“The newspaper for peoplewho love the north”

www.mynorthwoodscall.com

Michigan’s Conservation Sentinel Since 1953

Late March 2014$2.50

Vol. 61, No. 9Digital Delivery

Bid-fixing

Charges FiledPage 1

Men Arrested in

Black Bear CaperPage 1

Guilty Pleas in

Cougar Killing

Page 3

Talkin’ To

the Au Sable

Page 3

Alex Sagady on

Pipeline DebatePage 5

Conversation &

Coffee With DNRPage 8

www.mynorthwoodscall.com

Springtime At

Mission Point Lighthouse— North Woods Call photo —

Michigan’s Conservation Sentinel Since 1953

Late March 2014$2.50

Vol. 61, No. 9Digital Delivery

POPULAR CALL: Curators at the University of Michigan’s Bent-ley Historical Library say that The North Woods Call is one of theirmost-viewed archive collections. “The level of interest in the paper isreally impressive,” said Michael Shallcross of the library’s Digital Cu-ration Division. A variety of back issues can be accessed at the library,although more current editions are embargoed for a period of time.

FISHERMAN’S ISLAND GROUP: A new group—Friends ofFisherman’s Island State Park—has been formed with the aim of savingthe resource from a proposed land swap and industrial development bySt. Mary’s Cement Inc. The organization has a Facebook page and hasstarted an online petition drive there. For more information, contactAnne Zukowski at (231) 547-3467, or at AnnieZuko@aol.com.

HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES: The Michigan EnvironmentalHall of Fame will honor its 2014 inductees during an April 10 ceremonyat the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum in Grand Rapids. Individ-ual inductees are Norm Spring of Grand Haven, Joan Wolfe of Frank-fort, Don Inman of Millersburg and Dave Dempsey of Minneapolis,Minn. Spring helped form the Michigan Pesticides Council and was aleader in the fight to ban DDT from the state and nation; Wolfe wasfounder of the West Michigan Environmental Action Council and servedon the Natural Resource Commission; Inman had the concept for theMichigan Natural Resources Trust Fund; and Dempsey—the author andco-author of six conservation books—has helped shape conservationand Great Lakes policy for 30 years. The nonprofit organization in-ductee is the Clinton River Watershed Council, which works to pro-tect, enhance and celebrate the Clinton River, its watershed and LakeSt. Clair. Dempsey will give the keynote address at the event.

ASIAN CARP: The Michigan Department of Natural Resources(DNR) says research on Michigan rivers and streams during 2013 didnot find any evidence of Asian carp. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Serv-ice sampled the Muskegon, St. Joseph, Grand and Detroit rivers, as wellas Lake St. Clair, in search of environmental DNA, or eDNA related tothe bighead carp or silver carp varieties. The DNR previously releasedsimilar findings for the Portage River.

SWINE LAWSUIT DISMISSED: A lawsuit filed by a Marion-area farmer against the DNR has been dismissed. As previously re-ported in The North Woods Call, the farmer—Mark Baker—hadchallenged the DNR’s invasive species order that barred his practice ofcross-breeding forbidden Russian boars with heritage Mangalitsa pigs.The DNR began enforcing the ownership and breeding of certain strainsof pigs in 2012, because of the threat they pose if they were to escapeand become wild. Missaukee County Chief Circuit Judge WilliamFagerman dismissed the lawsuit after the DNR argued that Baker nolonger owns the offending Russian breed. Supporters say the DNRorder helps prevent the increase of “feral” hogs that can destroy habitatand spread disease.

BEACH CLOSURES: Although the number of Michigan beachesclosed due to pollution has declined in recent years, so has long-termwater quality, according to a report by Qing Zhang in the Great Lakes

Echo. “All our near-shore waters are at risk,” Joan Rose, director of theWater Quality and Environmental Microbiology Laboratory at MichiganState University, is quoted as saying. “No surprise, in urban areas thingsare more serious.” This conclusion is based on measuring bacteria lev-els buried in sediment, the article says.

WATERSHED SUMMIT: The Michigan Watershed Summit willbe held from 8:30 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. on March 26 at the Eagle Eye Ban-quet Facility in East Lansing. The purpose is to bring together as manyof the state’s watershed groups as possible for information sharing, up-dates and discussion. To register, visit the Michigan Water Environ-ment Association website.

