“The news paper for people who love the north”

Early September 2013 Vol. 60, No. 17 $2.50 Digital Delivery

Michigan’s Conservation Sentinel Since 1953

Jim Curwood & Conservation Page 4

Judge Dismisses Graymont Still Voices of North Barry DNR Suit Seeking Mine Site Manitou Island Page 1 Page 1 Page 6

Poacher Pays A A Life At Kirtland’s Warbler High Price Au Sable Institute Partnership Page 1 Page 3 Page 8

www.mynorthwoodscall.com $75,000 restitution in poaching case Graymont still analyzing U.P. mine sites A Shiawassee County man counts of illegal baiting. Officials at Graymont, one of North America’s Information Act (FOIA) request, Graymont may be nabbed for poaching will pay the It is one of the largest poach - leading lime producers, say they will likely complete zeroing in on 10,000 acres near Rexton, but Robison state of Michigan $75,000 in ing cases in recent Michigan his - their analysis of potential sites for a proposed quar - declined to reveal the locations of any specific pieces restitution and have his hunting tory, DNR officials said. rying operation in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula (U.P.) of property being considered. privileges revoked for the next Birchmeier pleaded no contest within the next couple of months. “I’m not at liberty to say which ones,” he said, three years. on three counts of taking and/or “We’re still moving ahead with the project,” said “but we will share that information as soon as we Brian Birchmeier, 51, of possessing deer and turkey, and Bob Robison, the company’s director of mining and can.” Owosso Township, was sen - one county of licensing viola - geology, noting that Graymont has spent a significant Robison said the final decision about the project tenced Aug. 12 under a plea tions, which allowed the court to amount of money on test drilling at various locations. and its location is not entirely up to Graymont. A lot agreement in Shiawassee County revoke license privileges at its “We’re looking at property and trying to determine of it, he said, will be “up to the regulators” and District Court. He had been fac - discretion. our best options. Once we go through the analysis whether the company can negotiate the land deals. ing 125 misdemeanor charges re - DNR Conservation Officer and determine our next steps, then we’ll move ahead One of many questions being asked by opponents lated to poaching deer and Daniel Bigger was called to with land acquisition.” is what will be done to protect whatever wetlands turkey. Birchmeier’s home in October Robison has said that Graymont is looking a sev - exist within the chosen mining area. The FOIA doc - Last October, Birchmeier was 2012 on a tip from the Shi - eral parcels in an area south to southeast of Newberry. uments reportedly suggest that there is a plan to “zig- found in possession of parts of awassee County Sheriff’s De - Much of the land is state-owned, he said, but there zag” the mine around the wetlands, an idea some have more than 100 animals, accord - partment. Bigger found several are also some privately owned parcels being exam - said would be foolish and unworkable. ing to the Michigan Department sets of antlers, as well as illegal ined. Graymont is anxious to provide the public with of Natural Resources (DNR). He bait piles. According to one Michigan resident who has been more information, according to Robison, but didn’t was originally charged with 115 The officer subsequently ob - looking at documents obtained under a Freedom of (Continued on Page 2) counts of taking or possessing a tained a search warrant and deer over the legal limit, one seized more than 170 antlers, as Early September 2013 Vol. 60, No. 17 count of taking a deer without a well as shoulder mounts, cross - Digital Delivery license, seven counts of taking a bows and turkey beards. $2.50 turkey without a permit and two

North Woods Notes Michigan’s Conservation Sentinel Since 1953 Was dead bear CRYING WOLF ... AGAIN: Keep Michigan Wolves Protected has responsible for reportedly filed a second petition to ban wolf hunting in Michigan. Stung by recent legislation that gives the Natural Resources Commission attack on girl? additional power to designate game species and hunting seasons in the A Wexford County property state—which effectively scuttled an earlier referendum effort—the owner shot and wounded a group, backed by the Humane Society of the United States, will con - black bear Aug. 17, because he tinue its push for the issue to go to voters. The DNR, meanwhile, has thought the animal was a threat delayed license sales until September 28 to help them prepare for an ex - to his life. pected high demand among Michigan hunters. Also, the use of steel-jaw It was uncertain whether it leg traps will no longer be allowed as part of this year’s hunt. was the same bear that was in - WEEKLY FISHING REPORT: Beginning Sept. 5, the Department volved in an attack on a young of Natural Resources’ (DNR) popular weekly fishing report will be girl two days earlier in Haring available via a toll-free telephone number. Just dial 1-855-777-0908 for Township. The 12-year-old no-charge updates. You can also find the report—containing the latest victim reportedly underwent fishing news and information—online at www.michigan.gov/fishingre - surgery at Munson Medical port, or subscribe via e-mail Center in Traverse City, before BEARS: Michigan has an estimated population of 8,000 to 10,000 being released for recovery at black bears, according to the DNR, with 90 percent of them in the Upper home. Peninsula. Bears are generally afraid of humans and will usually leave Two Michigan conservation an area if they become aware that people are present, DNR officials said. officers—Sam Koscinski and Attacks on humans—such as the one that occurred during mid-August Holly Pennoni—tracked the in Wexford County (see related story on this page)—are unusual, they wounded bear, shooting and said, and in most cases occur because a sow is protecting her cubs. killing it at about 2:45 a.m. CONSERVATION THREATS: Ducks Unlimited (DU) is calling on Aug. 18. The bear was about members and supporters to stand up for vital conservation programs— two miles from the area where such as the North American Wetlands Conservation Act—that are threat - the girl was attacked. ened by federal budget-cutting measures. Such programs combine The animal’s carcass was non-federal dollars from partners such as DU and match them with sent to the Department of Nat - “modest federal dollars” to deliver millions of acres of habitat conser - ural Resources’ Wildlife Dis - vation, DU officials said. ease Laboratory in Lansing for PASSENGER PIGEON PATCH: The 2013-2014 Michigan Living DNA and disease testing, offi - —Michigan DNR photo Resources Patch features the passenger pigeon to mark the 100th an - Soaring Back cials said. It was to be checked niversary of the bird’s extinction. Once thought to be the most abun - An osprey glides across the Michigan sky—testifying that the against fur and other DNA dant land bird in North America with an estimated population of up to species once decimated by DDT and other pesticides is rebounding samples taken from the girl’s 5 billion, passenger pigeons were wiped out within about 40 years dur - in the state. Officials say they have already exceeded their 2020 clothing. Results —unavail - ing the late 1800s due largely to popular pigeon shooting matches and goal of 30 active nests in the southern Lower Peninsula—56 to be able at the time of this writ - market hunting. Loss of the birds is a reminder of why it is critical to exact—and have been able to remove the osprey from the threatened ing—were expected within protect threatened and endangered species. species list and sustain their population in Michigan. several days. INVASIVE SPECIES: The Michigan Department of Environmen - tal Quality has issued its final report and recommendations of the state’s Aquatic Invasive Species Advisory Council. The report supports the Judge dismisses lawsuit against the DNR state management plan that has now been submitted to the federal A judge has dismissed a citizen lawsuit against the MLAWD is seeking to have the leases set aside at Aquatic Nuisance Species Task Force, and features recommendations Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) least until environmental impact studies can be relating to ballast water, the Pure Michigan brand, education and phrag - and its director, Keith Creagh, over the sale of oil and done—particularly in regard to impacts of the con - mites control, among other things. The recommendations have been gas leases in Allegan and Barry counties. troversial process known as horizontal hydrofractur - outlined by the Michigan United Conservation Clubs and can be read at Barry County Circuit Judge Amy McDowell indi - ing, or “fracking.” www.mucc.org/2013/08/invasive-species-recommendations-released/ cated that the case was premature and “not ripe for DNR attorneys, however, argued that there was no WALLEYES GALORE: The DNR Fisheries Division stocked review” by the court at this time. genuine issue for trial, because the lawsuit depends 4,160,502 walleye fingerlings in 120 bodies of water throughout Michi - Michigan Land Air Water Defense (MLAWD), a on “hypothetical events which have not occurred and gan during the past spring and summer. A total of 30 walley ponds lo - nonprofit citizens’ group, filed suit last October in op - may never occur.” Even if such events do occur, the cated across the state—which are critical to the state’s cool water position to the sale of oil and gas leases in the Barry DNR says, a well-established procedure is in place fisheries management—were used this year. and Allegan State Game Areas, as well as in the Yan - for the state Department of Environmental Quality to FREE-THOUGHT BUREAUCRAT: In an agency wide address kee Springs Recreation Area, because they say the do a review and impact assessment before any devel - to employees last month, U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Sally land has previously been set aside for recreational opment activity would be allowed. Jewell reportedly suggested that no one working for her should chal - purposes under the public trust doctrine. The DNR “Michigan courts have long held that the court lenge the idea that human activity is driving changes in the earth’s cli - has violated the public trust, they say, by failing to should be a place of last resort,” McDowell said. “A mate. “I hope there are no climate change deniers in the Department of protect the greater public interest by selling the lease plaintiff lacks standing to bring forward a case if there the Interior,” she is said to have proclaimed. options and not keeping those areas safe from devel - are other avenues for the plaintiff to seek relief.” (Continued on Page 2) opment. (Continued on Page 3) Page 2 Early September 2013 ThE NorTh WoodS Call

