Students ready for an intensive, inspiring four days immersed in natural resources learning are encouraged to submit their applications for this year’s Career Pathways Program, June 23-27 at the Ralph A. MacMullan Conference Center on beautiful Higgins Lake in Roscommon County. Program highlights include hands-on field experiences with wildlife and fish biologists, foresters, park rangers and conservation officers.

DNR education manager Kevin Frailey oversees the program, now in its second year. “Over the course of a year, our department gets hundreds of inquiries from parents and students about natural resources careers,” he said. “We wanted to create a sampler of many of our key positions and let students learn about these unique career paths from the professionals themselves.” Read more

If you or someone you know is seeking valuable experience working in wildlife conservation – or just an interesting job that gets you outdoors – consider applying for one of more than 200 summer and fall positions with the DNR Wildlife Division.

The division regularly hires additional staff to work these seasons at DNR state field offices, customer service centers and state game areas. Seasonal staff helps in several areas, such as:

• Assisting with wildlife habitat maintenance and improvement, which may include cutting clearings and adjusting water levels.
• Mowing, landscaping and facility maintenance duties.
• Handling tasks related to wildlife surveys, nuisance animal control and equipment maintenance.
• Collecting biological data and samples for wildlife disease monitoring.
• Assisting hunters at DNR deer check stations.

“These positions are perfect for college students, those looking to re-enter the workforce, and seniors or retirees who want to be involved in the outdoors,” said Jennifer Schafer, Wildlife Division’s human resources liaison. Read more

The application period is open for the fifth round of grant funding for work along Michigan’s Iron Belle Trail. Proposals are due March 15, with selected grant recipients announced in May.

The trail offers two distinct routes for hiking and bicycling that, together, when finished, will cover more than 2,000 miles of trail. Right now, the trail is roughly 70 percent completed.

DNR state trails coordinator Paul Yauk said this latest round of funding will focus on segments ready to go into construction this year or next, as well as project engineering and design, and the purchase of Iron Belle Trail signage.

“The Iron Belle Trail is Michigan’s ‘showcase trail’ – an outdoor recreation gem that takes trail users through many amazing places along both routes,” Yauk said. “These mini-grants go a long way toward bringing together the people and resources critical to completing each new mile of trail.” Read more

WASHINGTON – The American Farm Bureau Federation, along with the Utah Farm Bureau Federation, the state of Utah and San Juan County (Utah), last week filed a brief in support of President Donald Trump’s December 2017 proclamations decreasing the size of the Grand-Staircase Escalante National Monument and the Bears Ears National Monument.

Filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the brief backs the federal government’s request to dismiss a series of consolidated cases filed against President Trump’s declarations.

The brief explains how changes made by the proclamations will protect ranchers’ livelihoods by enhancing their ability to graze livestock in and around the monuments. “Plaintiffs’ claims, if granted, would significantly jeopardize the Farm Bureaus’ members who ranch in the area under the authority of multiple federal laws and regulations, just as their ancestors have done for generations over the last 150 years,” the groups wrote.

They emphasized that, contrary to the plaintiffs’ assertions, President Trump was authorized to take such action under the Antiquities Act and that presidents before him had made similar modifications to national monuments on at least 18 separate occasions.

“The Act does not contain any limitations to a President’s ability to modify the area of land reserved for an existing monument should it be determined that the area reserved is not consistent with the Antiquities Act’s limited reservation authority.”

Indeed, there is no legal precedent for limiting Trump’s authority to make such modifications. Instead, the Supreme Court, federal circuit courts and federal district courts have uniformly supported broad presidential authority under the Antiquities Act, the groups wrote in the brief.

Nor has Congress ever passed a law in response to a presidential declaration modifying a national monument. In fact, the two times in which Congress has responded to a national monument proclamation both related to the establishment of national monuments, not modifications to already established monuments.
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The Michigan Department of Natural Resources’ citizen-based northern Lower Peninsula wolf survey, to detect the presence of gray wolves in the region, will take place Feb. 19 through March 15.

“The probability of DNR personnel observing an actual wolf or its tracks in the northern Lower Peninsula is very low,” said DNR wildlife biologist Jennifer Kleitch. “It’s helpful to have as many eyes as possible looking, so public reports are important for this survey.”

Wolves began naturally returning to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula through Canada and Wisconsin in the early 1990s. Since that time, the population has increased and now occupies suitable habitat throughout the U.P. While the Straits of Mackinac is not an absolute barrier for wolves moving from the U.P. to the northern Lower Peninsula, it is a significant obstacle, especially when there is not complete ice cover.

The first observation of a gray wolf in the northern Lower Peninsula in recent times was in 2004, when a wolf was accidently killed in Presque Isle County. In 2014, the presence of a gray wolf was identified through genetic analysis of a scat sample collected in Emmet County. The DNR would like to gather further information to determine wolf presence in the northern Lower Peninsula.

If you see a wolf or wolf sign between Feb. 19 and March 15, please call the DNR Atlanta Field Office at 989-785-4251, ext. 5233 or report sightings online through Eyes in the Field, found at Michigan.gov/EyesInTheField.