PROFESSIONAL OF THE YEAR: Abigail Ertel of the Gaylord-based Huron Pines organization was named “Professional of the Year”during the Saginaw Basin Land Conservancy’s annual Osprey Awards.Among other things, she was honored for her work on the Huron PinesKirtland’s Warbler Initiative.

MIGRATING HAWKS: Hawks have begun to pass through theStraits of Mackinac as they return to nesting territories in the UpperPeninsula and northern Ontario. Last year, 7,578 red-tailed hawks werecounted migrating over the Straits—more birds than at any of the other275 hawk count sites in North America.

(Continued on Page 2)

North Woods Notes

Charges filed against Chesapeake & Encana Michigan Attorney General Bill

Schuette has filed criminal chargesagainst Oklahoma-based Chesa-peake Energy Corporation andDelaware-based Encana Oil andGas USA.

The two firms allegedly collab-orated to avoid bidding warsagainst each other in Michiganpublic auctions, and private nego-tiations for oil and gas leases. Theactivity reportedly caused prices toplummet.

“I will aggressively prosecuteany company who conspires tobreak the law,” Schuette said whenhis Corporate Oversight Divisionfiled the charges. The currentcharges are merely accusations, hesaid, and the defendants are pre-sumed to be innocent “until andunless proven guilty.”

Public auctions of state-held oil

and gas leases are held twiceyearly—once in May and once inOctober—by the Michigan De-partment of Natural Resources(DNR). During the DNR’s May2010 auction, both Chesapeakeand Encana purchased natural gasleases in Michigan.

In 2012, the Reuters News Serv-

ice uncovered a possible conspir-acy between executives of the twocompanies in which they allegedlydiscussed an agreement followingthe May 2010 auction to split upMichigan counties where eachcompany would be an exclusivebidder for both public and privateleases.

In the five-month period fol-lowing the May 2010 auction, thisalleged conspiracy may have beena key driver behind the state-heldlease price in Michigan going

from $1,510 per acre in May 2010to less than $40 an acre at the Oc-tober 2010 auction.

The following charges werefiled against the companies onMarch 5:

* One count each of antitrustviolations relating to a contract orconspiracy in restraint of com-merce. This is a high court misde-meanor punishable by up to twoyears and/or $10,000 fine for anindividual, or up to $1,000,000 fora corporation; and,

* One count each of attemptedantitrust violations. This is also amisdemeanor punishable by up toto one year and/or $1,000 fine.

Representatives from bothChesapeake and Encana werescheduled to be arraigned onMarch 19 in Cheboygan County’s89th District Court.

Men arrested for buying black bear partsTwo Midland men have been

arrested on charges of illegallybuying Michigan black bears andblack bear parts, according to theMichigan Department of NaturalResources (DNR).

The charges, authorized by theMidland County Prosecutor’s Of-fice, are the result of an under-cover investigation by the DNRLaw Enforcement Division’s Spe-cial Investigations Unit.

At this writing, the case waspending arraignment of the defen-dants in the 75th District Court inMidland County. Names of thedefendants were being withhelduntil the arraignment, officialssaid.

A conservation officer assignedto the Bay City District receivedinformation that one of the sub-jects was contacting hunters andsoliciting the purchase of black

bear parts. Investigators estab-lished undercover contact with thesuspects and an associate based onthis information. A number oftransactions involving black bearsand black bear parts were con-ducted with the suspects.

Each of the seven counts againstthe defendants carries a fine of upto $1,000 and 90 days in jail, plus$1,500 in reimbursement per ani-mal that was illegally bought.

“Individuals soliciting for thepurchase of black bear parts cre-ates a market for the illegal partsand provides a financial incentivefor poachers to take the animalsduring closed seasons—in excessof established limits and by un-lawful methods,” said DetectiveLt. Jason Haines. There is a blackmarket for black bear parts in Asia,where the parts are used for me-dicinal purposes, he said.

“The Special Investigations Unitplays a vital role investigating andarresting major violators, and itscases often include interstate andinternational violations,” saidDNR Law Enforcement DivisionChief Gary Hagler. “The unit’srole in the Law Enforcement Divi-sion is to use undercover investi-gations, the latest in technologyand forensics to apprehend poach-ers, and others who are illegallycommercializing fish and game inour state. The unit works with ourconservation officers to buildstrong cases and to protect our nat-ural resources.”

