Lean Times: State game area vandalism results in important work going undone

Posted on May 24, 2012 by Howard Meyerson

Signs are regularly shot at and damaged at Michigan’s state game areas. Photo courtesy of Michigan DNR.

By Howard Meyerson

ALLEGAN – Maria Albright was disappointed recently to find that vandals had damaged a new sign at the Michigan Department of Natural Resources Echo Point Shooting Range. The sign had been built by Eagle Scouts. It had lasted no more than a few weeks.

But Albright, a wildlife technician at the Allegan State Game Area, has seen it before – in fact, far too many times. At 50,000 acres, Allegan is the largest state game area in Michigan. Vandalism is a regular occurrence.

“That sign is just the tip of the iceberg, Albright said. “We put up new signs all the time – literally thousands of signs. We have had the map boxes set on fire. And we maintain very few pit toilets now because they have been set on fire.” Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Green Living: World’s First Vertical Forest Being Built in Milan

Posted on May 24, 2012 by Howard Meyerson

Milan’s Bosco Verticale

Who said apartment dwelling needs to be sterile?  Bosco Verticale, the 27 story vision of Stefano Boeri, architect, academic and former editor of design and architecture magazine Domus, is an attempt to provide a better life in the metropolis, according to a story in London Financial Times. The piece is written by Christopher Woodward, the director of London’s Garden Museum, who elaborates on the concept and other architectural projects attempting the same.

Think Progress, an online site, reports that the two towers will be home to 900 trees.

“On flat land, each Bosco Verticale equals, in amount of trees, an area equal to 10,000 sqm of forest. In terms of urban densification the equivalent of an area of single family dwellings of nearly 50,000 sqm.”


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

Basking in the Sun

Posted on May 23, 2012 by Howard Meyerson

Life as a turtle seems so simple.

photographybycjp's avatarphotographybycjp

 

I took this picture a few weeks ago at a local lake while fishing. These guys were just enjoying the sun like all the people there. I didn’t have my Nikon with me so I took this with my Cannon PowerShot. Still a good picture! It took a while to get this picture because anytime I would get close enough to get it they would dive in the water. luckily they really like this log so they kept coming back!

View original post

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Coming Back: California condor population breaks 400

Posted on May 22, 2012 by Howard Meyerson

The California condor is making a comeback but it isn’t out of the woods yet, according to federal wildlife officials.

A survey of condors found 405, a far cry from 23 in the early 1980’s. Condors remain on the federal endangered species list. The federal recovery plan calls for 450 condors and three 150-bird populations in order to be considered for delisting.

An OregonLive story today reports that condors still face challenges like pesticide residues in carrion they eat, wind farm mortality, and lead poisoning from feeding on gut piles from animals that were shot with lead ammunition.

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

Four People Die on Mt. Everest

Posted on May 21, 2012 by Howard Meyerson

Four climbers said to be old chums died on Mt. Everest this past weekend. Reports so far are that all four died from altitude sickness.

The climbers come from Germany, South Korea, Canada and China, Discovery News reports today. The climbers were part of a larger group of old high-school classmates who were planned to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their old school by climbing the world’s highest peak.  Read more: Mt. Everest.

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

Who said bears were lazy?

Posted on May 21, 2012 by Howard Meyerson

This one is demonstrating remarkable determination and agility. Proof you need to tie your food bag out from a tree when traveling through the bush. Great post by Fortune Bay Expedition Team on Facebook.

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

Government killing of 8 wolves suggests Upper Peninsula may be overcrowded with wolves

Posted on May 21, 2012 by Howard Meyerson

Michigan’s Upper Peninsula gray wolf population is increasingly showing up in towns and residential areas.

By Howard Meyerson

A couple of weeks ago, I read with some dismay about eight wolves shot and killed in and around Ironwood, a western Upper Peninsula town.

Ironwood is a gateway community, a popular tourist town — population 5,380 — on the Wisconsin border.

The town is known for its historic iron mines and ski jumping. It has the distinction of having built one of the first ski-flying hills in North America and has a 188-inch average snowfall.

But “Welcome to Michigan. We Got Wolves” is a tourist banner you probably will never see there. Many of the residents are not fond of wolves — at least not when they hang out on the driveway. Continue reading →

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

It’s plastic baby: Imagine every day like this

Posted on May 20, 2012 by Howard Meyerson

Facebook

Ever wonder where all those plastic bottles end up?  A post on the Electric Treehouse Blog reports that of 31 billion bottles of water sold a year, only about 10% are recycled. That means that 27.9 billion plastic bottles end up in landfills and oceans every year. That’s a lot of plastic.

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

1,100-foot fall causes first death of season on McKinley

Posted on May 20, 2012 by Howard Meyerson

The black line denotes the West Buttress route, and the red line denotes the path of the climber’s fall. Photo by B. Washburn, National Park Service.

Mount McKinley, North America’s highest peak, claimed its first climber for the 2012 climbing season. The climber, as yet unidentified,  fell 1,100 feet Friday after turning to retrieve a backpack that was sliding down a slope, Denali National Park officials have reported.

The climber was part of a three-person climbing team. None was roped up at the time of the fall. Park and Preserve mountaineering rangers were notified at 4:30 p.m. that a member of the climbing team had fallen from the 16,200-foot level on the mountain’s West Buttress route, the  Bellingham Herald reports.

A NPS climbing team was not far behind the group, according to The Alaska Dispatch.
Denali National Park reports that 336 mountaineers are currently in some stage of climbing the mountain. Nine climbers died on and around McKinley last year, the third-highest ever.

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

Michigan’s lighthouses: State’s oldest to reopen

Posted on May 19, 2012 by Howard Meyerson

Fort Gratiot Light, the second-oldest lighthouse on the Great Lakes, after Ohio’s Marblehead Light on Lake Erie, is being reopened today, the Detroit Free Press reports. About 1,000 people are expected at the public event at the mouth of the St. Clair River to celebrate the 1829 brick tower that began service back when wooden sailing ships plied the Great Lakes.

The Freep does a nice job telling its story and others and provides a nice map of lighthouse locations around Michigan. Read more: State’s oldest to reopen.

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