Whether you live on a lake, enjoy a secret fishing spot or escape the daily grind at a serene water haven in the woods, you already know that lakes provide big benefits to mental and physical health and deserve our appreciation and attention. You can discover even more connections through an upcoming Michigan State University Extension opportunity.

A nationally recognized, award-winning, six-week class for anyone with a passion or curiosity for inland lakes, MSU Extension’s Introduction to Lakes Online course is full of information and inspiration for lakefront property owners, local government officials, lake managers, educators and others. Led by Extension educators and state agency personnel, it covers lake ecology, watersheds, shorelines, water law, aquatic plant management and community involvement.

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Legendary mail order tackle retailer Orvis has announced it will “shed” 8% of its workforce, close a number of retail stores and discontinue its catalog. According to sources, Orvis President Simon Perkins said “Orvis is in a period of business evolution that requires us to think differently. Over the course of our 170-year history, the company has experienced similar cycles, but today’s challenges are new and they require us to be bold in order to continue sharing stories, experiences and products that inspire our customers well into the future.”

Dismissed employees will receive two months of full pay and benefits, along with “additional severance pay and assistance with health insurance and job transition services.”

The 170-year old Vermont company has 70 retail stores and 10 outlets in the United States, in addition to 18 in the United Kingdom. No word yet on which locations will be closed. Earlier this year, the company announced a relocation from its headquarters in Sunderland, Vermont, to smaller offices in Manchester, Vermont as it transitioned to a “hybrid work environment.”

The Cornwall Creek Flooding, located within the Pigeon River Country State Forest, is a popular northern Michigan location for fishing, paddling and other recreation. Over the last couple of months, the water level of the 161-acre lake was lowered by several feet to address safety concerns with the Cornwall Dam, which creates the impoundment, and to prepare for the planned renovation of the dam.

A series of safety inspections by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy — the state agency that regulates dams — determined that Cornwall Creek Dam and its water control infrastructure were in poor condition. A partial drawdown of the water level in the Cornwall Flooding impoundment was necessary to reduce the risks of dam failure, until problems with the dam are resolved. Read more

The fall fishing season for splake is coming soon! Splake fishing in the fall on Lake Superior is an experience unmatched anywhere else in the state. As temperatures drop and leaves begin to change, the splake bite picks up as the fish move nearshore.

Splake — a hybrid cross between lake trout and brook trout — have been stocked in Lake Superior most years since 1971, with annual stocking since 1990.

Marked splake have been stocked in Lake Superior since 2021 as part of an evaluation study. At the Marquette State Fish Hatchery, staff from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources’ Lake Superior and Northern Lake Michigan management units, as well as staff from the Tribal Coordination Unit, put in long hours carefully marking the splake by hand. Splake are given a unique mark by clipping (and removing) part of either one or two fins. The fish are anesthetized during this process.

These fish are then stocked in the spring at three Lake Superior ports: Copper Harbor, Keweenaw Bay and Munising Bay. The goal is to create nearshore fishing opportunities in the smaller bays of Lake Superior, where some fisheries are available year-round. Read more

If you’re on the water in late September to early October, be on the lookout for Michigan Department of Natural Resources personnel conducting nighttime walleye recruitment surveys. Fisheries managers use these surveys to determine whether walleye that hatched in the spring (known as young-of-year) were born in the wild or were stocked, as well as how many are present in an area. This information about the status of young walleye in lakes helps the DNR make well-informed management decisions.

Using electrofishing boats at night, crews will survey shallow areas near the shoreline of lakes with the goal of capturing juvenile walleye. Walleye prefer cooler, deeper areas of lakes during the day but move into shallow, nearshore areas at night, making nighttime surveys more efficient. On larger lakes, two or more electrofishing crews using separate boats may operate at the same time to cover more area. The crews will work on a subsample of Michigan lakes that have been stocked with walleye, as well as lakes that have not.

Biologists also collect and keep a sample of young-of-year walleye from stocked lakes to determine whether the fish are primarily reproducing naturally or if young-of-year are from stocking. All other walleye will be released unharmed. Walleye that are stocked in these lakes are marked with oxytetracycline, a chemical marker that can be observed within captured fish by using a microscope with an ultraviolet light source in a laboratory setting. Read more

Gov. Hobbs proclaims Sept. 5 “Apache Trout Day”

The Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD), alongside conservation leaders, Gov. Katie Hobbs, and U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, recently celebrated the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (FWS) decision to remove Apache trout from the federal Endangered Species List.

The delisting announcement was made by Secretary Haaland at a special event in Mesa on Sept. 4.

Gov. Katie Hobbs signed a proclamation to celebrate the delisting of Arizona’s state fish and designate Sept. 5 as “Apache Trout Day.”

“The recovery of Apache trout is a culmination of more than five decades of hard work and the cooperation of many partners, and it’s truly an amazing conservation success story,” said AZGFD Director Ty Gray.

Apache trout, one of only two native trout species in Arizona, were found in streams across the White Mountains in east-central Arizona before their populations began to rapidly decline during the late 19th century and the first half of the 20th century. The White Mountain Apache Tribe was the first to recognize the loss of this critical species and took steps to protect them on tribal lands. Read more