If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to be a?lighthouse?keeper, we’ve got a dream destination! Grab three friends and apply to the 2026 Lighthouse Keeper Program?at?Tawas Point Lighthouse, located?in?Tawas Point State Park (about 75 miles northeast of Saginaw). Opportunities are available from early May through late October.

This program is perfect for enthusiasts of history, lighthouses or Michigan (or a combination of all three). Enjoy a two-week stay along the beautiful Lake Huron shoreline, immersed in the history of Tawas Point.

Equipped with training and knowledge from the lighthouse’s historian, keepers serve as guides, greeting visitors and leading tours. Keepers also are responsible for basic facility maintenance and cleanliness. The total service commitment is about 30 hours each week. The keeper schedule includes plenty of free time to explore the state park, nearby communities and surrounding area.

“We get up, we take a great bike ride, we swim and then we’re here for about five hours with the tours,” said Heidi, a 2025 Tawas Point Lighthouse keeper. “The people here are spectacular. We’ve met people from different countries, from different parts of Michigan, and they’re all interested in lighthouses, just like we are – so it has been a terrific experience. We really appreciate the opportunity!”

The lighthouse might be nearly 150 years old, but the living quarters feature modern accommodations. The second floor includes two bedrooms that can sleep four adults, a fully equipped kitchen and a full bathroom. Free on-site parking is also provided. Keepers apply in teams of four; the cost is $250 per person. All team members must be at least 18 years old and able to climb the 85 steps to the top of the tower. Applications are due by 11:45 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 28. There is a $10 nonrefundable application fee. Successful applicants will be notified no later than March 31. Learn more at the?Michigan History Center’s?Lighthouse Keepers webpage?or email?DNR-TawasKeepers@Michigan.gov.

Program budget, maximum and minimum grant requests have increased

The application period for the Upper Peninsula’s Deer Habitat Improvement Partnership Initiative competitive grant program is now open.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources initiative is a cooperative grant program designed to enhance deer habitat on private lands in the U.P.

New for 2026 the total DHIPI program budget has increased to $200,000.  The maximum and minimum grant requests have also increased respecively to a maximum of $25,000 and a minimum of $5,000. The required match remains at 25%. Read more

A bald eagle midwinter citizen survey counted 715 bald eagles thanks to 391 separate reports from Jan. 7-21 in the Buckeye State, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Wildlife.

GW: Not against protecting bats, because they are so adept at eliminating mosquitos. I even installed a bat house near a place on my house where they were getting in. After they migrated for the season, I got some spray foam and blocked the entrance. Problem solved, although they’ve yet to use the bat house.

By AILEEN KEMME
Communications coordinator, Marketing and Outreach Division
Michigan Department of Natural Resources

Jutting out into Lake Superior is the Keweenaw Peninsula, home to Michigan’s Copper Country.

This is where the earliest known metalworking in North America originated, with objects crafted by Indigenous peoples from Keweenaw copper becoming so prized that they have been discovered in archaeological sites throughout North America.

European settlers also established mining operations in the same region and made Michigan into the world’s leading copper producer by the early 20th century.
While virtually all the mining operations in the area have shuttered since then, the mines are not empty. The Keweenaw region is home to seven of Michigan’s nine bat species, with many of the bats calling the abandoned mines home.

Three of the Keweenaw’s bat species migrate south for the winter, with some, like the hoary bat, traveling as far as Central America before returning to their spring and summertime breeding grounds in North America.

The remaining four species spend their winters hibernating deep within caves and abandoned mine shafts throughout the region. Read more

By KATIE GERVASI
Communications specialist, Law Enforcement Division
Michigan Department of Natural Resources

When most people envision spending several days in northern Michigan during July, it includes fishing, boating, campfires, exploring a favorite beach or maybe an off-road vehicle trail.