Our 60th Year: Looking Back to September 2, 1970 — Excerpts from The North Woods Call — Forest zoning may flop By Glen Sheppard The first two weeks in August 1970 could become historically sig - nificant, or notorious, in Michigan’s north woods history. Thirty or 50 years from now, a father may stand among huge pines in the Au Sable State Forest and tell his son that this area was reserved for him by Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) field men. Or he may stand on the same spot with oil wells, power lines and roads all around them, and tell his son that foresters, game biol - ogists and fish biologists back in 1970 tried to zone this area off-lim - its to development, but were overruled by administrators in Lansing. The next few months should tell how the story will be written in the year 2000, or 2020. By August 15, the DNR professionals who live and work in the north woods had completed rough zoning of all state-owned and some privately owned lands in the northern Lower Peninsula. Their ideas on how to do the job varied greatly, in that there was no standardized terms or classifications used. But the zoning maps seen by The North Woods Call show that the field men were operating under the same basic idea—zone still largely unspoiled areas as closed to further de - velopment of any kind. Not only did they zone these areas off-limits to oil drilling, but also MANISTEE RIVER CLEANUP to highway construction, trail road improvement, power and pipe The Old Au Sable Fly Shop in Grayling—which for many years housed a recreational canoe livery—is the lines, impoundments, gravel pits and every other form of forest ex - starting point for the Sept. 21 Manistee River Cleanup. For more information, or to volunteer for the ploitation, except controlled recreation and timber harvest. event, contact Andy Partlo at [email protected]. And don’t forget the 19th Annual Au Sable River Almost without exception, the field men agreed that any new Cleanup on Sept. 7, which kicks off at Gates Au Sable Lodge (10 a.m.) and ends with the George Alexan - power and pipe lines and highways should follow existing highway der Memorial Luncheon there. To pre-register for that one, call Josh Greenberg at (989) 348-8462. paths, or go through areas where there is the least amount of unspoiled public forest. They also touched—briefly, due to the lack of time—on areas in which they feel motorized recreation vehicles should be banned, or re - Graymont says stricted to specified trails. company is still A look at the zoning maps shows great differences. For instance, North Woods Notes in Ogemaw County, only a fraction of the state-owned land is con - seeking mine site sidered by the local resource managers to be worth zoning as a non- development zone—while up in Emmet, Cheboygan, Charlevoix, (Continued from Page 1) Otsego, Antrim, Montmorency and Presque Isle counties, the vast yet have much to share when con - (Continued from Page 1) majority of state forest is crossed off to oil drillers, road builders, tacted by The North Woods Call . NRC MEETINGS: The next Michigan Natural Resources Com - power companies, etc. “That’s the challenge,” Robi - mission meeting will be held Sept. 12 at the Michigan State University As one forester in the DNR’s Cadillac district put it, “they have son said. “We need to let people Diagnostic Center, 4125 Beaumont Road in Lansing. The Nov. 7 and more to save up there (in the northernmost Lower Peninsula)—more know that we’re moving forward Dec. 12 meetings will also be held at that location. On October 10, that hasn’t already been spoiled.” and we will do that as soon as we commissioners will convene at Pine Mountain Resort, 3332 Pine Moun - The zoning maps are now in Lansing, where DNR Deputy Direc - can. We’re not dodging ques - tain Road, in Iron Mountain. For more information about starting times tor for Field Operations Warren Shapton says staff personnel will go tions. We want to be as clear as and agendas, visit the Michigan Department of Natural Resources web - to work to refine and standardize the hurried and rough terminology we can.” site at michigan.gov/dnr. produced by the field men. Once the exploratory phase is NO TO ENBRIDGE: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency When Shapton and northern Lower Peninsula regional chief Troy completed, Robison said, a news (EPA) in August denied a request by Enbridge Energy to extend the Yoder gave field men the go-ahead to do the fast zoning job, they release will be sent out and he ex - deadline for dredging the delta in Morrow Lake near Comstock in Kala - handed out only sketchy directions. pects the project will move ahead mazoo County. The EPA, which ordered the dredging, said the company “We weren’t sure how we should do it,” Shapton explained, “so “as soon as possible.” A specific failed to report in detail about it’s efforts to find alternative dredge pad we asked field men to submit their thoughts. We assumed there are timeline, however, will be set by sites in the face of continued local opposition to a previously chosen lo - 100 ideas or more out there, which is good. The more the better.” Graymont’s management team cation. It is not clear whether the company has considered other op - Now, Shapton explained, the staff experts in Lansing will get their when all the relevant information tions, the EPA said, such as using several smaller dredge pads or other licks in and return the plan to field men for updating and additional has been collected. methodologies. An adjacent property owner concerned with potential ideas. He hopes the zoning maps will start going back to field men John Maitland, Graymont’s re - contamination filed a lawsuit against Enbridge over the first choice of for a second look in about a month. gional environmental health and a dredge pad location. Shapton admits field men who fear Lansing will weaken their zon - safety manager, said the next FERAL SWINE: Wild hogs can reproduce quickly and tear up farm ing proposals may have reason for concern, due to what they have phase of the project will involve a crops and native landscapes, according to the Michigan United Conser - seen happen in oil leasing recently. But he insists that, if Lansing town hall-style meeting to talk vation Clubs. They directly impact wildlife by feeding on ground-nest - makes any major changes in the field’s recommendations, it will still with U.P. residents, let them know ing birds, fawns and other small animals. They also spread various be to enlarge and strengthen the non-development areas. the current status of the effort and diseases. It is estimated that there are 1,000 to 3,000 feral swine in Shapton, who has been as upset as just about anyone over the fact share with them the company’s Michigan, but the population is expected to expand if nothing is done that large wilderness tracts were leased to oil drillers without field “internal values.” now to control the numbers. (See more in the next North Woods Call ). men having a chance to recommend against the leases, says the zon - If the project is ultimately ap - ENERGY HOGS: Plugged in environmentalists in touch with the ing should have been done years ago. proved and goes forward, public latest communication technologies may not be happy to know that the When the zoning is completed, Shapton hopes it will be used by access will be granted to all land average iPhone uses more energy than a mid-size refrigerator, accord - the DNR to convince legislators and the governor to provide funds for that’s not actively being mined, ing to Mark Mills, chief executive officer of Digital Power Group, a purchasing private wild lands in non-development areas. Robison said. “We have no inten - tech investment advisory company. Mid-size refrigerators that qualify Obviously, funds for this—if ever provided—will be slow in com - tion of blocking people out,” he for the EPA’s Energy Star rating use about 322 kilowatts per hour, he ing. It thus appears that the zoning plan could become an effective said. “And once we’re through said, while the iPhone uses 361 kilowatts per hour if you calculate re - tool to get the legislature to provide for property tax relief for per - with the mining, there will be land lated wireless connections, data usage and battery charging. Much of sons who own undeveloped land in areas zoned against development, reclamation”—replacing ground that energy is going to server farms—giant clusters of computer servers if they agree to leave the property as it is. cover so vegetation can return. that connect smart phones and databases—as well as to wireless net - The Call hopes that DNR brass will not forget that the forests do “There’s no reason to leave just works that never go to sleep, according to Mills. not belong to them. They belong to the people. HIGH-TECH ARCHERY: A new three-dimensional archery facil - bare rock,” he said. ity has opened at the Sharonville shooting range. Archers are invited to Also, any recreational trails dis - stop in and hone their skills, with a little assistance from modern tech - turbed during the process will be For updates, t-shirts & caps, nology. restored so the public does not visit our website at: HARD ROCKERS: For all you rock hounds out there, mark your lose access, Robison said. calendars for the 6th annual “Rock On!” agate show at Muskallonge “A lot of us are outdoor enthu - www.mynorthwoodscall.com Lake State Park Sept. 14-15. The show—featuring presentations, ven - siasts,” added Maitland. “We like dors and musical entertainment—will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. to hunt and fish, too.” PARTNERS & SPONSORS: The DNR is seeking support from part - Citizens are being asked to ners and sponsors for 2014 outdoor recreation events and initiatives. write to the Michigan Natural Re - Opportunities include volunteering as an instructor for various statewide sources Commission and state campaigns, sponsoring campaign events, and donating to specific proj - legislators to share their views on Also follow us on Facebook, Twitter & Blogger ects. For information, call Maia Turek at (989) 225-8573. the proposed project. ThE NorTh WoodS Call Early September 2013 Page 3 Barry County judge dismisses citizen lawsuit against the state DNR (Continued from Page 1) sider the Allegan State Game Area, she said, because the opinion lacks any reference to one of the central reasons MLAWD filed Once all other “avenues for relief” have and only applies to lands located in Barry law or facts that were presented in the case suit,” the news release said. been exhausted, McDowell said, MLAWD