Anyone with information aboutthe illegal commercialization ofany Michigan wildlife or fish, orany natural resources violationsshould call the Report All Poach-ing hotline at 800-292-7800.

—Michigan DNR report

The buying and selling of black bear parts is illegal in Michigan, because it creates a market for the parts,

and provides a financial incentive for poachers to unlawfully take the animals during closed seasons and

in excess of established limits, according to Michigan Department of Natural Resources officials.

Page 2 Late March 2014 The NorTh Woods CaLL

Urban sprawl edges northBy Glen Sheppard

A few years ago—no more than ten—Belleville was as small town-ish as a small town could be. Residents of the less-than-2,000 popu-lation western Wayne County community were annoyingly proud oftheir picturesque village. There was still a lingering suspicion thatthey had something they shouldn’t share with “outsiders.”

All that’s gone. It’s hard to find the village among the thousandsof new homes, factories and businesses which now surround its for-mer well-defined city limits. Where the “city” once ended and thefarms started. Now it’s one big, sprawling checkerboard of houses.

There were those who tried to warn the city and township plannersthat they should, and could, stop it. But few listened.

Now, I’m told, the newspaper office is being moved. There willstill be a newspaper, but it will be edited from a “central” office lostsomewhere in the jungle of suburbia.

I was 19 years old when I first edited the Enterprise-Roman for LewRobson and Ray Clift. As I recall it, the paper even then was around100 years old. It was a proud newspaper in a proud community.

Years later, with a few more newspapers and many miles of wan-dering behind me, I returned to the Enterprise-Roman because it wasthe best memory a very tired young man had. And even then,Belleville was still a magical sort of place. Quiet and busy. Busyworrying about the other guy’s business and the “scandal” of policechief Irv Stech riding to work in the police car—instead of spendinghis own gas money to travel the less than one mile from home to CityHall.

That’s the kind of environment a community newspaper—and asmall town—thrives in. Unless people have the time and concern to“care” about everything that is happening to their town, it can’t sur-vive and it won’t support a community newspaper.

But things changed. Now people, apparently, “just live” inBelleville and Van Buren Township. People who “just live” some-place don’t care enough to keep its wonder alive.

But this isn’t the “Suburban Call,” so why ponder a tragedy thathappened so far from the north woods? Because it is happening here.The north country’s small towns are in danger of out-growing, or out-spreading, themselves. In a real sense, every north woods county isa small town. And our counties, too, are trying to escape their per-sonality.

“Small towns are often committed to the idea of growth and in-dustrial development,” Clayton Denman writes in a pamphlet pub-lished by the Small Towns Institute. “This is based on themisconception that the ideal is to become a city and that such townsare lagging behind. Instead, it should be recognized that smallnesshas its own advantages which inevitably disappear with growth. Suchadvantages as friendliness, quiet, compactness and diversity.”

Denman also makes these observations:“Development is not necessarily bad, but it should come, if possi-

ble, from within the community itself. Local development would atleast make it more likely that those involved would retain some feel-ing for small town life and traditions.

“Some small towns have matured into prosperous and sound com-munities by following an effective community plan. The danger isthat such workable plans encourage outsiders to settle in these towns.... “Urban people may inadvertently destroy the places they moved toin an effort to escape the annoyances and problems of city living.”

Denman makes many other and very specific suggestions for pre-serving small towns. The pamphlet “Small Towns” should be read byall public officials and civic leaders in small cities, villages and coun-ties. North Woods Call readers can’t expect the officials in their homecommunities—or in the northern country county they hope to see es-cape the agony of growth—obtain the pamphlet on their own initia-tive [so why not buy copies for them?].

At a nickel a copy, I can’t see how you can make a better invest-ment.

Our 61st Year: Looking Back to March 17, 1971

North Woods NotesState Sen. Darwin Booher (R-

Evart) wants to change the animalsalvage tag system in Michigan.

He has proposed new legisla-tion (Senate Bill 613) to make iteasier for people that hit game an-imals with their vehicles to keepthem, while still giving the De-partment of Natural Resources(DNR) a record of the kill.

