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"One lifetime isn't enough to learn a county, a town, even a backyard"
~Jerry Dennis

Local author Jerry Dennis has a new book out. Titled The Windward Shore, it explores winter in Great Lakes country and the issues facing our beloved lakes, complete with illustrations from artist Glenn Wolff.

Outdoor writer Dave Richey says:

Jerry Dennis is a natural treasure, and he keeps writing new and more wonderful books. Fitting him into a specific category can be a bit difficult because he is at once, an outdoor writer, a conservationist, a nature lover, a dreamer, who develops words of magic that capture the soul and spirit of those of us lucky enough to live near the Great Lakes.

Winter around Lake Michigan may hardly seem a great topic for a book, but once Dennis sank his teeth into this tasty morsel that he and I both call home, and the result is the magic of this book about the area, the lives of nearby inhabitants, and stories painted by word pictures about this snow and ice-bound area. He teaches us about living in a log cabin along Lake Superior, more about desolate and wind-swept beaches, the power and the magnetic pull a winter storm has on those of us who stay here all winter rather than heading south with other snowbirds.

Dennis gracefully takes us along with him as we plod along frozen shorelines, listen as the surf pounds at shelves of ice, and we hear and feel the moan of an angry wind as it lashes the North County. We see, feel, hear, taste and touch winter along the Great Lakes, and we rejoice with the author as he examines everything about winter in this area.

Definitely check this book out - Jerry is one of the best! FYI, the book trailer was produced by Jerry's son Aaron of Stone Hut Studios - definitely a good idea to encourage your kids to be creative!

via Absolute Michigan...

Great Lakes Week takes place October 11-14, 2011 and celebrates one of the world's true natural wonders, the five interconnected Great Lakes. Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie and Superior provide jobs, recreation and drinking water to more than 30 million people in the Great Lakes basin. Great Lakes Week is a new partnership to improve the places around the basin where people live, work, learn and play. This week's activities, meetings and conferences bring representatives of the U.S. and Canadian governments together with a broad coalition of public and private groups to highlight efforts to implement solutions for the lakes' most pressing problems. The event is headquartered in a single city for the first time ever and that city is Detroit.

Detroit Public Television (DPTV), in partnership with the International Joint Commission, the Great Lakes Commission, U.S. EPA, and Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition, will be providing unprecedented access to the largest gathering of scientists, political voices, educators, environmentalists, and interested groups ever assembled to discuss the status and the future of the Great Lakes. Coverage starts today at noon at greatlakesnow.org!

Today's coverage kicks off at noon with an overview of Great Lakes Week, highlights of yesterday's Great Lakes Commission Meeting. Also on tap is the International Joint Commission of US and Canadian government agencies, a report on U.S. and Canadian efforts to restore the chemical, physical and biological diversity of the Great Lakes Basin, updates on critical issues from algae to aquatic invasive species and the Great Lakes Town Hall featuring top officials from both the U.S. and Canada answering on-site and virtual audience questions (Twitter hastag #AskGLW). Much more to follow tomorrow and Friday - check the schedule of events out for an idea.

photo credit: KAScott_20110930_3651fhenacb by Ken Scott/a>

The TC Ticker has a feature on a distinctive yellow 1953 Piper Cub seaplane that is about to be deployed to gather information about how bird die-offs along the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore happen by recording algae blooms with a camera that can probe depth up to 50 feet. :

The cause of the bird die-off isn’t the mystery; invasive species are to blame. Clearer water resulting from filter-loving (non-native) mussels increases algae production. When the algae breaks down, a bacteria is produced that is lethal to some waterfowl.

In 2007, 1,700 dead birds washed ashore the national park. The majority were endangered loons.

“Literally, there was a loon every ten or 15 feet,” says Hans VanSumeren, director of NMC’s Great Lakes Water Studies Institute, which is working with the aviation department on this project.
Though the die-off hasn’t been as massive since, the problem isn’t going away. VanSumeren says researchers and park officials need more knowledge about what occurs in the water’s environment during the spring and summer. NMC's seaplane offers the unique perspective the researchers haven't had until now. “It’s the whole piece of monitoring the Great Lakes, which we don’t do enough of,” he adds.

Click the picture above to go for a little flight in the plane and learn about NMC's Aviation program and also the Great Lakes Water Studies Institute.

This Saturday & Sunday (May 21 & 22), the Grand Traverse Conservation District will hold their annual Native Plant Sale at the Boardman River Nature Center. Hours are 8 AM - 3 PM on Saturday and from 10 AM - 3 PM on Sunday.