County. under the court rules. So, as it now reads, it Furthermore, the court based its ruling in may then appeal to the court for review of Ed Golder, the DNR’s public informa - is not possible to determine precisely what part on the conclusion that the plaintiff the DNR decisions. tion officer, said the agency is pleased with the opinion means.” failed to show actual harm , although “this The court was not able to consider a vio - the court’s decision, “which affirms the In a news release issued after the ruling, is not the statutory provision on which lation of the public trust at this time, Mc - DNR’s position that the department has the MLAWD said the opinion “demonstrates MLAWD’s claim rests, the group said. In - Dowell said, because the DNR has merely proper protections in place for the state’s misunderstanding of key facts, as well as ap - stead, the claim is based on the DNR’s fail - issued a “non-developmental” lease per - natural resources when it comes to the leas - plicable law with respect to central issues ure to consider effects on land, air, water mit—which means no actual drilling is al - ing of public lands.” presented.” and natural resources, as well as alternatives lowed without a formal application for a “We’re surprised and disappointed, but Among other things, the organization before it sold the leases. change in status—and “has not engaged in we’re not done yet,” said Steve Losher, said, the ruling apparently dismisses the The judge also concluded that no surface any activity that has actually harmed the MLAWD president. case as a whole, while at the same time disturbance can occur unless the DNR later public trust in these resources, or is likely to Jim Olson, a Traverse City attorney rep - doesn’t consider issues arising from leasing reclassifies such leases, they said, and noted do so.” resenting MLAWD, called the ruling “round in Allegan County. It also doesn’t address that the public can appeal reclassification If the DNR had initially classified the one,” because there are many unanswered the conflict between DNR administrative and nondevelopment procedures—conclu - lease as “developmental,” or “developmen - questions and it does not appear to be a final rules governing oil and gas leasing and the sions contrary to DNR staff testimony. tal with restrictions” prior to review of the decision on all issues. procedures the agency adopted to carry out If indeed no reclassification appeal pro - impact on protected areas, then the court “We are reviewing the ruling and weigh - the rules. cedure exists, “it would be improper for a may have reached a different conclusion,” ing our options,” Olson said, “but do intend “The clear public interest in mounting a trial judge to grant summary disposition,” McDowell said. The opinion did not con - to seek clarification from Judge McDowell, challenge to this indefensible disparity is MLAWD said. Reminiscences: A life at Au Sable Institute of Environmental Studies EDITOR’S NOTE: The following below our deck, and my favorite, memories were posted recently on the Currier and Ives beauty of a the Au Sable Trails Institute web - heavy lake-effect snowfall. site. The author may not remem - But there are lots of beautiful ber me after all these years, but I places in the world, and we know was first introduced to Bob Barr that God speaks through his cre - and his colleagues in 1978—dur - ation. There is something more, ing my days at the Antrim County something special, that happens News —when I accompanied on these unique acres. God has some Mancelona middle school honored the prayers of the students on an educational snow - founders that this place would be shoeing expedition at Au Sable a place where God’s presence Trails. I was intrigued by the or - could be felt. Bob Barr will retire from Au ganization’s work then and still Over and over again, I have Sable Institute near Mancelona am. Much later, during the 1990s, heard students, retreat partici - at the end of this year. I met Associate Director Dave pants, campers, and staff testify to Mahan through the W.K. Kellogg which education lagged behind life-changing encounters with Foundation’s Groundwater Edu - and many people had relatively God while they were on these cation in Michigan Program. Our few opportunities to explore the grounds. best to Bob in his pending retire - wider world, but we had rich A college student attended sev - ment. —Mike VanBuren friendships within the Au Sable eral winter retreats here with his * * * community from academic sorts church. He developed a very ag - By Bob Barr far and wide. The college stu - gressive cancer and requested that Director of Support Services dents would come and go, but he be permitted to make one last Au Sable Trails Institute every year there were a couple of winter retreat at Au Sable. We put “Don’t you get bored living out them who would stay on to be in - a couple of beds in the lodge con - here in the middle of nowhere?” terns, or work as staff and perhaps ference room, so his aids could be exclaimed our friend from the big return the next year as students with him through the night, and city (city folk can be so provin - once again. we had a spectacular snowy win - Bob Barr with wife Becky and children enjoy a winter outing during cial). “I couldn’t stand the isola - We got close to these folks, and ter weekend. He died in the an earlier time in his 36 years at Au Sable Institute. tion.” occasionally would serve as men - spring. that we were moving north to Au have been some tough moments, [My wife] Becky and I had tors and guides for them. At the Just this past week, a student Sable—even before Harold of - and I could not have done it with - been living at Au Sable in the very least, they were the sources from our first fall semester pro - fered me the job. In fact, one of out Becky, Trish, Muriel, and caretaker’s house for several years for many wonderful stories. Over gram showed up because he was the issues (among a long list of Dave. by the time our friend made her the years, we have hosted in our in the area and wanted to find out others) she wrestled with before While I am convinced that the comment. home educators, scientists, a con - if Au Sable still existed. He spoke agreeing to marry me was life changing encounters many Trish Fagg, Au Sable’s envi - gressman, theologians, journal - of the impact this place had on his whether a good Southern Baptist people have had on these grounds ronmental education director, ists, famous authors and thinkers life 33 years ago. Interestingly girl from Kentucky could survive are the result of the prayers of our lived in a cottage 30 feet from our from five continents enough, I remembered him as one in the north woods. She has not founders, I believe with equal fer - house and Au Sable’s founder Our kids’ lives were enlarged with whom we failed to connect. only survived, but thrived here— vor that a big part of the good that Harold Snyder and his wife Ellen by playing with professor’s kids, He wasn’t interested in biology, serving mostly at no pay as cook, has happened here is the result of lived just across the pond, a five who came from all over the could be abrasive at times and professor, housekeeper, environ - the spirit and community that was minute walk away. United States to spend their sum - was always pushing the behav - mental education intern, coun - forged here by servant hearts, Our basement was constantly mers with us. And we were en - ioral boundaries. While I liked selor and artist. gentle spirits and giving lives that filled with an ever-changing as - riched by local people who did him personally, I was not unhappy We’ve been blessed by the Trish, Muriel, Dave and maybe I sortment of environmental educa - not have much education, nor had when he left. And yet God spoke presence of many others who have poured into this place. tion interns, students, faculty they seen much of the world, but to him here (probably in spite of have been devoted to this place: One of the delights of my job families, or staff. Twenty to thirty who lived a rubber-meets-the- us) and his life was impacted. Harold and Ellen Snyder, who be - is its variety. My tasks change year-round residents came to the road sort of Christian life—in - God still speaks here. Some tween them have been professor, with the program and the season. lodge one evening a week for an formed by an unsophisticated, but students have changed majors and mentor, employer, colleague, sur - Nothing remains the same. Trish environmental education program very personal and powerful faith. career tracks as a result of their Au rogate parents, neighbors, and and Muriel are retired, and I will that Trish coordinated. So, no, from a people perspec - Sable experience. One guy came friends; Trish Fagg, who has sen - be soon. But Paul [Wiemerslage], Becky and I were involved in tive, we did not have time to get to Au Sable planning to be a iority on me by two months, and Lynn [Drew], Dieter [Bouma], our local church (a shorter driving bored. Rather, the thousands of wildlife biologist and told me later joined Becky and I as Au Sable Dave, and Fred [Van Dyke] are in time than our city friend was from people who have been part of our that it was my fault he was a mis - pioneers in 1977; Muriel Janisse, place, and I believe that Au Sable her church) two nights a week, lives these past 36 years have sionary in Uganda. Several have who is next in seniority, and who is ready to move forward and con - and I had just joined the local vol - blessed us and enriched us in met their spouses here and a few I often refer to as “poor Muriel” tinue its life-changing work. unteer fire department (our motto: ways incalculable. have even gotten married, or had because of the jokes she took So it is with a deep sense of “We’ll save your lot”). So you can Our friend, who calculated their receptions here. from Dave Mahan and I, but she gratitude for the adventure that see why I broke into laughter boredom by the absence of peo - Others have committed their certainly was a victim who gave God has allowed Becky and me to when I heard my friend's question. ple, completely missed a very lives to the Lord while sitting qui - as good as she got; and Dave live here at Au Sable, and a confi - We were facing a classic case of powerful element of life at Au etly by the water, or in the forest. Mahan, who was hired to be my dence that God will continue to “looks can be deceiving.” Sable, and that is the place itself. It is these people who have been supervisor, but quickly became work in the hearts and lives of More than the total number of This is a beautiful place, and each the main reason I have stayed here my brother (except for my biolog - people who experience this place, people in our