Policy

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources is accepting public comment and feedback on two fishing regulation proposals for Saginaw Bay and associated waters. If changes are made, these regulations would go into effect beginning April 1, 2016. Over the last several years, data has shown there is a very high population of adult walleye in Saginaw…

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources recently announced the formation of a Blue Ribbon Advisory Group to independently review state game areas. DNR Director Keith Creagh made the announcement at Thursday’s meeting of the Natural Resources Commission in Lansing. State game areas are important public land areas owned by the state of Michigan, providing residents with broad…

At the Natural Resources Committee meeting yesterday, the NRC’s Wildlife Committee took the option of closing the Upper Peninsula deer season off the table. The option had been one of six brought forward – but not recommended – by the Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Division to help the U.P. deer herd recover. At the…

Drew YoungeDyke, Public Relations Manager Drew YoungeDyke, Public Relations Manager Bills to crack down on poachers have taken the next step forward in the state Senate after being unanimously reported out of the Committee on Outdoor Recreation and Tourism yesterday. Senate Bills 244, 245 and 246 are a package which raise restitution and hunting licence…

A diligent MUCC member and Facebook follower called our attention today to a concerning bullet point (no pun intended) under Rep. Todd Courser and Rep. Cindy Gamrat’s budget, released today, proposing to steal $250,000 from gun owners and the Department of Natural Resources (DNR)’s Shooting Range Enhancement Program. The DNR’s public shooting range program ensures that the…

by Drew YoungeDyke, Public Relations Manager Last Wednesday morning, we started fielding calls from reporters asking us about comments made by Senator Tom Casperson (R-Escanaba) on the Senate floor, some even asking “what did you do to him?” According to the newspaper reports, Casperson called a column in Michigan OutofDoors Magazine, by Executive Director Dan Eichinger,…

This column from MUCC Executive Director Dan Eichinger appears in the May/June 2015 issue of Michigan OutofDoors Magazine, which you can subscribe to by clicking here. The debate about the value of public land continues unabated in Lansing these days, much to my amazement.  While decrying the public’s ownership of land for its recreation is a…

By Lia Biondo, Policy Intern The Michigan Natural Resources Commission met Thursday, April 9th to approve various fishing regulations that will affect the 2015-2016 season. The Natural Resources Commission temporarily lost regulatory authority this year that prevented the final decisions of their rulings being published in the 2015-2016 Michigan Fishing Guide. However, those regulations that…

Highlighted this week on The Opener is a blog from MUCC’s Policy Intern Lia Biondo about her most recent trip to Washington D.C. We are excited to see her off to her next adventure with the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation in D.C. this summer! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This past week, I had the opportunity to travel to Washington,…

No, this is not April Fool’s Day anymore. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has chosen a reasonable approach to list the northern long-eared bat as a threatened species with an interim 4(d) rule under the Endangered Species Act. But what does that mean? You can learn more by reading the DNR’s press release below.…