages of the insects she was writing about.

“My project started off largely in the garage, but I had a photo studio in the house, and the darn things kept flying away,” said Miller, an aquatic biologist by training and an avid fly angler. “I had them in a sealed-up room, but when a size-18 sulphur (a tiny, yellow fly) gets away, they are pretty hard to find.

“I would put a note on the door that there was an escaped bug in the house and my kids would completely freak out. That first year we were always on the lookout for flies.” Continue reading →

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High and Wild: Fly like an eagle

Posted on June 17, 2012 by Howard Meyerson

Come to Papa!

An amazing photo. What fun. Found at Philippe Van Nedervelde on Facebook.

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Consciousness Swirling: A matter of natural beauty

Posted on June 15, 2012 by Howard Meyerson

Photo from PangeaSeed, a Toyko based activist company involved in shark protection.

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Study finds increasing number of cougars in Midwest

Posted on June 14, 2012 by Howard Meyerson

A new study about cougars finds the big cats are more plentiful and widespread in the Midwest than a decade ago. The recent findings are detailed in the Journal of Wildlife Management, according to the Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal-Sentinel.

Clay Nielsen, a Southern Illinois University wildlife ecologist who co-authored the report while heading the nonprofit Cougar Network’s scientific research is quoted saying: “We (now) know there are a heck of a lot more cougars running around the Midwest than in 1990. We’ve got an interesting and compelling picture to talk about now.”

The presence of cougars was confirmed 178 times in the Midwest and as far south as Texas between 1990 and 2008, according to the story. Confirmed sightings of Midwest cougars were sporadic before 1990, when there were only a couple. That rose to more than 30 by 2008, the story reports.

Michigan authorities issued a public statement in May about a verified cougar sighting in the Upper Peninsula. The cat was photographed by Fred Nault, a Baraga County resident.  The cat was observed near Skanee.

“This is the 15th time we have verified the presence of a cougar in the Upper Peninsula since our first confirmation in 2008,” said DNR wildlife biologist Adam Bump,  a member of the Department’s specially trained cougar team. “This is the first confirmation in 2012, and the first verified photo of a cougar taken in person and not by a remote camera.”

Read more: Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal-Sentinel.

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All Calm for Now

Posted on June 14, 2012 by Howard Meyerson

Photo: Courtesy of Ontario Travel

I love this photo and its majesty of color. So calm. So peaceful. You can almost hear loons calling.

But what about the campsite there on the rocks with the splash pool behind it? I suspect it is full of water from the last waves that washed up on the rocky shoreline.

You might get away with camping here for the night, but you ought to think twice about it. Unless you have a dead-certain weather report, you’d be safer and a lot less inconvenienced  by moving the tent further inland. Otherwise, a quick change in wind direction and speed could make for a very unpleasant surprise in the middle of the night.

The setting might be beautiful, but marketing people at travel agencies don’t think much about safety.  That’s your job. You’d be better off reserving this pristine spot for an evening of star-watching from your folding Crazy Chair. And while you’re at it – move your kayak inland too.

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