Michigan state parks focus on visitor safety by becoming ‘StormReady’

DNR’s Parks and Recreation Division named a Weather-Ready Nation Ambassador

When a severe thunderstorm capable of producing damaging hail and 60-mph winds rolled through Yankee Springs State Recreation Area on a hot and humid Sunday afternoon in late July, park rangers were faced with a daunting task: ensuring the safety of the hundreds of visitors enjoying the park’s campgrounds, picnic areas and lakes.Advance warning keeps campers safe

After a flurry of activity – directing visitors to storm shelters, checking on the welfare of campers, avoiding trees that were toppled by the wind, and assessing other damage to the park – the weather eventually calmed and it became clear to the rangers that their mission had been accomplished. Read more

General

2014-2015 Michigan’s Living Resources patch, featuring the threatened lake sturgeon, now available!

Lake sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens) are a unique fish species found in Michigan. These fish primarily inhabit large river and lake systems in the Mississippi River, Hudson Bay and Great Lakes basins. An important biological component of the Great Lakes fish community, lake sturgeon are listed as a threatened species in Michigan and as either threatened or endangered by 19 of the 20 states within their original range in the U.S.

lake sturgeon patchLake sturgeon, the only sturgeon species common to the Great Lakes basin, are the largest freshwater fish native to that system. Lake sturgeon can be considered a near-shore, warm-water species preferring water temperatures in the range of mid-50 to low-70 degrees Fahrenheit and depths 15 to 30 feet (although sturgeon in the Great Lakes are often found at greater depths). Lake sturgeon are benthivores, which means they feed on small invertebrates such as insect larvae, crayfish, snails, clams and leeches they find along the bottom of lakes and rivers. Read more

Fishing, Wildlife

Five-time Olympic Medalist is Scholastic Clay Target Program Alumna

Kim Rhode to Serve as Honorary Fundraising Chairperson for SSSF 


MAUMEE, Ohio (August 1, 2014) — Scholastic Shooting Sports Foundation (SSSF) is pleased to announce that Olympic Gold Medalist Kim Rhode will serve as its Honorary Fundraising Chairperson for 2014-2015. Kim is an alumna of the Scholastic Clay Target Program (SCTP), having been involved in the earliest days of SCTP.

Kim Rhode“SCTP was very important to me as I began my competitive shooting career, and I am very pleased to lend my support to promote its ongoing growth,” said Rhode.

“Kim represents the best attributes of our program and is a tremendous role model for our youth, not only as an Olympic athlete, but also now as a hard-working mom,” said Louise K. Terry, Chairperson of the SSSF Board of Directors. “Her extraordinary success in her career is due to her dedication to our sport and to her persistent pursuit of her personal goals. We are very proud of Kim and her outstanding achievements.” Read more

Firearms, Gun Control

Armed American Radio with Mark Walters To Welcome Author and Film Maker Dinesh D’Souza On Sunday, August 3, 2014

Atlanta, GA 8-1-2014–Armed American Radio with Mark Walters brings author and filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza to the national radio broadcast this Sunday, 8-3-2014. Discussing the upcoming appearance, Mr. Walters said the following:

“While we face historic attacks against our second amendment freedoms during this age of Obama, it is safe to say that these attacks are but one part of a much larger assault against all of our freedoms. No one has done a better job of exposing the president and his extremely dangerous progressive agenda than Mr. D’Souza. His books and films should be a wake-up call to all Americans who are concerned about their loss of liberties, regardless of political affiliation. I look forward to lending Armed American Radio’s microphone to Mr. D’Souza this Sunday, 8-3-2014 as he continues to expose the progressive lies.” Read more

Firearms, Gun Control, Self Defense

SIG SAUER® Launches New Webstore, Expanded Product Lines

NEWINGTON, N.H. (July 31, 2014) – SIG SAUER® has launched a redesigned webstore, offering an expanded selection of SIG SAUER branded clothing, merchandise, accessories, and a new line of Mitch Rosen designed holsters.

The SIG SAUER webstore has always been the premier online resource for factory parts and accessories. Now fans can show their affinity for the SIG SAUER brand with a selection of men’s and women’s shirts, sweatshirts, hats, and drinkware.

“SIG SAUER owners are passionate about their firearms,” said Jeff Creamer, SIG SAUER Executive Director and Chief Merchandise Manager. “Now they can show that passion with products that fit the SIG SAUER brand.”

In addition to new clothing, SIG SAUER has partnered with Mitch Rosen Extraordinary Gunleather to provide a line of SIG SAUER-specific holsters, including hard-to-find holsters for handguns such as the SP2022®, 1911, P320, P250® and P290®. Right- and left-hand models are available in most patterns. Read more

Firearms, Self Defense

DRD Tactical Releases M762 Semi-Auto Pistol

 DRD Tactical announces the release of the M762 Pistol, a quick takedown, semi-automatic Pistol chambered in 7.62 NATO/.308 win, which can be assembled from its brief case size hard-case without any tools, in less than a minute.

The M762 is built on billet lower and upper receivers, uses Magpul 308 PMags or DPMS pattern metal magazine, comes with a MIL-STD 1913 Picatinny 13″ QD Rail with mounting holes on 3 sides for Magpul L-4 Rail Panels. Read more

Firearms

First early teal hunting season in nearly 50 years set for Sept. 1-7

Waterfowl hunters have an exciting new hunting opportunity to look forward to, as Sept. 1-7 will mark Michigan’s first early teal hunting season in nearly 50 years. These small ducks, especially blue-winged teal, are some of the earliest duck species to migrate each fall.

group of blue-winged teal in flightThis statewide teal-only season is now possible because of growing teal populations. The Michigan Natural Resources Commission approved the Sept. 1-7 early teal season at the commission’s July 10 meeting. Hunters may take six teal per day and hunt from sunrise to sunset.

Accurate identification of ducks is essential during this special season, because only teal are legal to harvest. It is important for hunters to understand the season is experimental for three years, and the Department of Natural Resources is required to measure the attempts and harvest of non-target species to make sure hunters are harvesting teal and not other duck species like wood ducks and mallards. Read more

Hunting

Threatened and endangered species feature: bald eagle

What’s brown and white and found all over Michigan? Bald eagles! The story of the bald eagle is a tragedy turned into a narrative of redemption and success.

 

bald eagleIn the earliest records of birds in Michigan, bald eagles were reported to be found nesting from Monroe County in the south all the way up to Gogebic County in the north. In fact, bald eagles were found from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from northern Canada all the way to Mexico, and their numbers were estimated to be as high as 100,000 nesting birds.

By 1950, however, the bald eagle’s numbers had been on a slow decline for a couple of centuries as people destroyed their habitat, ate their food and killed them to protect livestock and the small game animals that were part of their diet.

This decline accelerated dramatically in the 1950s due mostly to the increasing use of pesticides that contained DDT and increased industrial production that used PCBs. These chemicals became concentrated in the eagles’ prey and accumulated in the eagles’ bodies. They weakened the eagles’ eggs so that they were crushed when the adult birds tried to incubate them and also led to higher rates of death in adult eagles. Read more

Wildlife

Private and Public Land Access, Small Properties All Play Crucial Roles for America’s Hunters

FERNANDINA BEACH, Fla. — While public land access remains a persistent and major challenge for many sportsmen, privately owned land provides the majority of opportunity for today’s hunters. When asked to describe the type of land they hunted most often in the past 12 months, roughly two-thirds of hunters used privately owned properties compared to one-third who utilized public lands the majority of the time. Read more

Hunting
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