Michigan Council of Trout Unlimited Condemns Pigeon River Fish Kill On June 22nd 2008, a massive fish kill occurred on the Pigeon River in northern Michigan east of Vanderbilt.  A discharge of sediment and water from a dam is being blamed for the fish kill.  The Michigan Council of Trout Unlimited voted to condemn this event at their quarterly meeting on July 12th and authorized the Executive Committee to investigate potential legal action. For further information, here are a couple of links to news articles: Fish Kill in Pigeon River blamed on dam. Detroit News: State Officials Meet over Fish...

Thanks to the 18 volunteers who gave up a Saturday morning to help out with a stream cleanup and habitat project on the Pigeon River in Hemlock Park in Ottawa County on August 23rd.  The group removed several tires, a couple of rusted out drums, and hundreds of glass bottles from a quarter mile stretch of the river.  The group also removed a couple of log jams that restricted flow and cabled the removed logs to the river banks to protect against erosion and provide cover for trout.  Some rock work was done to improve spawning habitat.  Our plan is...

Upcoming Conservation Projects Saturday, August 9 We will be joined by the Lansing and Kalamazoo TU chapters as we wrap up our work on Tyler Creek for the summer.  The plan is to meet again at the golf course located at 13495 92nd Ave, Alto by 9:00 AM.  Keep right as you enter the driveway till you reach the clubhouse and then turn right down to the rustic campground / zoo area.  Park just past the animals as we have done in the past. Saturday, August 23rd Explore some new water as the SWMTU chapter moves to the Pigeon River...

Senate Bill 860 (S-6) – the less protective option for our aquatic resources.  This bill was voted on May 15, 2008. Senator Prusi offered an amendment to SB860 to reduce the allowable damage to coldwater fisheries from 3% to less than 1%.  The amendment was not passed, it received a tie vote, 19-19, with the following votes cast: Yeas – Anderson, Clark-Coleman, Kahn, Scott, Barcia, Clarke, Olshove, Switalski, Basham, Gleason, Prusi, Thomas, Brater, Hunter, Richardville, Whitmer, Cherry, Jacobs, Schauer Nays – Allen, Cropsey, Jansen, Patterson, Birkholz, Garcia, Jelinek, Sanborn, Bishop, George, Kuipers, Stamas, Brown, Gilbert, McManus, Van Woerkom, Cassis, Hardiman,...

This past week the House finished passing all of the bills in their water withdrawal legislative package.  Both Senate and House water bill packages now stand even in progress, and remain to be negotiated.  Among the remaining points of difference are: Adverse Resource Impact Definitions for Coldwaters: The Senate is now at 3% reduction to thriving fish abundance (21% reduction in summer low water flows) for Coldwater “streams”;  and “less than 1%” reduction in thriving fish abundance (20% reduction in summer low flows) for coldwater “small rivers”.  The House calls for “less than 1%” reduction of coldwater fish abundance in...