Posts Tagged ‘Public Land’
Volunteer with the DNR: 100-in-100 Clean-Up Challenge
Despite volunteer event cancellations with wildlife habitat improvement programs like On the Ground during the COVID-19 pandemic, there are still ways to do good for your public lands through individual volunteer efforts. One such volunteer opportunity is hosted by the Michigan Department of Natural Resouces (DNR) Adopt-a-Forest program and is focused on the illegal dumpsite…
Read MoreGreat American Outdoors Act Passes Congress!
The Great American Outdoors Act (S. 3422/H.R.7092 & H.R.1957) passed out of the House of Representatives by a margin of 310-107 on Wednesday. We are now one important step closer to full, permanent funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) and addressing the deferred maintenance backlog on federal public lands. The LWCF has only…
Read MoreOn the Ground: Impact by Habitat Type
Although the 2020 field season has been severely limited by the COVID-19 pandemic, it has provided a valuable opportunity to analyze program data that has been collected since the On the Ground (OTG) program’s inception in 2013. We regularly monitor volunteer numbers and volunteer hours dedicated to wildlife habitat improvement, as well as overall acreage…
Read MorePublic Lands Blog: Michigan’s Forests
This week’s public lands blog is about the public forests of Michigan. I feel particularly lucky to live here in Michigan, where I have so many opportunities to get out and recreate on public forest land. According to a study done by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in 2014 “Michigan is home to…
Read MoreU.S. Senate Passes Monumental Public Lands Package
The United States Senate passed the Great American Outdoors Act (S. 3422) on Wednesday, which will address deferred maintenance on our public lands and permanently fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF). Federal land management agencies have accumulated a deferred maintenance backlog in excess of $19 billion, while LWCF has only been funded at…
Read MoreMUCC Advocates for Expanding Hunting and Fishing Access
The United States Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) is considering an expansion of hunting and fishing opportunities on National Wildlife Refuge System (NWRS) lands, starting in the 2020-21 seasons. Under the National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act, all system lands are closed to hunting and fishing unless explicitly opened by the Secretary of Interior. This…
Read MoreFall 2020 Deer Regulations Up for Action
The Natural Resources Commission (NRC) will take action on deer regulations, including hunter orange on blinds, doe tags and season changes at their next meeting. NRC members will meet virtually at 9:00 a.m. on Thursday, June 11 to weigh a number of agenda items that will impact Michigan hunters next fall. The Michigan Department of…
Read MoreU.S. Senate Takes Up Historic Public Lands Package
The United States Senate will act on the Great American Outdoors Act (S. 3422) next week, which would permanently fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) and address infrastructure concerns on public lands. LWCF has only been funded at full capacity (~$900 million) one time since it was first passed in 1964, and federal…
Read MorePublic Lands Blog: State Wildlife and Game Areas
This week’s public land series blog is about Michigan land that has been designated by the Department of Natural Resources(DNR) as being “managed primarily for wildlife habitat, wildlife watching and hunting.” According to the DNR “There are more than 100 units in the game and wildlife system covering more than 340,000 acres. Some units have…
Read MoreWhat is Responsible Recreation?
You may have seen hashtags popping up on your social media feeds that contain some variation of the phrase “responsible recreation”. These hashtags may have served as captions for images of people enjoying nature or recreating outdoors in some way, but the meaning of the hashtag goes far beyond just enjoying Michigan’s natural resources. Becoming…
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