The proposed bill, however,says it would still be illegal tokeep migratory birds, cub bears,wolves, spotted fawn deer, elk andmoose.

Currently, a person who hits adeer, or other game animal, with avehicle must request a salvage tagfrom a law enforcement officer inorder to keep the animal for food,the hide, or bait, according to theMichigan United ConservationClubs (MUCC). The system hasbeen in place since 1989 to closea loophole that allowed people toclaim they hit an animal with theirvehicle, rather than confessingthat they shot it out-of-season, orwithout a license. Poachers oftenexploit this system, the MUCCsays.

Under the proposed legislation,people who want to keep road killwill either have to get a salvagetag as currently required—or 1)call the DNR, or a local law en-forcement agency, or 2) fill out aform on the DNR website. Thereporting requirement, however,would not apply to small game,which is a concern to the MUCC.

“Hunters will all now carry abase license,” MUCC officialssaid, “which would allow them tolegally keep small game killed, sothere is little reason for this ex-emption.

“Turkey and deer hunters, [aswell as] trappers, may also beconcerned that people could keepa vehicle-hit animal with only aphone or online report, rather thandirect oversight by law enforce-ment.”

The DNR would still be able torestrict salvaging dead game ani-mals in the event of disease orpublic health concerns.

The Final Insult? —North Woods Call Photo

Just when we thought the bright sunshine, warmer temperatures and melting snow signaled an end to win-

ter, we were slammed by another storm that dropped eight more inches of wet, heavy white stuff on the

North Woods Call homestead. Consequently—a mere week before spring officially began—we were back

on the snowplow clearing a clogged driveway. To add insult to injury, the thermometer then dropped below

zero and froze everything solid for another day. At this writing, the mercury was back in the mid-30s and

we were hoping that the worst winter around these parts in recent memory had moved on. But we’ll see.

Proposed change

to animal salvage

tags for road kill

(Continued from Page 1)

APRIL NRC MEETING: The next Michigan Natural ResourcesCommission (NRC) meeting will be held April 10 at the Michigan StateUniversity Diagnostic Center, 4125 Beaumont Road, in Lansing. Formore information about the agenda, visit the Michigan Department ofNatural Resources website at michigan.gov/dnr.

PROTESTORS RELEASED: Three women—arrested last Julyand found guilty Jan. 31 of resisting and obstructing police during asummer 2013 protest of an Enbridge oil pipeline—were released in earlyMarch by Ingham County Circuit Judge William Collette. Vicci Ham-lin of Michigan City, Ind., Barbara Carter of Detroit and Lisa Leggio ofHolland were credited for time they already served in jail. The women,who were involved with the Michigan Coalition Against Tar Sands, af-fixed themselves to large pieces of machinery near Stockbridge, Michi-gan, where Enbridge was working to replace and increase the capacityof its 6B pipeline. The same pipeline ruptured near Marshall in 2010,spilling more than 800,000 gallons of heavy crude into the KalamazooRiver and Talmadge Creek.

ANTI-FRACKING MOVIE: Public screenings of the film“Gasland 2” will be hosed by the Committee to Ban Fracking in Michi-gan, which is working on a ballot question to eliminate horizontal hy-drofracturing and related wastes in the state’s oil and gas development.The free showings of the film by Josh Fox will be from 6 to 8:30 p.m.Mar. 21 at the Elk Rapids Township Hall in Elk Rapids, 6:30 to 8:30p..m. Mar. 25 at the Morton Township Library in Mecosta, 2:30 to 5p.m. at the Chelsea District Library in Chelsea, 7 to 9:30 p.m. at Edge-wood United Church of Christ in East Lansing and 5:30 to 8 p.m. atHastings Public Library in Hastings. Donations will be appreciated.

PURE MICHIGAN HUNT: It’s time once again to apply for theupcoming Pure Michigan Hunt drawing. Three winners are selectedeach year to receive an elk, bear, spring and fall turkey and antlerlessdeer license—as well as first choice opening morning at any of Michi-gan’s world-class managed waterfowl hunt areas across the state. An ad-ditional prize package is also awarded. Applications can be purchasedfor $5 each in unlimited quantities anywhere hunting licenses are sold,or online a www.mdnr-elicense.com.