lives was the qual - season has its charms: the spec - for all these years. ical brother, there is no one closer that I can pack away my tools and ity of those people. tacular colors of fall, the returning Those people and maybe a cou - to me than Dave). delight in what God has in store Becky and I did worry about birds of spring, morning mists ple of others. While I would not trade my life for this very special place. raising kids in a community in over the lakes, fox kits playing Becky knew long before I did at Au Sable for anything, there Page 4 Early September 2013 ThE NorTh WoodS Call James Oliver Curwood & Michigan conservation Opinion I’ve never been sure what me - dieval-style castles have to do Conservation Quote with conservation and north North Woods Journal “Nothing can ever be done in the mighty work of upbuilding our woods action-adventure stories. By Mike VanBuren forests and wildlife until the house in Lansing is utterly cleaned out.” But it’s something I puzzle —James Oliver Curwood over whenever I pass through the lower Michigan community of from its original purpose into a sources and owned several cabins, Owosso and see the unusual writ - political machine, which had for including one along the Au Sable Judge muffles citizen voices ing studio built by early 20th Cen - its aim the spending of money River near Roscommon that was Sometimes it seems like all branches of government—elected tury novelist James Oliver where it would do the most later expanded into a lodge said to and unelected—conspire to thwart the will of citizens. Curwood on the banks of the Shi - good—for politicians. have once hosted the likes of Cal - Such is the case in Barry County, where Circuit Court Judge awassee River. Sound familiar? ifornia newspaper magnate amy Mcdowell recently ruled in favor of the Michigan department Curwood was famous for his The Curwood Castle—actually William Randolph Hearst. of Natural resources’ (dNr) request to dismiss a lawsuit brought lifelong interest in the outdoors a replica of a Norman chateau— Under the administration of against the agency by Michigan land air Water defense and the riveting stories he penned was built rather late in the au - then Michigan Gov. Fred Green, (MlaWd). about nature, romance and the thor’s life, just four years before Curwood saw some notable suc - MlaWd—a citizen’s group opposed to the sale of oil and gas struggles of fictional heroes and he died in 1927 at the age of 49 cesses in his campaign for conser - leases in the Barry and allegan State Game areas, as well as the heroines living in the far north. from an infection related to what vation, although neither the Yankee Springs recreation area—was surprised by the ruling. He was among the best-selling is believed to have been a spider governor nor fellow Conserva - So were we. The citizens put up their own resources against American novelists of his era— bite. Likewise, Curwood’s zeal - tion Commission members were the taxpayer-funded legal team of the dNr to ask that the leases certainly the highest paid—with ous dedication to conservation— ready for all of the major reforms be nixed, at least until environmental impact studies can be done. his literary creations appearing in capped by his own appointment to he proposed. The judge, however, sided with dNr attorneys and outlined magazines, books, stage produc - the Conservation Commission in His legacies include pushing her reasons—somewhat confusingly—in a written opinion. tions and early motion pictures. 1926—blossomed during the last through the commission a resolu - We think MlaWd attorney Jim olson makes a solid argument Yet, in 1922—while seeking a decade of his life. tion supporting the purchase of a when he says the dNr claims are “so intertwined with factual as - quiet retreat to do his writing and Prior to that, by his own ad - stand of virgin white and Norway sertions on the part of the agency” that the only way to resolve the meet with business associates— mission, he was a wanton killer of pine near Grayling, which later arguments is through a formal trial. It is uncertain now whether Curwood constructed what is now animals and had numerous big- became the showpiece of that will happen. known as the “Curwood Castle,” game trophies hanging on the Hartwick Pines State Park. Per - Stay tuned, though. More legal jousting is sure to come. a fairy tale bit of architecture walls of his Owosso home to haps more importantly, Curwood more reminiscent of the European prove it. All that changed, how - significantly moved public debate Feral cats: Pets gone wild? Middle Ages than the harsh wilds ever, during a hunting trip to the toward the conservation of Michi - The three cats that reside in our home are warm, cuddly crea - of North America. Canadian Rockies, where he gan’s natural resources and built tures that snuggle, purr and carefully groom themselves to Go figure. stalked a large grizzly bear he support for many related policies demonstrate that they are lovable and well-behaved domestic Maybe Curwood wanted to named Thor. Curwood reportedly and programs that followed. sweethearts. stand out among his Shiawassee tried to kill the animal three times He wanted to limit, or even let them outside, however, and they immediately turn into vi - County neighbors, or—as some in three weeks—seriously wound - close, certain hunting seasons, cious serial killers that get perverse pleasure out of maiming more have said—fulfill his romantic ing it—until Thor approached him and he was interested in stocking vulnerable animals—then proudly leaving the mangled leftovers notions of an inspiring place to one day on a rocky ledge high on streams and game preserves, as of mice, chipmunks, birds, rabbits and squirrels on our doorstep. write his stories. He was far from the side of a cliff and Curwood well as reforestation. We don’t like it—although we appreciate the general absence commonplace himself and may slipped and fell, breaking his gun. “Conservation is not simply a of trouble-making mice around our home—but we’re not sure have longed for something unique The bear reared up on its hind matter for the hunter and fisher - what to do about the slaughter. like us, our cats are outdoor- to match his personality. legs, as if it were going to attack man,” he said. “Our very lives lovers and would go stir-crazy if we imprisoned them in the house. Regardless of the reason, the the terrified hunter, then turned and future prosperity depend on according to a Smithsonian Institute study, free-ranging cats castle is somewhat symbolic of and walked away with a low it.” like ours are the top threat to wildlife in the United States, killing Curwood’s crusade for the con - growl. Curwood couldn’t believe In a letter to noted Michigan up to 3.7 billion birds and 20.7 billion mammals each year. Yet servation of Michigan’s wildlife, he had escaped near certain death conservationist P.S. Lovejoy, Cur - there is no real concensus about whether this is acceptable. forests, lakes and streams. and returned home committed to wood said, “We must save what Cat lovers say their pets are simply part of nature’s sometimes Among other things, he was sus - the conservation of wildlife, we already have and then look unpleasant eat-or-be-eaten network and are hard-wired to do picious of the Michigan Depart - rather than to its destruction. ahead to what we can achieve in what they do. Those less enamored with prowling renegades, ment of Conservation’s ability to Of course, he wrote a story the next 50 or 100 years.” however, say something must be done about these mass mur - manage natural resources, and be - about the incident—published in Unfortunately, after his death, derers and have even proposed the hunting of feral and stray lieved that political patronage was 1916 as “The Grizzly King”—in many of the things Curwood cats—those once adorable human companions that have re - interfering with effective enforce - which he said, “Thor was not, like fought for—especially when it turned to the wild. ment of the state’s game and fish man, a murderer.” comes to separating partisan poli - That may be oK for often unhealthy felines that are truly un - laws. Going forward, Curwood tics from conservation—have domesticated—living outdoors without any human contact or Simply put, he didn’t think that began to campaign publicly about been routinely sidestepped. care—but how would hunters tell the difference between one of the Michigan Conservation Com - the virtues of conservation. For the crusading author, how - those and a free-ranging domestic cat? mission and the bureaucrats hired “I have ceased to be a de - ever, it was largely a spiritual Would they be allowed to profile, or ask for a government-ap - to protect the resources were stroyer, as I once destroyed,” he quest that can only be ignored at proved identification card, before aiming and firing? doing their jobs. You might even said, “and my ruling passion is to our peril. say that Curwood saw the state’s help wild things to live, from “Nature is my religion,” he When man collides with nature conservation system as a kind of flowers and trees and birds and said, “The great goal I want to It has been said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. contemporary feudalism where beasts to man himself, rather than achieve is to take my readers with Nowhere does that seem more true than in the relationship be - political favors were given to spe - to indulge further in the dominant me into the heart of this nature. I tween people and nature. cial interests in exchange for their sport of my species—extermina - love it and I feel that they must and conflicts with wildlife may be at the top of the list. loyalty to politicians. tion.” love it—if I can only get the two The struggle with Canada geese has raged for some time in The Department of Conserva - Curwood spent much time en - acquainted.” tion, he said, was being diverted joying Michigan’s outdoor re - grassy backyards, at public parks and on lakeshore beaches, and The North Woods Call the squishy messes they leave behind can turn even the most Book Review docile animal lover into a raging waterfowl exterminator. Michigan’s Conservation Sentinel Since 1953 Then there are mute swans, on which the Michigan depart - God’s Country and the Man ment of Natural resources has declared war—in Barry County, Published regularly by: If you want a quick study in Owosso, Michigan, Curwood Newshound Productions llC among other places—planning to kill thousands over the next five 5411 East dE avenue years to reduce their numbers in the state. The birds are an in - the life and times of Michigan called the Shiawassee County Kalamazoo, Michigan 49004. vasive species, they say, and have a destructive impact on veg - novelist James Oliver Curwood, community home for most of his Telephone: (269) 342-8724 etation. this is a good place to start. relatively short life. Now comes a Bellvue-area farmer, who tells us about the dam - Written by Judith A. Eldridge, He was a relentless writer E-mail: [email protected] and published by Bowling Greet whose outlook on wildlife and age sand hill cranes are doing to his crops. he says he’s able to Website: mynorthwoodscall.com legally shoot them as nuisances, when necessary, but complains State University in 1993, James the protection of natural re - Oliver Curwood: God’s Country sources was significantly altered Online subscription: $35 per year that state law does not allow him to harvest and eat them. “That’s and $60 for two years. stupid, he says. and the Man reveals much about by an encounter with a huge bear It doesn’t seem to matter whether we’re talking about wolves, Curwood, a contemporary of au - on a 1914 hunting expedition. Print subscription: $55 per year and $95 for two years wild hogs, deer, raccoons, or any other species that have found thor and adventurer Jack Lon - A man ahead of his time, Cur - themselves at cross purposes with humans. Some folks want don, and one of the most wood was largely forgotten after Editor & Publisher: Mike VanBuren successful American authors of his death in 1927. He loved na - them protected, while others insist they can’t be eliminated Publishers Emeritus: quickly enough. the 1920s. ture and was a strong advocate Marguerite Gahagan Workable solutions to these dilemmas do not come easily— Like London, Curwood wrote for Michigan conservation Glen and Mary lou Sheppard particularly in this day-and-age when we can’t seem to sit down romance-action-adventure stories causes in his latter years. advertising rates upon request. with others and discuss anything rationally. set in the north woods of Canada Check it out. This book is A Newshound Publication In a weird sense, it’s biodiversity run amok. and Alaska. Born and raised in well worth the read. ThE NorTh WoodS Call Early September 2013 Page 5

The Wild Nearby By Tom Springer Gratefully dead: A garden gone wild The garden looks terrible, but neither nature nor I would have it any other way. For one thing, I can scarcely bear to eat another cucumber. Our veg - gie-sated taste buds no longer crave the pickle-sized dainties of July. So the vines, left to their own devices, have raised-up a final crop of ele - phantine proportions; yellow-green torpedoes that want nothing more than to swell, split and spill their seeds. And I intend to let them. The broccoli, too, have turned renegade. Gone are the compact heads, the seed-catalog perfection of early summer. The plants have shot up lanky stalks topped with a flurry of Easter-yellow flowers. The honey bees and bumblebees go mad for them. As for the tomatoes … well, they do what every leggy tomato plant secretly yearns to do. Topple over, no matter how tightly you’ve staked or trellised them, and thus spill a profusion of red fruit in various stages of ripeness and decay. I’ve never met an upright tomato plant that wouldn’t rather live a horizontal existence. This wonderfully fertile mess illustrates a central paradox of gar - dening. In spring, before a garden can produce even a calorie of pro - duce, you put in long hours to make it perfect. Everything must be living-room tidy. You use a yardstick to line up the distance between plants and rows. Like a prison guard in a watchtower, you scan the bare soil for any fugitive weed that sprouts higher than a golf tee. Then by late summer, you happily let the whole thing go to hell in a bushel basket. The Curwood Castle (above) now houses a museum with Why? Was all this neatness just for vanity’s sake, to show off one’s assorted memorabilia, including a collection of the ad - gardening chops to friends and family? It certainly could be. Yet to venture-romance writer’s books (right). James Oliver thrive, little plants do need protection from the stranglehold of aggres - Curwood (below) from Owosso was an avid hunter of sive weeds. And the blanket of straw and newspapers we laid down in wild animals before an encounter with a large grizzly the garden does hold in the moisture that small, shallow roots need to bear reshaped his priorities and made him a much flourish. (Come spring, the snow-saturated papers will have dissolved to stronger advocate for natural resources conservation. a gray mush and all but disappeared—last year’s bad news turned poet - ically to humus, as it were.) This idyll of neatness has its season, but by Labor Day we welcome the fecund disorder of harvest time. By then we’ve eaten, stir-fried, frozen, pied and jammed our way through a home-grown summer. The freezer and pantry can hold no more. Nor can we impose on family and friends another heavy sack of surplus tomatoes. It’s time, then, to let the garden run its course. For while our plants were hothouse raised, from seeds that may well be genetically mangled, they nonetheless bear the holy trace of their creator’s imprint. As with all living things, they’re encoded with a deep, sacrificial need to further their own kind. And so we let them joyfully go to seed and cast off their unharvested fruit in a last, profligate act of abundance. To be sure, this practice would drive many serious gardeners batty. By mid-October, they’ve rototilled all the vegetative messiness into scorched-earth submission. They don’t want a scraggly patch of plants to over winter and set the stage for a plague of volunteer seedlings in the spring. I don’t mind the volunteers —especially the broccoli sprouts which I find particularly hardy. Beyond that, I let the garden have its way so I can witness the full measure of the year. The whole modern gardening routine—plants raised in sterile indoor nurseries, then sold in big box garden centers noxious with the smell of toxic lawn chemicals—is al - ready stage-managed enough. It doesn’t need our help to truncate the life cycle. Further, we live in a culture that systematically “fixes” cats, dogs and husbands. Some consider it a virtue to put elderly trees and elderly people out of their misery (or out of our misery). Our world, as I find it, is already synthetic enough. I don’t want a contracepted and euthanized re-creation of all that’s phony in my side-yard garden. Now I’m not New Age enough to think that plants have a prescient self-awareness. Yet a phenomenon from last summer’s severe drought did give me pause. In this parched season I noticed several blue spruces in our yard that wore a remarkably thick mantle of cones. Of all years, this seemed like a time when they should conserve their energy. Later, I learned from a botanist friend that this was in fact an act of supreme altruism. The trees were indeed stressed, he said, almost to the point of death. That’s precisely what triggered their reaction. They grew an extra-heavy crop of cones to ensure that more blue spruces would continue after them. Unless a grain of wheat (or even a pine cone) shall fall, then it remains but a single grain. But if it dies, it will bear great fruit. If trees and cu - cumbers can remember that, then maybe we should, too. Letter to the editor Stop poisoning Michigan with toxic oil and gas chemicals Editor: This is a recurring story. One year ago, disposal for one year. fluid after a rainstorm? How much vegeta - Once again, Team Services has been [Michigan Department of Environmental Now, a year later, they are at it again. tion has been destroyed? How will these caught using toxic waste chemicals from oil Quality] (DEQ) documents obtained And the penalty for getting caught? A ver - chemicals affect area farm and homeowner and gas drilling as dust control on roads. through a Freedom of Information request bal reprimand from the DEQ! water wells? According to the Traverse City Record- confirmed that Team Services sprayed thou - How many other roads have been simi - It’s time for the DEQ to do its job. Stop Eagle, Team Services sprayed 300,000 gal - sands of gallons of toxic, carcinogenic larly sprayed? How much toluene, benzene allowing the poisoning of our environment lons of toxic fluid on 121 miles of roads in fracking fluid waste from gas wells on roads and other deadly chemicals have seeped into with oil and gas drilling chemicals. Benzie County. Testing showed levels of in Cheboygan and Kalkaska counties. groundwater from these sprayings? How carcinogenic benzene and toluene 1,000 Public outrage forced the DEQ to sus - many animals (including people’s pets) have Anne Zukowski, Charlevoix times higher than the legal limit. pend permits for this types of “dust control” gotten sick from drinking puddles of toxic Co-chair, Don’t Frack Michigan Page 6 Early September 2013 ThE NorTh WoodS Call It’s a good time to study the monarch butterfly Outdoor Rhythms Now is a good time to visit By Doug Freeman your neighborhood field and seek out some milkweed plants. The Natural World All summer the monarch but - By Richard Schinkel terfly has been laying eggs, The voices of North Manitou hatching, eating and pupating into On a warm, sunny September afternoon some years past, I found a beautiful orange and black but - myself to be the only back-packer on North Manitou Island. Just two terfly. This butterfly is abundant people were on the island in total that day, the other party being the fed - and this is when the population eral caretaker. gets to be the largest. Ranger Dave occupied a house at the old Coast Guard station next It’s a great learning experience to the east side dock. He’d hiked four miles to the southern landing to to teach kids the complete cycle meet me as I straggled down the gangplank of the Manitou Isle. of a butterfly. The stages are: egg, After an amiable-but cautionary speech, he looked me over closely larva (caterpillar), chrysalis (co - while asking about probable destinations. The ranger wrote something coon) and adult butterfly. The in his pocket notebook. monarch is probably the easiest to “Nobody else is scheduled to be on this island for two days,” he in - see and to experience the com - The viceroy butterfly (left) is similar in appearance to the monarch formed me. “So don’t get injured, or killed. That would make a moun - plete stages of its development, (right), but has a distinct line across its trailing wings. tain of paperwork for me.” called metamorphosis. stem or leaf with silk from the rear United States and—until recently, With a smile and a light tap on my shoulder, he was gone—headed The food source for the cater - end and transform itself into a at least—most go into a hidden back toward his station. pillar is the milkweed. Although beautiful chrysalis. The chrysalis valley in Mexico. The most im - For one