March NRC Preview

Fisheries Order 200.19 A, which would reinstate a 10-brook trout limit on 33 UP streams, is up for information at the March 14th Natural Resources Commission (NRC) meeting

The meeting will take place in Parlor Room A at Shanty Creek Resort. Shanty Creek Resort is located at 5780 Shanty Creek Rd, Bellaire, Michigan 49615. If you are unable to attend this month’s meeting, join us online at MUCC’s Facebook page where we will be live streaming at 10:30am. An agenda of the meeting can be found here.

The day will kick off with a joint meeting between the Outdoor Recreation Advisory Council (ORAC) and the NRC Marketing, Partnership, Youth and Outreach Committee at 8:00am. These committees will be having a discussion on their priorities and how the ORAC and the NRC can work together to accomplish goals. They will also be discussing outdoor recreation marketing campaign and promotion priorities and focus.

At 10:30am the Policy Committee on Wildlife and Fisheries will be started with a Fisheries Division update including a discussion surrounding Fisheries Order 200.19A. This will be followed by a Wildlife Division update.  

The NRC Committee of the Whole will be meeting at 12:30pm starting with a Director’s report presenting a Ranger of the Year Award and an update on CWD. There will also be a report from each of the previous committee meetings of the day.

For information before the NRC is Fisheries Order 200.19A, which will include the reinstated 10-brook trout limit on 33 UP streams and which passed in a motion during the February NRC meeting. Also included will be the reduction of Lake Trout and Splake daily limit in Lake Huron lake trout management unit MH-2 from a four-fish daily possession limit to a three-fish possession limit.

Action items before the NRC include migratory bird hunting season regulations and bear regulations and license quotas. The pintail limit being reduced from two to one is notable in the migratory bird hunting regulations and in line with national data related to harvests of pintails. The bear regulations include a revision that allows bait barrels on state-managed public lands, given several provisions which can be found in the recap of the February NRC meeting here. Several land transactions will be before the DNR Director Dan Eichinger as well.