Public to review Jordan River proposalsThe public is invited to review

proposals to replace the twin cul-verts on the Jordan River with aclear-span bridge at the Old StateRd. crossing.

Two new public access sites arealso being planned to complementa new bridge and accommodatethe growing number of river users.

A meeting to discuss the pro-posals is scheduled for 5 to 7 p.m.Mar. 25 at VFW Post 7580 at 4960M-32 Highway in East Jordan.

These projects will impact manypeople and cost significant money,organizers say, so it’s important toconsider as many perspectives aspossible.

“The Jordan River crossing atOld State Road is plagued withfundamental design problems,”said Dr. John Richter, president ofFriends of the Jordan River Wa-tershed. “These ultimately resultin pollution, erosion, congestion,and public health and safety prob-lems. This is a popular spot andnobody wants to deliberately harmthe river, but unless we redesignthis site, normal activities will de-grade the river and accelerateproblems that already exist.”

During the meeting, membersof the work group will offer de-tails, answer questions, take com-ments and receive suggestions.

Fisherman’s Island land swap meetingNearly 100 people reportedly attended a March 13 meeting of the

Charlevoix Township Board to discuss the proposed land swap at Fish-erman’s Island State Park.

St. Mary’s Cement made a presentation to the standing-room-onlycrowd and representatives from the Michigan Department of NaturalResources (DNR) were also present. St. Mary’s has proposed ex-changing about 190 acres of forest woodland to expand their quarryingoperations.

They did not ask for a vote on the matter, observers said, but rathersuggested a committee of “respected community leaders” be establishedto facilitate the ongoing discussion. The committee would presumablycome up with an “equitable” solution that would benefit everyone.

“Relying on a committee to solve the problem through compromiseis admitting defeat,” said Anne Zukowski, a member of Friends of Fish-erman’s Island State Park. “They are dangling ‘shiny trinkets’ in frontof us, hoping we will be dazzled into giving up prime park land.”

If the community is against the project, company officials reportedlysaid, then it will not move forward, but for now they plan to “keep goinguntil it is no longer a good idea.”

Citizen response to the proposal has apparently been mixed.

Late March 2014 Page 3The NorTh Woods CaLL

Two of three suspects plead guilty in Schoolcraft County cougar killingThree suspects from Bay and Saginaw counties—re-

portedly involved in the illegal killing of a cougar—werearraigned March 5 in Schoolcraft County District Court.

Two of the suspects pled guilty and the third entered a notguilty plea.

Troy Robert Richard, 42, of Bay City, pled guilty to tak-ing and possessing an endangered species, and conspiracy totake an endangered species. He was sentenced to 30 daysin jail, a three-year revocation of all hunting privileges, and$5,775 in fines, court costs and restitution—including ex-penses to preserve the animal for educational purposes.Richard also forfeited the weapon involved in the killingand was ordered to serve 120 hours of community service.

Theodore Robert Richard, 68, of Munger, pled guilty toaiding and abetting the illegal taking/possession of an en-dangered species, and paid $1,725 in fines and costs. Hishunting privileges were also revoked for a period of twoyears and he received 96 hours of community service.

The third suspect—Todd Anthony Richard, 43, of Burt—pled not guilty to conspiracy to take/possess an endangeredspecies. He owns and operates a taxidermy business in BayCounty and is a brother to Troy Richard.

According to the Michigan Department of Natural Re-sources (DNR), the crime occurred at the Richards’ huntingcamp in Germfask Township near Seney on Dec. 9, 2013.The animal was shot from the subjects’ camp when itwalked into a deer food plot and drove the deer out while thesubjects were muzzleloader hunting for deer. The animalwas wounded by Troy Richard with a center-fire 22-250 cal-iber rifle and it then fled the food plot. The following day,it was tracked and located approximately one-quarter mileaway and killed.

Investigators said Troy and Theodore Richard thenbrought the animal back to their camp, where they fielddressed and hid it—then cooked and ate part of the heart.They left for their homes in Bay County shortly after, withthe animal intact, but field dressed, in the back of TroyRichard’s pickup truck.