of the few times in my life, I was acutely alone. Not bad, it feeds on all species of milk - will be bright green with gold dots pressive migration is in Califor - actually, having twenty-two square miles of designated wilderness to weed, it is most easily found on making a partial ring around the nia, where literally hundreds of oneself. As an experienced backpacker who’d camped on the island be - the common, or pasture, milk - top and other gold dots scattered thousands move south. fore, I felt reasonably prepared. weed in old fields. around. Michigan is no slouch in mi - Staying on the shoreline trail, I went south to view the remains of a At this time of the year, you can While inside the chrysalis a gration. As fall approaches, you lighthouse, taken down in 1942. It would have been great to see it in - usually find all the stages of this rapid change is occurring, turning can see them moving south. I tact. The South Manitou Lighthouse is still standing and well-main - butterfly on and around the milk - the caterpillar into a beautiful but - have seen literally hundreds try - tained—an impressive structure right out of a New England painting. weed. Look on the underside of terfly. As the chrysalis ages, it ing to cross Lake Michigan from Unfortunately, a scattering of bricks and pieces of rusted iron are all leaves to see a white dot that on will become darker and darker. the north shore. that remains of the north island light. Kind of sad. closer look appears to resemble a On the last days, you may even be Monarchs have eggs and cater - Further inland, I passed a boarded-up 1920’s-style home with gables hand grenade. This would be the able to make out the color of the pillars in the Upper Peninsula into and a garage. Reputed to be a retreat for Chicago gangsters, the struc - egg. Cut the entire plant and wings through the outer shell. mid September. Both the adult ture is more reliably known to have been a summer home for a well-to- place it in a bottle of water and The butterfly will emerge, un - and caterpillar taste bad, so they do (and law-abiding) Illinois family. wait for the egg to hatch. When fold its wings and dry off. This are normally not eaten by birds. I stopped by a small, overgrown cemetery where the headstones were it first hatches it will look like a takes about ten days. From the Because of this, a mimic in - tilted and obscure. Some of the readable markers were for children small black dot with a short tail. time the caterpillar is mature, until sect—the viceroy butterfly—has who’d died of illnesses in the late 1800s. Makes a person think seri - It won't take long—a few days of it decides to attach itself to some - evolved with much the same de - ously about our human condition. eating—until it doubles and thing, it may wander and show up sign pattern. The easiest way to Two hours of hiking through lovely woods and idyllic meadows triples in size. on the bottom of a table, chair etc. tell them apart is by the trailing brought me to the island’s western side. The wind coming off the lake Normally, the caterpillar re - Some will put a dead-branched wings. The viceroy has a black was strong. I thought I heard someone calling out from behind a line of mains on the same plant. In the stick in the bottle to entice the line across the wings, unlike the grassy dunes. Scanning the shoreline with binoculars, I could see only wild, you may find plants with as caterpillar to attach there. monarch. rough water and a deserted beach, patrolled by seagulls and sandpipers. many as fifteen caterpillars of all I have seen kids transfer the Going through the stages of Camp was set up in a slight hollow just back from the crest of a different sizes feeding. The cater - stick to multiple bottles and get a metamorphosis is good project for wooded dune. My ancient green canvas pup tent was barely visible pillar is colored with bright yel - number of chrysalis on a single a kid and even a classroom. You from any direction. Low-impact and inconspicuous—the best way to low and black stripes. It has two branch. The adult monarch will may also wish to check with local live when in the field. antenna on the front and two on then seek a mate and lay eggs. nature centers, because many Satisfied with the accommodations, I trekked north, leaving most of the back. After a time—a couple One of the most interesting fea - have people who band these but - my gear behind. North Manitou was a prominent port back in the days weeks—it will be large enough to tures of this butterfly is that it is terflies, or have programs about of wood-burning lake steamers. Islanders made their livings by sup - pupate, or turn into a chrysalis. It one that migrates. The butterflies them. plying vessels with fuel and food. Livestock was raised and orchards will attach itself to the bottom of a we see here fly to the southern tended. I’d hoped to visit the site of an abandoned town shown on the tran - Seney Swan sit company’s map. The trail wound inland, crossing several others. In A majestic swan enjoys the a short time, I was completely lost. Then came clouds, covering the sun freedom of open waters at the and blocking any view of that directional beacon. Having been careless Seney National Wildlife Refuge enough to leave my compass back in camp, I was in a bind. in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Panic didn’t set in until dusk. I had no clear idea how to get any - The refuge is a haven for water - where in the hour of twilight left to me. Then the cloud cover opened fowl and other wildlife, as well up briefly, revealing a glow that could only emanate from the setting as for people who want to get sun. away from the clatter of modern I reached the shoreline in about five minutes. Hot, tired, and not at life and absorb the sights and all sure how to locate my camp, I thought I heard voices on the wind sounds of the natural world. again. Sounded like farm kids urging each other to take a dip in the big lake after a day of hard labor. Letter to the editor Not a soul was in sight, so I stripped to my skivvies and dove into the cooling waters, answering the siren’s call. Refreshed and happy to China, the U.S. be splashing around, I failed to notice a too-rapid darkening of the sky and invasive pests and a momentary lull in the wind. Editor: A vivid flash of lightening caught my instant attention. By the time As the emerald ash borer came I’d made it to shore and scooped up boots and clothes, a full-fledged from Asia, I thought your readers thunderstorm was in progress. Seeking any shelter available, I ran up a would be interested to know about narrow dune path and into the woods on the other side. the export of railroad ties to Strangely, unexpectedly, I tripped over my tent while stumbling Support The North Woods Call China. along. The next forty minutes were spent kneeling within my canvas co - There is a market for millions coon. I’d been told knees are a very non-conductive part of the body. and Michigan conservation of these tie logs as China rapidly It’s also a good position for petitioning our Lord, which I did fervently develops high-speed rail through - until the heavy rain, booming thunder and falling branches were done. out their country. Before ship - Changing into dry clothing, I sat atop a dune, spooning sustenance ment from the U.S., the ties must from a can of “Big John’s Beans n’ Fixins,” perhaps one of the better Advertise your business here! be baked for four hours at 400 de - meals I’ve eaten. Stars slowly returned over the open lake. The air be - grees Fahrenheit. came pleasantly cool. Too bad for ash trees and for all The next day would bring new discoveries and adventures. And I Contact: [email protected] of us, really, that the U.S. has not knew I’d be ready to hear more island voices. shown the same concern for inva - Share your thoughts and ideas sive pests that China has. Chest - Become a North Woods Call partner nuts, elms and now ashes—all The North Woods Call welcomes letters and viewpoint Please join our efforts to keep readers fully informed about victims of imported organisms. articles. Please write tightly and include you name and conservation and outdoor issues by providing us with news contact information. tips and/or photographs. Jerry Jung (Ideally, Viewpoint articles will be 700 words or less). Send tips and photos to: [email protected]. Birmingham, Michigan ThE NorTh WoodS Call Early September 2013 Page 7 Conservation Officer Logs (7/22/13 through 8/4/13) An alleged terrorist, “haunted” mischief, a fuel spill and waterski “watch” dogs DISTRICT 1 (Marquette) how their fishing trip was, they CO contacted Station 20 and re - personal water crafts on the Shi - CO Jason Wicklund assisted replied that they had caught nu - quested their assistance with iden - awassee River and traveling up a Michigan State Police (MSP) merous white bass. The COs dis - tifying the woman, given the the Corunna Dam during high wa - trooper in Ontonagon County covered no white bass, only six limited information she was will - ters after storm run-off raised the with the arrest of a subject wanted undersized smallmouth bass. The ing to provide. Ultimately, the water levels. The subjects were on terrorism warrants. The sub - COs issued one ticket for possess - CO identified and arrested her for warned about the dangers of the ject was taken into custody with - ing undersized fish and instructed outstanding warrants. dam and reminded there had been out incident and is awaiting the anglers on fish identification. While passing through the fatalities at the dam due to the tur - extradition to Virginia for the Verona SGA, CO Bob Hobkirk bulent water and undertow. They felony terrorism charges. DISTRICT 4 (Cadillac) observed a vehicle parked at the agreed it was not a smart thing to CO Jason Wicklund went to CO Holly Pennoni observed back of one of the parking areas. be doing, removed the video from a local “haunted” spot where lo - two women fishing in a rowboat As CO Hobkirk approached the YouTube, and apologized for poor cals gather in Ontonagon County. on Barry Lake in Wexford vehicle, he observed two individ - decision making. The CO observed several empty County. Upon contact one angler uals inside. When contact was Responding to a Report-All- vehicles and heard screaming and displayed a fishing license and the made, CO Hobkirk observed an Poaching (RAP) complaint, CO went to investigate. The CO lo - other claimed to have one but not criminal trespass. A sentencing elderly man sexually assaulting a Todd Thorn arrived at a resi - cated several groups of people with her. CO Pennoni attempted date has been scheduled but the juvenile. The man was arrested by dence and located a live raccoon trying to cross the river to get to ascertain