A group of 19 individuals – who hope to one day become a conservation officer – did just that, but as part of a weeklong job interview with a structured twist.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources hosted its first Conservation Officer Cadet Academy, a free career exploration opportunity, July 6-11 at the DNR’s Ralph A. MacMullan Center in Roscommon. “The purpose of the CO Cadet Academy is to give cadets a weeklong glimpse into what our traditional training academy looks like,” said Conservation Officer Brad Bellville, who helped organize the Cadet Academy. “This is a great opportunity for individuals who are too young to start the CO hiring process. By the end of the week, they should know if this is the correct career choice for them.” Read more

Few people are aware of just how important the tongue is to a woodpecker, but researchers have found that woodpeckers rely on their extraordinary tongue to thread into insect tunnels their beak can’t reach. A typical woodpecker tongue is long and flexible enough to reach into crevices and tunnels to reach prey hidden deep inside. Clearly, drilling into wood with its beak is just the first step for a woodpecker to procuring food in bark, branches, trunks, and even beneath the ground. Two pairs of muscles guide the tongue, allowing it to move in and out, and in multiple directions when probing.

A woodpeckers’ tongue is among the longest tongues relative to body size among all bird families, and woodpeckers use their tongue with remarkable precision. When not extended, the base of the tongue wraps around the back of the skull, and in some woodpecker species, the tongue stretches all the way around the skull to the position of the right nostril.

Specialized sticky saliva on the tongue attaches to insects, larvae, or other foods on contact to procure food that might otherwise escape. The tongue tip may also have bristles or backward-facing barbs that hook insects as the tongue pulls them out of a crevice. Woodpeckers’ tongues have specialized keratin tips that naturally regenerate as they become worn.

Woodpeckers are among the most diverse and interesting families of birds, numbering more than 200 different species found on 5 continents. There is so much more to learn about their fascinating adaptations, so if woodpeckers interest you, refer to the Bird Academy at the Wonderful World of Woodpeckers to look into their online woodpecker course, which is reduced in price now. Read more

From the Boone and Crockett Club

Elk Hijinks on the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Ranch

In northwest Montana, the Club’s Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Ranch (TRMR) provides habitat for ungulates like mule deer, whitetails, moose, pronghorn, and the ever-endearing Rocky Mountain elk. And yes, the ranch is open to the public for hunting.

Enrolled in Montana’s Block Management program, the TRMR sits in hunting district 441. Over-the-counter elk tags can be used during archery season for bulls and cows. Rifle season requires a special permit. You do need permission to hunt the ranch prior to your hunt, and the details are available by clicking this link for BMA #77. Hunters typically harvest 8-12 elk from the ranch each year.

In the fall, the TRMR will typically hold around 300 elk, but the elk like it here year-round. They will branch off in June to drop their calves, then bunch up into herds of 30-100 in the summer months. They consistently move from mountain (sub-alpine) levels to prairie flatlands throughout warm/dry and cold/snowy weather cycles.

Alongside these elk herds, the TRMR hosts educational youth camps at the Rasmuson Wildlife Center throughout the summer. The ranch is the perfect base camp for Scout expeditions and hunter education classes. Scattered throughout the ranch are dozens of trail cameras set in key locations, which take thousands of shots every year. This is just a small sampling of what the elk are up to throughout the year.

Nine months after two cougar kittens were documented in the Upper Peninsula, a new trail camera photo indicates the elusive animals are still alive and living with their mother.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources verified the Dec. 6 photo of an adult cougar being followed by two kittens down a snowy trail in central Ontonagon County. The last time the kittens were documented – in early March – they were only about two months old and their mother was nowhere in sight, raising concerns about the kittens’ survival.

But the newly verified photo shows an adult cougar with two juvenile cougars that appear to be about a year old, according to Brian Roell, the DNR’s large carnivore specialist.

Michigan is home to very few cougars and genetic testing has confirmed the existence of only adult males. The new photo suggests one of the first instances of cougar reproduction to take place outside the cougars’ core area in the Western states.

“This is a historic confirmation for Michigan since it is the first time in over 100 years that verified cougar reproduction has occurred east of the Mississippi River and possible even east of the Missouri River,” Roell said.

A private landowner sent the trail camera photo of the cougars to the DNR on Sunday, Dec. 14. Roell verified the site of the photo Monday and the DNR’s cougar team confirmed the photo Tuesday by enhancing the nighttime image to verify the existence of the three cougars. The sex of the kittens is unknown. Read more