By Mike Kuhr It’s known as the President’s River, but on a recent sunny day in August, the Bois Brule River in Northern Wisconsin welcomed U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin), several of her staff, and a number of conservationists for a paddle down its famed trout waters. Sen. Baldwin was just finishing up a weeklong
By Taylor Ridderbusch On Friday, both the House and Senate introduced bills to reauthorize and increase funding for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI). The identical bills would reauthorize the program for five more years and incrementally increase the funding level from $300 million to $475 million, which was the original funding level for the
By Nick Sanchez and Jamie Vaughan Urban sprawl, development and agricultural pressures have deforested much of southern Michigan. In rapidly developing areas of southern Michigan, forest and farmland loss continues to this day. Luckily, family forest owners, like the Krug Family, are taking steps to protect their forests and the important waters that flow through
By Jamie Vaughan Michigan has no shortage of freshwater lakes, rivers and streams, and local environmental groups are always collaborating to come up with creative ways to protect the precious water resources. In western Michigan, partners joined together to create the Grand River Rainscaping Program, which is helping homeowners, landscapers and contractors learn about and incorporate green infrastructure practices
More than 180 non-native species have been introduced to the Great Lakes region, and many of them have been categorized as invasive, causing potential threat to native ecosystems and their populations. One relative newcomer is causing concerns about its potential risks to the region’s trout streams. The New Zealand mud snail (Potamopyrgus antipodarum) is an aquatic invasive that has appeared in Great Lakes streams only recently.
Trout Unlimited has received funding from the U.S. Forest Service, through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, to plant nearly 17,000 trees along coldwater streams in Michigan. The project, “Reducing Runoff in the Rogue River Watershed,” aims to address stormwater runoff that pollutes, erodes, and warms the important western Michigan trout fishery by planting trees at
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has approved its final plan recommendation for addressing Asian carp at Brandon Road Lock and Dam near Joliet, Ill. Lt. Gen. Todd Semonite, the commanding general of the Corps of Engineers, signed the report, which will now be sent to Congress for approval and funding. Asian carp are currently one of the most serious