if she had a fishing li - conviction will require mandatory CO Hobkirk and charged with in a small cage in some long grass closer to the phenomenon. After cense by running information prison time for the offender. third-degree criminal sexual con - next to the house. The raccoon getting them back to their vehi - given by the angler in the RSS CO Mark Papineau received duct. Additional information was had been recently trapped in an - cles, CO Wicklund addressed sev - system. CO Pennoni also at - a complaint regarding a large turned over to the local police other county and was being used eral issues, including open tempted to verify identification gasoline spill in Secord Lake. CO agency for further investigation. to train dogs. The raccoon had to intoxicants, minors in possession via LEIN. Driver license photos Papineau arrived at the local ma - be euthanized and enforcement of alcohol, possession of mari - were sent to CO Pennoni—two rina to find the local fire depart - DISTRICT 7 (Plainwell) action was taken. juana, destruction of county prop - photos of the same person; one ment deploying booms into the CO Brad Brewer observed a erty, littering and indecent heavy set and the other consider - lake to control a large slick on the boat towing a skier without an ob - DISTRICT 9 (Southfield) exposure. Local officers assisted ably thinner. The identification surface of the water. While inter - server. Upon stopping the boat, As CO Kris Kiel was finishing with the enforcement action. via LEIN showed a person in their viewing the station attendant, CO CO Brewer observed two dogs in up a joint marine patrol with the CO Jason Wicklund re - early 20’s, CO Pennoni was look - Papineau learned that a customer the boat. The driver of the boat Macomb County Sheriff Marine sponded to a complaint of over - ing at someone in their 30’s. After began pumping gas, walked into tried to claim that the dogs were Division, a mayday was heard due kayakers in Gogebic County. many stories, ranging from having the store, and returned to the ve - trained to let him know when the over the marine radio of a vessel The CO used his patrol truck to gastric by-pass surgery to other hicle more than one half hour later skier fell. The driver was ticketed taking on water off Metro Beach. navigate to the opposite side of explanations for weight loss in to find the pump had failed to shut for towing without an observer. The subject stated that he did not the lake. After a brief walk, the photos, the angler finally admitted off automatically. Nearly 100 gal - CO Michael Mshar assisted think he would make it to shore. CO encountered a pair of elderly that she did not have a fishing li - lons of gasoline had been dis - local police officers in response to CO Kiel and the deputies were females who had swamped the cense. A ticket was issued. charged into the parking lot and a shots fired complaint, where an first on the scene, where they kayaks in the high winds and CO Brian Brosky was work - then drained directly into the lake. individual had been shot. When found two adult males not wear - waves and were sitting along the ing on the Manistee River when CO Papineau ticketed the cus - contact was made it was deter - ing PFDs. The subjects were shoreline, unsure of how they he observed an angler attempting tomer for leaving the gas pump mined that an intoxicated subject transferred to the Sheriff boat and were going to get back. CO to snag fish with an unbaited unattended. Officials from the was shooting his intoxicated the Sheriff Department’s pumps Wicklund offered to load all of the hook. Upon contact, the angler DNR, DEQ, and Department of friend with a BB gun. were deployed and turned on to gear and kayaks and transport cut his fishing line and denied his Agriculture continue to investi - CO Greg Patten reported the empty the bilge of the quickly them back to the highway. actions. CO Brosky explained gate additional violations and conclusion of a court case where sinking vessel. CO Kiel asked the that he had been watching him monitor the mandatory remedia - he ticketed a person for purchas - boat owner why he thought water DISTRICT 2 (Newberry) and the angler confessed, advising tion of the contaminated concrete ing hunting licenses while being was coming in the boat. The boat COs Brett Gustafson , Jeff the CO that there were so many and soil. revoked. During a sentencing in owner stated that he had plugged Panich and Mike Evink were salmon he “just couldn’t resist”. Muskegon County, the judge a hole in the boat with a “t-shirt” conducting a marine patrol when Enforcement action was taken. DISTRICT 6 (Bay City) fined the subject more than $300 and the bilge pump had been they encountered a group of boats CO Brian Brosky was work - CO Quincy Gowenlock re - and issued an additional three working fine, although constantly, that were competing in a local ing on the Manistee River in Man - ceived a call from local dispatch years revocation of all hunting for the last few hours while they fishing tournament. The subjects istee County when he observed about a deer that had jumped privileges, while adding three fished. It was not until the bilge were all using too many fishing two anglers with fly rods attempt - through a window at a local years of fishing license revoca - pump quit that he started to worry. lines. Tickets were issued and the ing to snag salmon while using il - church in the city of Saint Louis. tions to the most recent sentence. The subjects were transported subjects were eliminated from the legal fishing gear. CO Brosky Upon arrival, the CO was met by back to shore while their vessel tournament. eventually identified himself and a local police officer who advised DISTRICT 8 (Rose Lake) was towed. CO Mike Evink contacted yelled to the anglers in the river that the deer jumped through the CO Damon Owens reports CO Lacelle Rabon contacted subjects panning for gold on the that, if they cut their fishing lines, basement window and was closing a case involving a subject an angler who did not have a fish - shore of Lake Superior. The sub - they would go to jail. Both an - trapped inside. The CO and the for possession of wildlife in cap - ing license. The angler said the jects were using a power sluice glers disregarded CO Brosky’s di - local officer went into the base - tivity. The subject had unlawfully store where he normally pur - box and a water pump. The un - rection and cut their fishing lines. ment and located the deer, which transported several raccoons from chases his license has been closed. successful pair were warned for The anglers were both lodged in was jumping onto the counters another county and was attempt - He to fish, but he decided he using the power equipment. jail with several tickets bestowed and destroying the kitchen in the ing to release them within Jackson would not keep anything that he CO Mike Evink assisted Man - upon them as well. basement. The officers were able County. This unlawful act also caught and thought he would not istique Public Safety with a sub - to open a door which led directly was found to violate the individ - be violating fishing regulations. ject who stated he was “re- DISTRICT 5 (Roscommon) to the outside. Unfortunately, the ual’s current probation from other CO Rabon advised the angler he arranging” his apartment. He was CO Chuck McPherson re - deer was frightened and wedged crimes committed and may possi - needed a license even if he was doing this by throwing all items in ceived a complaint from an eye - itself behind a huge industrial bly cause an adverse effect on catching and releasing the fish. the apartment from the second witness, reporting that he had stove and the wall. The CO had to time served within a local correc - The angler stated he did not think floor balcony. The officers were observed a subject shoot at three reach in behind the stove while tional facility. that was fair. CO Rabon ex - able to convince the subject to ducks in the water on Houghton the deer was kicking and scare it CO Dan Bigger finished an in - plained the law a second time and self-admit at the local hospital for Lake. The witness stated that one out. Once it was out, the deer saw vestigation of subjects operating took enforcement action. evaluation. of the ducks was killed in the the light leading to the outside, shooting. CO McPherson located took off running and made it out DISTRICT 3 (Gaylord) the suspect, who admitted to of the building. The church offi - Marketplace of the North CO Kelly Ross received a shooting the ducks because he felt cials then started their big cleanup Classified Ads complaint of bullets being fired they were a nuisance to the lake - project. over a house. CO Ross, assisted front property owners. Enforce - While patrolling the Flat River NORTH WOODS CALL SWAG— Get your North Woods Call by CO Nick Torsky, responded to ment action was taken. State Game Area (SGA), CO t-shirts & caps at www.mynorthwoodscall.com. the location with the assistance of COs John Huspen and Chuck Larn R. Strawn observed a van VIDEO— From Nebraska Ranchers to Nashville Rebels: The the MSP and local deputies. McPherson testified at a jury trial parked in a state land parking Story of Tompall & the Glaser Brothers . a 90-minute oral history Seven teenagers were located tar - in Crawford County in a case area. Upon approaching the van, (dVd) about this pioneering trio that changed the Nashville get practicing and in possession of where a subject shot a trophy the CO observed that the side recording industry. $20 each, plus shipping & handling. For a large quantity of alcohol and white-tailed deer from outside the cargo door was open and could more information, see the Newshound Productions page at marijuana. They were charged fence of a game ranch in October see a man and a woman lying on a www.mynorthwoodscall.com. with various alcohol, marijuana, 2012. After two full days of hear - mattress in the back of the van. VIDEO & BOOK— Buck Lake Ranch: Nashville of the North . and firearms violations. ing witnesses and analyzing evi - The CO announced his presence a 78-minute documentary and 133-page softcover book about a CO Mark DePew and Sgt. Joe dence, the jury deliberated for two and asked the couple for their historic rural music park near angola, Indiana. $20 each, plus Molnar were at a state launch site hours and returned with a guilty identifications. The man provided shipping and handling. For more information, see the New - when a boat with three anglers verdict for the charges of larceny his driver license, however the shound Productions page at www.mynorthwoodscall.com. came to shore, and when asked over $20,000, felony firearm, and woman said she had none. The “The newspaper for people who love the north.”