Troy Richard reported that he struck a deer with his truckafter leaving the camp. He picked up the deer, put it in atrailer with other deer they had killed and transported it tothe Michigan State Police post in St. Ignace. There he ob-tained a permit for the road-kill deer—all while having thecougar in the truck’s bed under a tonneau cover so that it

could be hidden from view. DNR officers noted thatRichard had ample opportunity to report the cougar killingat this point, but failed to do so.

Troy Richard returned to his residence with the cougar,where the animal was skinned and prepared for mounting.The skull was also boiled and preserved, and the remains ofthe carcass were disposed.

When the Richards’ learned that DNR conservation of-ficers knew about the poaching, they attempted to hide theevidence at another location. During the investigation, theyreportedly gave many false statements and had officerssearching several areas in the Upper Peninsula, where theyclaimed to have disposed of the entire cougar. They re-peatedly denied that they took the animal home with them.

The cougar hide, which had been prepared for mounting,and the skull were eventually recovered. The entrails of theadult male cougar were also found at the Richards’ camp.The suspects ultimately admitted the crime and said it wasone of opportunity—a once-in-a-lifetime chance to kill acougar in Michigan and have it mounted.

Cougars are on the Michigan endangered species list andare a protected animal that may not be hunted.

World-record

Michigan fish

a “best catch”The International Game Fish

Association (IGFA) has in-cluded a Michigan muskel-lunge on its list of the “best”record catches of the past year.

As previously reported in The

North Woods Call, the GreatLakes muskellunge was caughtOct. 13, 2012, on Lake Bellairein Antrim County by JosephSeeberger of Portage. Itweighed 58 pounds and meas-ured 58 inches and was listedas a world-record catch by theInternational Committee of theModern Day MuskellungeWorld Record Program in Feb-ruary 2013.

It is the only fish in theUnited States included in theIGFA contest, which asks an-glers to vote for their favoriteentry at www.igfa.org/con-tests/AnglersChoice.

The winning entry will re-ceive the Angler’s ChoiceAward at an IGFA ceremony inApril.

Time to get a

fishing licenseAs most North Woods Call

readers already know, Michi-gan’s fishing licenses were re-structured on March 1.

There are now five optionsfrom which to choose whenmaking your purchase. Allfishing licenses are good for allspecies.• Resident Annual - $26• Non-Resident Annual - $76 • Senior Annual (for residentsage 65 or older) - $11 • 24-Hour (resident or non-resident) - $10• 72-Hour (resident or non-resident) - $30

Residents and non-residentscan also purchase the hunt/fishcombo license for $76 and$266, respectively, which con-sists of a base license, annualfishing license and two deertags. A base license is not re-quired when just purchasing afishing license.

The changes to hunting andfishing license fees are ex-pected to bring additional rev-enue to state coffers.

Great Lakes Comeback —North Woods Call photo

Last spring’s low water levels in the Great Lakes—shown here along Grand Traverse Bay on Old Mission

Peninsula—will likely not be so much of a problem this year, according to federal officials. The lakes are

expected to continue a steady recovery, thanks to widespread ice cover that is slowing evaporation and

snowfall which has approached record amounts in some areas. Polar air that has gripped the region this

winter has caused the most extensive freeze-over of the lakes since the record-setting year of 1979, when

nearly 95 percent of their surface area solidified. In early March, the Associated Press reported that the

ice cover had reached its highest point since then—91 percent. Meanwhile, the snowpack collected in the

watershed will melt this spring and much of the water will flow into the lakes—or the streams that feed

them. Some areas will likely be in danger of flooding, officials said, and any additional rainfall will only

add to that threat. Remind us again why so much money was spent on dredging last year...

It’s easy to be friends with ariver in the glorious seasons ofsummer and autumn. Spendingtime on the Au Sable River on abeautiful day—with the sun shin-ing down, eagles soaring, fishcruising and flies buzzing—isheaven on earth.

I don’t think I can add much tothe praises that have been sung tothe Au Sable in this regard. Butwhat about those days when ariver is cranky, impatient, or over-active? That’s another matter. Iam reminded of a few recent ex-periences when my new friendhad its proverbial river shorts in abunch.

We had the rich opportunity tojoin our dear friends for a float inan Au Sable riverboat. It was myfirst venture on this fine methodof transportation. Doesn’t itsname just sing to you? I digress.The day was sunny—we had alovely snack packed and the rodsat the ready—and we pushed off.The absolute second that the boattouched water, the clouds de-scended and the river started pout-ing. Nonplussed, we carried on.

