October NRC Preview

Justin Tomei • October 2, 2023

A wolf management decision tree requested by commissioners will be unveiled at the October Natural Resources Meeting in Escanaba.

The Oct. 12 meeting is scheduled to begin with Coffee with Commissioners from 8 to 9 a.m.  The agenda for the meeting can be found here.

While in the UP, commissioners will have pike, warm water fisheries regulations, steelhead, and wolves on the agenda.

Over the summer, Natural Resources Commission (NRC) Chair Tom Baird noted that the commission had requested a decision tree to be developed for implementation when or if wolves become delisted in Michigan.

The intent is to have a structure based on the current wolf data at the time that will guide commissioners to decide on the best management structure for wolves. Rather than waiting years for biological data and research triggered from a delisting, this approach would allow commissioners to access available information.

Michigan United Conservation Clubs (MUCC) supports wolf hunting and trapping in Michigan. The decision tree should provide commissioners a roadmap to put a season in place, said Amy Trotter, chief executive officer of MUCC.

“Having population counts and biological data before delisting occurs and ensuring that it is updated to reflect population trends is good for hunters, trappers and conservationists,” Trotter said. “This process will help Michigan avoid what happened in Wisconsin— a stain on legal wolf hunts everywhere.”

In Wisconsin, the legislature created a “triggered” season that immediately went into place once wolves were delisted, feeding into anti-hunting sentiment and taking the decision out of the hands of natural resource managers based on population or on-the-ground considerations.

Commissioners will also be taking up steelhead regulations, with an as-of-yet unreleased amendment from Commissioner David Nyberg expected. More details on the orders in front of commissioners can be found in MUCC’s September Recap HERE . 

There will be no new orders for commissioners this month.

Commissioners will also receive presentations on northern pike in the UP inland lakes, lake trout regulations at Stannard Rock, and white-nose bat syndrome. 

There are five land transactions on the agenda for the director. MUCC reviews all land transactions exceeding 80 acres. At the time of writing, there were no links to review any transactions.

MUCC will be streaming the meeting on our Facebook page as technology allows.

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

Recent Posts

May 2025 NRC Recap

By Justin Tomei • May 8, 2025
The Natural Resources Commission (NRC) met for their May meeting today at Lansing Community College West Campus. The commission voted to return antlered opportunities to the Independence and Liberty hunts at the May Natural Resources Commission meeting. The amendment to restore this opportunity passed after Commissioner Walters withdrew his amendment from April to only partially restore antlered opportunity during these hunts. MUCC testified for the complete restoration of antlered opportunity during these two hunts, per a member passed policy from our 2025 Annual Convention. The commission also voted on, and ultimately accepted, a proposal to allow archery antlerless take in the high snowfall zone in the Upper Peninsula. Additionally, the commission also chose to leave on the table and postpone indefinitely the order to reopen the illegally partially closed coyote season. This prevents the order from dying after today's meeting and makes it eligible for action at a later date. This amendment will remain postponed until the June meeting at the earliest.  MUCC has created the Coyote Coalition to assist in unifying the voice of conservationists in support of Proposal G. To join the Coyote Coalition, visit https://www.mucc.org/coyotecoalition . The commission did adopt proposed fall turkey regulations unanimously. The June commission meeting is Thursday, June 12 in Bay City. To ensure our natural resources remain protected and managed thoughtfully and our outdoor heritage defended, join Michigan United Conservation Clubs today: http://bit.ly/JoinMUCC .

On The Ground: Volunteers at the Annual Jack Pine Planting Day

By Olivia Triltsch • May 8, 2025
In total, volunteers improved about 6 acres of habitat and planted around 6,000 trees in this stand to continue regeneration.

On the Ground Junior: Spring Event Recap

By Katelyn Helsel • May 7, 2025
Our student volunteers have been hard at work improving wildlife habitat on public lands! MUCC’s On the Ground Junior (OTG Jr.) program, a subset of the On the Ground program, is a fully funded field trip program that brings grade-school classrooms into the outdoors to improve fish and wildlife habitat in their local communities. Through activities like native plantings, brush pile building, and invasive species removal, students gain hands-on experience with conservation and positively impact the world around them. Students also participate in educational activities like predator-prey tag to teach them about population dynamics and other natural resources concepts. So far this spring season, MUCC welcomed 69 students, teachers, and chaperones who participated in multiple OTG Jr projects with more on the way! In total, they improved over 12 acres of wildlife habitat. Read on for a recap of each OTG Jr project and see what all our awesome student volunteers have been up to. 
More Posts