Published twice monthly (except one issue in January, april, July and october) by Newshound Productions llC, 5411 East dE avenue, Kalamazoo, Michigan 49004. First-class postage paid at Kalama - zoo, Michigan, and additional mailing offices. online subscriptions $35 per year and $60 per two years. Print subscriptions $55 per year and $95 for two years. PoSTMaSTEr: Send address changes to The North Woods Call, 5411 East dE avenue, Kalamazoo, Michigan 49004. M DOT Code: 8021-0068 Page 8 Early September 2013 ThE NorTh WoodS Call Partnership conserves warbler Final Shot By Abigail Ertel Kirtland’s Warbler Coordinator Huron Pines Cut River Bridge Federal dollars are igniting a If you’ve traveled along U.S. 2 new conservation partnership in between Epoufette and Brevort northeast Michigan. in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Huron Pines, a nonprofit or - chances are you’ve crossed the ganization [based in Gaylord], re - Cut River Bridge. The river it - cently received $171,000 from the self is relatively short—about U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s A male Kirtland’s warbler four miles from the Little Joint Venture Habitat Restoration —photo by Gene McGarry, Woodstock, NY Brevort wetland to northern and Protection Program (Joint Endangered Species Act for Kirt - Lake Michigan—but the bridge Venture Program). The Great land’s warbler programs will be is one of the longest truss arch Lakes Restoration Initiative fund - allocated to the needs of other en - bridges in the United States. ing will be used to plant two mil - dangered species. The structure spans 641 feet lion jack pine seedlings in “Recovery of the Kirtland’s and is 147 feet above the river. Kirtland’s warbler management warbler has been rooted in part - There are approximately 888 areas, streamline community out - nership, and this opportunity to tons of steel in the bridge, which reach programs and offer work closely with Huron Pines to is 159 feet above nearby Lake landowners cost-share opportuni - develop an innovative funding Michigan. Completed in 1947, ties. strategy like the Joint Venture locals often call it the “million The Joint Venture Program Program demonstrates that con - dollar bridge over a two-bit specifically funds projects that use tinued support for the warbler can creek.” There are parking innovative partnerships to com - be garnered through the initiative areas at both ends of the struc - plete conservation work in prior - and that nonprofit organizations ture, as well as a pedestrian foot ity bird areas. This marks a new have the ability to lead the way,” path on the north side, which method of collaboration with the said Russ Mason, DNR Wildlife offers a good view of the deep state of Michigan, in that Huron Division chief. gorge below. Be careful, Pines—acting as the fiduciary— Joining intensive and dynamic though. Cars and trucks whiz will provide funds to the Michi - community outreach with on-the- by at a pretty good clip, and gan Department of Natural ground restoration efforts rounds don’t seem to slow down Resources (DNR) to offset the an - out the scope of work and pro - much for sightseers. nual costs of jack pine planting vides built-in sustainability for the Michigan Audubon Society programs. Commitment from all Environmental education gets boost at Pierce Institute (MAS) has a long history of in - partners has been underscored by The Pierce Cedar Creek Institute in Barry County comes in. volvement with Kirtland’s war - their agreement to provide match - near Hastings—a strong advocate of environmental The institute has funded more than 100 under - bler education efforts, and will ing dollars from the value of staff education and research—will host its key fundraising graduate researchers in nine years and has been ac - also be a key partner in complet - time, travel costs and seedlings to and “friendraising” event from 6 to 9 p.m. Sept. 14. claimed for its success. ing the proposed scope of work. be planted. “A Latesummer Night’s Green” is a great oppor - Just this year, students from a range of colleges and The organization’s experience “The commitment by DNR and tunity to enjoy delicious food, music and drink, while universities were funded to formally document 13 will be central to increasing MAS to provide in-kind matches helping the Institute fulfill its mission. studies and make presentations to state, national and awareness and support of the war - means we’ve already increased Science funding has been on the chopping block possibly international audiences. In addition, 20 stu - bler’s incredible story throughout the investment in northeast Michi - lately as the federal government looks for ways to cut dents have been supported to pursue science, art and the state and Great Lakes region. gan to over $300,000 with this spending and rebalance the national budget. With this writing projects. Through its Private Lands Pro - grant award,” said Abigail Ertel, activity has come a proposed reduction in funding for “The institute has provided nearly one million dol - gram, Huron Pines will provide Kirtland’s warbler coordinator for early-career researchers at the National Institutes of lars in funding directly to students and faculty men - landowners living in areas of jack Huron Pines. Health (NIH). tors so they can complete their research projects,” pine ecosystems technical guid - Daniel Kennedy, endangered Over the years, NIH-funded scientists have won 40 said Executive Director Michelle Skedgell. ance, better planning tools and species coordinator with the DNR Nobel Prizes, according to Pierce Cedar Creek By connecting students with scholars and re - cost-share opportunities to Wildlife Division, added, “The staffers. “With traditional funding for scientific re - searchers from different disciplines, the Institute achieve their individual steward - department understands that man - search on the decline, it is vitally important for com - seeks to enrich the opportunities of undergraduates ship goals, while blending ecosys - agement of public lands is a key munities to nurture local talent and provide bright and encourage understanding of the environment tem-appropriate strategies. factor in the quality of life and minds with the experiences they need to feed their cu - through quality educational programs. This strategic partnership falls economy of northeast Michigan, riosity,” they said in a recent newsletter. For information, visit cedarcreekinstitute.org, or in line with the goals of the Kirt - and is excited to provide this up- That’s where the Pierce Cedar Creek Institute call (269) 721-4190. land’s Warbler Initiative, a pro - front commitment to the area.” gram developed to usher the Huron Pines is working to con - warbler off of the Endangered serve the forests, lakes and Species List and into a future of streams of northeast Michigan. For a limited time only! successful, sustained survival. The organization has leveraged Once de-listed, federal funding investment in the region to over If you didn’t get a copy of this fine specifically provided through the $2 million annually. book earlier, this may be one of your last chances.

The collection of writings by long - time North Woods Call Publisher Glen Sheppard is out-of-print, but we picked up a handful of Electronic subscriptions: new copies from Shep’s estate and are offering them to the next $35 per year, or $60 for two years 15 people who speak up. Print subscriptions: Check our website for availability $55 per year, or $95 for two years and ordering information:

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