It's a chance to restore native plants and enhance the beauty of your backyard. Over 40 species of beautiful native flowers, ferns and grasses will be available including rescued, endangered and threatened species including Trumpet Vine, Ostrich Fern, Butterfly Weed, rescued Trillium, Jack-in-the-Pulpit and more!. Experts will be on hand to help and all ages are welcome. Quantities are limited, so come early for best selection.

The Leelanau Conservation District is holding a native plant sale as well. You can get the order form (pdf) right here and the order deadline is June 17, 2011!

Photo credit: Red Trillium by Ken Scott

The Leelanau Peninsula Chamber of Commerce announces the First Annual Leelanau Peninsula BirdFest, to be held Wednesday, June 1 through Sunday, June 5. This unique festival offers a wide variety of distinctly different field trips, including a Sunday morning sail aboard Inland Seas' schooner to see nesting gulls, cormorants and Caspian terns on Gull Island. Also slated are a bus trip to the Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy's prairie installation near Arcadia Dunes to see nesting upland birds such as northern harrier, and several pontoon boat trips down the Leelanau Conservancy's Cedar River Preserve.

Other offerings include Birding by Ear with Tom Ford along the TART Trail, an afternoon with nesting endangered Great Lakes Piping Plovers and two separate field trips focusing on breeding birds in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Visits to Leelanau State Park, Veronica Valley, Saving Birds Thru Habitat, Leelanau Conservancy's Lighthouse West, Suttons Bay wetlands and two protected private properties round out field trip offerings.

On Saturday afternoon, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore Staff will bring the Park's Family Fun Time to Fountain Point Resort. There will also be educational seminars for those who choose to attend.

Headquarters for the event will be Fountain Point Resort, where bird hikes on this heavily wooded lakeshore property will be conducted every morning, wine and cheese mixers for attendees every afternoon, and keynote speakers in the evenings. Keynote speakers will be Dave Barrons, MDOT wildlife biologist Dick Wolinski and well-known bird conservationist and author Paul Baicich from Maryland.

For more information, or to register, go to the Leelanau Peninsula Chamber of Commerce website.

The Grand Traverse Insider has a very interesting feature that explores what makes Leelanau County so attractive to birds, especially raptors. They asked Dave Barrons, educator and former Chief Meteorologist for TV 9&10 News about it, and he explained:

“The large raptors don’t like to cross water,” he said. “In fact, most birds don’t. We have a significant spring flyway for the large hawks; the Leelanau Peninsula funnels them up to its tip where they wait for the thermals to lift them across the water.

“I’ve seen as many as 300 hawks climbing on the lifting warm air, rising up until they can see Whitefish Point and then drop down into Canada.”

Leelanau’s geographic location means that many southern bird species reach the northern limits of their range and many northern birds reach the southern limits of their range in our area.

Also, a transition zone between northern and southern forest types occurs in the middle of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula; located just north of this zone, the Leelanau Peninsula counts a greater number of conifers in its forests than do southern Michigan counties, providing shelter and food for migrating birds.

Read on for more including information about an event we'll be featuring on Leelanau.com, the inaugural Leelanau Birdfest!

Photo Credit: Untitled by cyoas55

Here's some videos from presenters and performers who will be at the Benzie County Water Festival, along with some videos of the beautiful water they'll be talking about!

The First Annual Benzie County Water Festival is a community water celebration that takes place on Saturday, March 18-19 south of us in Frankfort. This will be a unique event designed to engage folks in the stewardship of the Great Lakes and the cultivation of a vibrant and sustainable local culture in our region.

A family-oriented, community-centered program will feature Michigan musicians, speeches from water luminaries (including Tom Kelly of Inland Seas Education Association and GTB Tribal Chairman Derek Bailey), interactive multimedia projects and presentations, artisan foods and beverages, workshops, visual art, theater and dance, children's activities, an ice fishing contest, as well as connections to campaigns and projects protecting our water locally and/or addressing global water challenges.

A highlight is the showing of the showing of the award-winning documentary WATERLIFE on Friday night (March 18) at the Garden Theatre in Frankfort. If you have not seen this extraordinary film and love the Great Lakes YOU SHOULD SEE IT!!!

The Benzie County Water Festival is co-sponsored by the Benzie Conservation District and Absolute Michigan. For more information, check out the Benzie Water Festival Facebook and contact Sarah Louisignau by calling 231-871-1075 or by e-mail.

