With America’s Ecosystem Restoration Initiative funding, the DNR and partners have removed seven stream barriers

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources, with help from many conservation partners, is halfway through completion of a $5 million grant project to remove 27 stream barriers, including 16 DNR-managed dams. Efforts to date have reconnected more than 140 miles of streams.

Funding for this work was awarded by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s America’s Ecosystem Restoration Initiative (formerly the America the Beautiful Challenge), which seeks to conserve and restore aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, improve resilience to flooding and other threats, and expand community access to nature.

What’s been accomplished so far Read more

Maine Game Wardens recovered the bodies of two anglers on Grand Falls Flowage in Baileyville.

At approximately 3:45 yesterday (August 8, 2025), game wardens were notified of an unoccupied boat drifting on Grand Falls Flowage. Several game wardens responded to the scene and found the 2010 19’ Bass Tracker drifting with the trolling motor and fishing lines in the water but no one in the boat.

Game Wardens and volunteers began searching the area, and a volunteer found the body of Charlotte Evans, age 67, of Cibolo, Texas, approximately 100 yards from shore yesterday a little after 4:30 p.m. Game wardens soon learned that there were two people in the boat, and began to search for the second person, but were unable to locate anyone else last night. Read more

Aug. 8, 2025
Contact: Kesiree O’Brien (DNR), 517-388-4536

With America’s Ecosystem Restoration Initiative funding, the DNR and partners have removed seven stream barriers

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources, with help from many conservation partners, is halfway through completion of a $5 million grant project to remove 27 stream barriers, including 16 DNR-managed dams. Efforts to date have reconnected more than 140 miles of streams.

Funding for this work was awarded by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s America’s Ecosystem Restoration Initiative (formerly the America the Beautiful Challenge), which seeks to conserve and restore aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, improve resilience to flooding and other threats, and expand community access to nature.

What’s been accomplished so far Read more

Following the tours, enjoy the release of hatchery-reared sturgeon fingerlings into the Black River and Mullett Lake

If you’d like to get an up-close look at lake sturgeon and learn more about what goes into rearing this unique fish, you’re invited to take a free tour at the Black River hatchery Saturday, Aug. 23. Tours will run from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the facility, located northwest of Onaway.

“Visitors will see 3-month-old lake sturgeon currently in the hatchery and learn about early life history, as well as how we can all play a role to keep this species healthy in our waters,” said Tim Cwalinski, Northern Lake Huron Unit supervisor with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. Read more

MACOMB COUNTY, Mich. — Summer is in full swing in southern Michigan, which means the smallmouth are starting to feed up just in time for the 2025 Yokohama Tire Bassmaster Elite at Lake St. Clair according to Michigan native Aaron Jagdfeld.

“We had a late spring, so everything has been a little behind. But the last week or two, these bass are swinging into summer patterns and a lot more fish are getting grouped up,” said the St. Croix Bassmaster Opens presented by SEVIIN angler. “They are getting fatter, and it should set up really well for the tournament.

“It wouldn’t surprise me if someone put together a total somewhere in the high 90s and close to the 100-pound mark.”

Tournament days are scheduled for Aug. 7-10 with tournament headquarters located at Brandenburg Park in New Baltimore, Mich. The 101-boat field will launch at 7 a.m. ET each day and return for weigh-in beginning at 3 p.m. The field will be cut to the Top 50 anglers after the Day 2 weigh-in, and the Top 10 anglers after the third competition day will compete on Championship Sunday.

The winner earns the $100,000 first-place prize and a coveted blue trophy. Read more

Fishing with kids is one of life’s great joys—but it also comes with responsibility. Here’s how to help shield young skin from harmful UV rays during a day on the water.

For many families, a day spent fishing together is the stuff memories are made of. Whether casting for bass or panfish from a dock, trolling the back bays or spending hours in a skiff chasing trout and reds under the summer sun, it’s an experience that brings generations together. But that same sun that glints so beautifully off the water is also a silent risk—particularly for kids. According to the Skin Cancer Foundation, just one blistering sunburn during childhood can more than double a person’s chances of developing melanoma later in life. Read more