In 2006, the Big Sable River streambank inventory was updated and placed in electronic format. The new inventory is web-hosted (www.liaa.info/crabmp/) and available for resource managers as a tool to help prioritize streambank stabilization projects in need of restoration. The last severely eroding site identified in the inventory as a priority for future work was Site #21. BSWRC contacted the landowners whom were eager to work with the committee on restoration efforts.

At a cost of $34,350, CRA's first ever infrastructure project completed on Beaver Island at the same time removed an iconic road/stream crossing and improved passage for fish travelling between Lake Michigan and the creek. The jasper-tinted creek emptying into Iron Ore Bay had for years been crossed by an inspired combination of culverts in varying sizes and structural integrity. With antidotal evidence pointing to the potential for coaster brook trout recruitment from upstream stretches of Iron Ore Creek to the big lake, the replacement of the only road crossing on the creek became a priority given that it crosses immediately adjacent to the mouth. A partnership between diverse groups resulted in the replacement of the existing structure with one more conducive to fish passage as well as having an aesthetic appeal which complements the dramatic beauty of the location.

By Dustin Dwyer, The Environment Report

All this week, we're focusing on stories about fish for our series, "Swimming Upstream." Dustin Dwyer traveled all around the Lower Peninsula for the series, and for today's story, he went to the site of a former trout farm along the headwaters of the Manistee River, near Grayling. Dustin went to learn about the complex world of dam removal:

The Flowing Well trout farm was built half a century ago. Dotted along the river here are a number of little dams, each one only 4 or 5 feet high, built out of simple wood planks. But if you're a fish, this might as well be the Hoover.

By Kay Charter, Saving Birds Through Habitat & Eric Ellis, CRA Biologist, Spring 2011 Catalyst

It’s amazing how many aspects of the natural world are unknown, even to the experts. A case in point is the answer to the question, “Do birds eat tent caterpillars?” Some of us have either heard or read opinions by both bird and bug people that nothing eats these caterpillars. Upon deeper investigation it is apparent that tent caterpillars, as annoying as they can be, play an important role in the Northern Michigan environment for birds and other wildlife.