The first Michigan Water Festival was held on the Straits in Mackinaw City in August of 2006 and attracted 500 people from all over the state. The Water Festival moves around Michigan every year, bringing the message of the vitality of Michigan's water all around the state (there's a video in the series above). Learn more at water-festival.org!

Photo Credit: 'Lighthouse Dawn' Point Betsie Lighthouse, Lake Michigan by Michigan Nut

The Leelanau Enterprise has a feature about a strain of lake herring that just came across my news feed about a Great Lakes fish long thought to be extinct that is making a comeback in Grand Traverse Bay:

A strain of lake herring more commonly seen in the last century in Lake Superior is now thriving in local waters, according to fisheries research biologist Randy Claramunt of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources research station in Charlevoix.

Fishermen who were targeting salmon in Grand Traverse Bay would occasionally find these fish that looked a lot like whitefish – but not quite,” according to Claramunt. “Then, these fish started showing up occasionally in commercial nets.”

It wasn’t until the early 2000’s, Claramunt said, that biologists confirmed the presence of the lost lake herring – and found a spawning population of them on the shoals of East Grand Traverse Bay.

“To the average person it might look identical to whitefish – so I’m sure people are eating them; and we’ve seen some for sale as whitefish through the commercial fishery,” Claramunt said.

Read on at the link above and sorry for missing this at first because Claramunt was doing a public talk that would have been interesting to attend!

Photo courtesy Michigan DNR.

The public is invited to a community conversation about Natural Resources and the Economy on February 23rd asking the question: Is a View of the Bay Worth More Than Half the Pay?

How important do you think natural resources are to the future of our economy? Join business leaders and the Grand Vision Natural Resources Network for a panel presentation and community conversation on Wednesday, February 23rd from 6:00 – 9:00 pm to discuss how these resources help to drive our region’s prosperity. The event will be held at the Oleson Center in Traverse City, located on the main campus of Northwestern Michigan College. It is being hosted by the Natural Resources Network of the Grand Vision, which includes businesses, civic , and environmental organizations.

The event will feature opening remarks by Derek Bailey, Tribal Chairman of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians; a panel discussion with Jim MacInnis, President and CEO of Crystal Mountain Resort, Matt Myers, Co-Owner of M-22, Deborah Wyatt Fellows - Publisher of Traverse, Northern Michigan’s Magazine, Kim Pontius, Executive Vice President of the Traverse Area Association of Realtors and Gene LaFave, Developer.

Panelists will share their perspectives on the importance of natural resources to the success of business in our region and then participants in the event will be invited to join break out groups to discuss the following questions as they relate to different topics such as recreation and access to nature, regulatory frameworks, education, energy, food, transportation, and housing.

Snacks will be served and door prizes, including several wildlife prints, will be awarded. There is no fee to participate, but pre-registration is encouraged due to limited space. You may register by contacting The Watershed Center Grand Traverse Bay, 231-935-1514 Ex. 4 or by e-mail todbaker@gtbay.org. On-site registration on the day of the event begins at 5:30pm.

Photo Credit: Pyramid Point from Van's Beach in Leland by Trish P. - K1000 Gal

The Glen Arbor Sun reprinted a story from Traverse City based Circle of Blue that looks at how Chicago's waterways enable the spread of invasive species. The invasive zebra mussels, discovered in the Great Lakes in 1988 entered the Mississippi via the waterways and have now spread as far west as California and cause hundreds of millions of dollars in damage in the U.S. every year by fouling the pipes that deliver fresh water to municipal drinking water facilities and power plants.

“We should expect that for many species, the Chicago Area Waterway System is still a very viable conduit,” Keller said. “There’s still a very high likelihood of future invasions, future economic and ecological impacts.”

This is one of the reasons why the Alliance for the Great Lakes supports the permanent hydrological separation of the Great Lakes from the Mississippi River Basin, said Joel Brammeier, the organization’s president.

“Asian carp are only the latest and certainly the most graphic example,” Brammeier said. “But as Dr. Keller mentioned, we’ve already donated zebra mussels and round goby to the Mississippi River Basin, something that I don’t think the other half of the continental United States is too happy about. We can certainly count today half a dozen other invaders in either direction that could move through this system.”

He added, “No technology solution has been demonstrated to be able to provide the kind of certainty against invasion that we think the Great Lakes deserve.

Read the rest, and if you're not familiar with Circle of Blue (founded by Leelanau native J. Carl Ganter), we very much encourage you to put it on your reading list!

Photo credit: "Once Upon A Time by Live Inspired Photography