Reports will be recorded and potentially investigated if recent sign is present. Priority will be placed on reports north of M-55.

“It’s important that observations are reported in a timely manner so we can work with fresh sign. Those who find what they believe are wolf tracks should preserve the physical sign and take a photo of the tracks with a ruler in the frame to indicate size,” Kleitch said. “We’d also be very interested in any recent pictures of a wolf in the Northern Lower Peninsula.”

Information on wolves in Michigan and links to other wolf-related web pages can be found at Michigan.gov/Wolves.

This winter wolf survey is conducted in partnership with the DNR, USDA Wildlife Services, Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, Grand Traverse Band or Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, and Little River Band of Ottawa Indians.

PINETOP, Ariz. — Residents of Alpine, Ariz., Reserve, NM and surrounding areas may notice a low-flying helicopter in the region between Feb. 7 and Feb. 20 as biologists conduct their annual Mexican wolf population survey and capture.

The flights are part of the Mexican wolf Reintroduction Project, a multi-agency cooperative effort among the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD), U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Service Inspection Service – Wildlife Services and the White Mountain Apache Tribe.

Watch a Wildlife Views episode on Mexican wolf recovery

Survey flights will occur — weather permitting — on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation; the Apache-Sitgreaves, Gila and Cibola National Forests in eastern Arizona and western New Mexico; and possibly some locations immediately outside forest boundaries.
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LITTLE ROCK – For landowners who enjoy a nice fire in their hearth or woodstove, the best time of year to cut next winter’s supply of wood is during late winter. With a little extra thought to the resulting woodlands, this can also be a great time to add valuable wildlife habitat on the ground.

Cutting trees for firewood is best done while the trees are dormant; the sap is concentrated in the roots, leaving the stem at its lowest moisture point of the year. Late winter cutting also allows an ideal amount of time for the firewood to season properly for the next winter.

Choosing a few mature oaks and hickories to remove from the forest canopy not only offers excellent, high-heat-value firewood, but also allows sunlight to penetrate to the forest floor, spurring new growth.
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Washington D.C. – The Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies is excited to see the reintroduction of legislation to modernize the Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration Act (HR 877). This bipartisan legislation clarifies that the Pittman-Robertson(P-R) Fund can be used by state fish and wildlife agencies for outreach, communication, and education of hunters and recreational target shooters, including focused efforts on the recruitment, retention, and reactivation of hunters and recreational shooters through R3 initiatives without increasing taxes or existing user fees. Congressman Austin Scott (R-GA), along with Congressman Marc Veasey (D-TX), Congressman Richard Hudson (R-NC) and Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (D-MI), introduced the legislation yesterday.

“Updating the P-R Fund would allow flexibility for state fish and wildlife agencies to use their monies for the recruitment of sportsmen and women, thereby ensuring conservation funding in the future,” said Ed Carter, President of the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies and Executive Director of the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. “This bill, if passed, will help ensure that funding for wildlife conservation will keep pace with the demands of our citizens and our communities, while still continuing to meet our traditional wildlife conservation objectives.”
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Have you ever wondered how birds can stay warm in the cold winter months? Common redpolls are a great example. These energetic foragers weigh less than 15 grams and can survive temperatures that plunge nearly 100 degrees below the freezing point! How do they do it? Birds of all shapes and sizes have special adaptations for living in cold climates. Here are just a few examples of tough birds and their tips for staying warm.

Shivering

Just like people, birds shiver to stay warm. Birds have much higher metabolic rates and burn more energy to stay warm than we do. Black-capped chickadees weigh less than half an ounce and can maintain a body temperature of 100 degrees Fahrenheit – even when the air is 0 degrees! They do this by having great insulation, being very active and remembering where they store their food. A steady supply of food is essential, because chickadees eat more than 35 percent of their weight every day! Compared to many other birds, chickadees have a large hippocampus – the part of the brain that’s responsible for spatial memory. In the fall, this part of their brain gets even bigger!

Fluffing feathers

Whether fat, fur or feathers, insulation matters for most cold-weather animals. All cold climate birds pack on body weight in the late summer and fall in anticipation of the long, cold winter, but feathers also play an important role. All birds stay warm by trapping pockets of air around their bodies. The secret to maintaining these layers of air lies in having clean, dry and flexible feathers. The cleaning process, generally known as preening, depends on the species of bird. While all birds produce a special oil from a gland near the base of their tails, some cold-tolerant birds use this oil to weatherproof their feathers. Other birds like egrets, herons and mourning doves grow special feathers that disintegrate into a powder that they use to waterproof their feathers. Regardless of what weatherproofing method they use, preening helps birds keep a water resistant top layer and a toasty warm inner layer.

Roosting and cuddling

Similar to people who may cuddle for warmth, small birds like tree swallows crowd together in shrubs, vines and evergreen trees to share body heat. They can also slow down their metabolic rate to conserve energy. Cavity nesters like nuthatches, titmice and downy woodpeckers use tree cavities and nest boxes to stay warm. Cavities and boxes provide protection from the weather and help birds hide from predators. Larger birds like American crows and ring-billed gulls are also known to flock together for warmth.
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