Much has changed in Michigan since 1997: Gasoline prices have tripled, food prices increased more than 40 percent and health-care costs have skyrocketed. It seems that everything costs more today than it did 16 years ago — unless you hunt or fish in Michigan. The price of hunting and fishing licenses here hasn’t increased since […]
Department of Natural Resources
Posted inMichigan Government
Where Michigan stands on hunting, fishing fees
As Bridge reported last week, Gov. Rick Snyder is taking aim at Michigan’s outdoor bargains: “The cost of shooting a deer in Michigan would double next year, under Gov. Rick Snyder’s proposed 2014 budget, and more conservation officers would patrol the state’s woods and waterways. “Released Thursday, Snyder’s budget calls for $354.3 million for the […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Parking lots, restrooms get natural resources dollars
The Natural Resources Trust Fund has played a major role in making Michigan a national leader in outdoor recreation, but the program also has provided millions of dollars for such less than natural things as parking lots, restrooms and playgrounds. State records show the Trust Fund, over the past 36 years, has provided funding for […]
Posted inMichigan Government
How much of Michigan should public own?
On a sunny June day, government officials joined conservation leaders on a Lake Michigan beach to dedicate the newest jewel of the state’s public lands program — the 173-acre Saugatuck Harbor Natural Area. The spectacular sand dunes near the mouth of the Kalamazoo River were preserved rather than developed when the Michigan Natural Resources Trust […]
Posted inMichigan Government
DNR's prominence, legislative bill-paying cause angst in Northern Michigan
Shelly Pinkelman lives in an area that could fairly be described as paradise for an outdoor enthusiast. She can see the Manistee River from her Grayling home and her property in Crawford County abuts thousands of acres of state land where she can ride horses, hike, cross-country ski or ride all-terrain vehicles anytime she wants, […]
Posted inMichigan Government
U.P. landowners give mixed reviews on land cap
In the wake of the decision by the Legislature and Gov. Rick Snyder to cap land purchases by the Department of Natural Resources, Bridge contributor Christie Bleck interviewed some residents of the Upper Peninsula — where state ownership of land is quite high — to get their take: * “I do not want the change […]
Posted inQuality of Life
Is state losing its love of fish?
Longtime fly fisherman Robert Thorsen enjoys solitary fishing experiences, but the suburban Detroit resident fears he and other anglers may be enjoying too much of a good thing. “I see a lot of stretches of rivers that are deserted,” Thorsen said. “As a fisherman, I don’t mind if there are fewer people on the water […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Deer have Michigan on the run
Michigan’s 2010 firearm deer season was in its first week when a bizarre car-deer accident in suburban Grand Rapids killed a 17-year-old girl. Barbara June Barnick, of Ionia, was driving toward Grand Rapids when an approaching vehicle hit a deer and catapulted the animal into Barnick’s minivan. Stunned by the violent collision, the teen veered […]
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