August NRC Preview

Justin Tomei • August 2, 2022

Turkey talk and a handful of fisheries orders up for information make up a busy August Natural Resource Commission (NRC) meeting.

The meeting is scheduled for next Thursday, August 11th at 9 a.m. The meeting will take place at the Outdoor Adventure Center, located at 1801 Atwater St. in Detroit.

There are four fisheries orders up for information this month:

Fisheries Order 204.23 adjusts closures of all fishing activities on a trio of waters:  

  • Closing Denton Creek in Roscommon County from March 23-April 23
  • Reducing the Au Sauble River Dam Closure in Iosco County to only include the Foote Dam and apron below the dam.
  • Backus Creek in Roscommon County currently has a closure to protect spawning walleye that is no longer necessary. 

Fisheries Order 206.23 adjusts fishing regulations for warmwater species on select waters: 

  • On McCoy Lake, Black Lake, Pickerel Lake, McCollum Lake, Gulliver Lake, Worchester (Wolf) Lake, Little Long Lake, Bills Lake, Long Lake and, Kaks Lake add these to the list of waters where up to five northern pike may be kept with only 1 greater than 24 inches. 
  • On Wabasis Lake and Grand Sable Lake add to list of waters with a slot limit that allows harvest of northern pike measuring less than 24 inches and greater than 34 inches with a possession limit of two per day. 
  • On Cisco Chain Lakes add to list of waters a 50 inch minimum size limit for muskellunge to match regulations with several other Michigan/Wisconsin boundary waters. 
  • On Pratt Lake change minimum size limit for largemouth and smallmouth bass to 10 inches. 
  • Removal of some Saginaw River regulations to move them to the proper fisheries order. Does not undo previous commission orders, just a clean up.
  • Clean up language to make Carp River read in regulations as Carp River/Carp Creek.

Fisheries Order 215.23 and Fisheries Order 226.23 are both cleanup orders, moving regulations from one section to another for simplicity and consolidation purposes.

There are a total of 10 land transactions on the agenda this month. MUCC reviews all land transactions exceeding 80 acres, which includes three on the agenda.

Land Transaction Case #20180089 is a proposed exchange of land that would result in a net loss of 57.7 acres of DNR managed land. The private owner is offering mineral rights beneath other state owned lands and full ownership to a parcel that is adjacent to other state owned land that will provide public access to Lake Huron.

Land Transaction Case #20210058 would exchange 80 acres of isolated state owned land with a failing bridge for 75.92 acres of private land surrounded by existing state owned lands.

Land Transaction Case #20210264 would exchange 80 acres of isolated, state-owned land for 80 acres of privately-owned land, providing access to 160 acres of existing state owned land. 

Results for a June 14th Oil and Gas lease auction are also listed under new business. 

There are no directors orders or NRC orders up for action this month.

Preceding the Committee of the Whole the Fisheries Committee will be seeing a presentation from Fisheries Division Gary Whelan and Michigan State University’s Chris Vandergoot on great lakes acoustic telemetry observation system.

Following Fisheries Committee, the Wildlife Committee will be hearing a presentation on turkey regulation overview and discussion of a second turkey tag by DNR Wildlife Division staff Adam Bump and National Wild Turkey Federation’s (NWTF) District Biologist Ryan Boyer. Dr. Dwayne Etter and Chad Stewart from wildlife division will then present an overview of the Antler Point Restriction Chronic Wasting Disease Study.

MUCC has a policy resolution stating that spring turkey hunters should be able to purchase a second, leftover turkey tag, when leftover tags go on sale. MUCC staff has been working with DNR and NWTF biologists about what this idea could look like and if it is biologically viable. 

While we agree with the NWTF and DNR that more turkey data is needed, MUCC stands by the idea that allowing a second leftover tag for the May hunt would not provide undue strain on the resource while providing more opportunities for Michigan hunters and a bump in license revenue for the department. 

MUCC will be streaming the meeting on our Facebook page.

To ensure our natural resources remain protected and managed thoughtfully in perpetuity, join Michigan United Conservation Clubs today: http://bit.ly/JoinMUCC .

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