Protecting Beaver Island’s diverse flora and fauna is paramount to the island’s future. That’s why CRA and partners recently concluded treatment of several of invasive plants including phragmites, reed canary grass, first-year marsh thistle, autumn olive, honeysuckle, multiflora rose and oriental bittersweet. The work was concentrated on the island’s Great Lakes shoreline as well as inland properties.

Swifts are a family of highly aerial birds – they are among the fastest fliers and eat on the go catching insects in flight. Chimney swifts once nested in hollow trees but now almost exclusively use human-built structures.These birds got a boost on Beaver Island with the installation of a new educational chimney swift tower.

In 2010, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service awarded Conservation Resource Alliance grants totaling $374,630 through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative and the Great Lakes Basin Fish Habitat Partnership. Ultimately, these on-the-ground community based projects opened up approximately 150 miles of habitat for native fish species and other aquatic organisms and restored more than 30 miles of instream habitat and 220 acres of riparian corridor habitat.

While many people recognize how our projects improve water quality and fish habitat, less is known about how reptiles, amphibians and birds are impacted by our habitat improvement projects. Learn more about how we are using plant and animal surveys to prioritize upcoming invasive species removal projects in one of Michigan biodiversity hotspots.

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.