Don’t get me wrong. It was a

lovely float. How could it not bea wonderful river experience? Wetalked about all the importantthings in life. We flicked a fewflies out into those cozy littleplaces where—if we were trout—we would lurk. Then we realizedit was really cold; shivers of an-ticipation had shifted to just plainshivers. By that time, we cameupon Rainbow Bend, where wethought we might pause for a littleappetizer and put on another layerof clothes.

Sadly, the little campground atRainbow Bend was populated bysome bumbling idiots. Three verydrunk dudes stood shirtless at theriver’s edge, one blowing a moosehorn and the others adding to thebad vibes with hurled insults andpotty mouths. Clearly, they werehunkering down for the night atthe campground and it was goingto be a wild and crazy one. Theriver was perturbed, of course.

Perhaps that’s why we were expe-riencing such rough weather—theriver’s way of sending a messageto those who just don’t get it.

At the same time, we observeda family of dad, mom and son—clearly bivouacking at the bendfor the night—wincing at thenoise. They looked forlornly at usas if to say, “Please take us withyou.” The river continued itsnaughty reaction to the screechingcoming from the water’s edge: Itbelched rain—lots of it. The windwhipped up and it felt like a No-vember day. We packed upquickly and waved sensitively atthe soulful-looking family as theyput on their hoods.

Now it should come as no sur-prise to any of us that a diversityof people come to play in theriver. It also is not my place tojudge those three men who triedso hard to entertain us as best theyknew how. But it’s a little inter-

esting to think that the riverchanged so dramatically, as theselovely gentlemen started up on themoose horn. Coincidence? Idon’t think so.

On another glorious afternoon,our family headed downstreamfor a nice, long float. As we tooka sharp turn, the newly-notedthunderheads in the sky said,“Perhaps not.” Again, thechangeling nature of the Au Sablewas obvious. The gentle gigglesand frisky friendliness instantlydisappeared and the river bared itsteeth. The wind whipped acrossthe top of the water, practicallyhissing.

“Whoa!” we said. We quicklyturned the vessels toward a con-venient stopping point, but we hadno options for cover. Ever re-sourceful, my husband whippedout a large tarp from the bottom ofthe canoe and we ducked under-neath it just as the rain blasteddown. The four of us sat on theedge of the canoe laughing away,the rains sounding like hail on thetarp. “I love this family!” saidolder sister, in a burst of exuber-ance. The husband got extra

Can we still be friends? A continuing dialogue with the Au Sable River

River ReflectionsBy Betsy Hayhow Hemming

brownie points for sure. A briefboom of thunder caused a pause,but as fast as the storm came, itdisappeared, off to torture someother group of nature lovers.

And what was the Au Sable upto all this time? It just waited pa-tiently for us to come back in andplay, its hand over its proverbialmouth to hold in the laughter.“Come on, hurry up!” it seemedto say. We threw off the tarp andoff we went.

I did get angry at the river once,early in our relationship. Ourbeloved black lab had no fear ofthe river whatsoever, and intro-duced herself immediately. Forquite a long time, they played anintense game of whatever it iswhen dogs and rivers play to-gether. We were amazed at thedog’s energy level and the riverkept right up with her. We willnever know quite what happened,but our dog had a seizure the nextnight and died the following day.I blamed the river as we wept forour loss. But I knew in my heartthat it wasn’t the river’s fault.Life happens and sometimes for

(Continued on Page 5)

Page 4 Late March 2014 The NorTh Woods CaLL

OpinionQuote Box

“Getting on the subject of beautification is like picking up a tan-

gled skein of wool. All the threads are interwoven—recreation and

pollution and mental health, and the crime rate, and rapid transit,

and highway beautification, and the war on poverty, and parks—

national, state and local. It is hard to hitch the conversation into

one straight line, because everything leads to something else.”

—Lady Bird Johnson

The North Woods Call

Michigan’s Conservation Sentinel

Since 1953

Published regularly by:Newshound Productions LLC

5411 east de avenueKalamazoo, Michigan 49004.

Telephone: (269) 342-8724

E-mail: editor@mynorthwoodscall.com

Website: mynorthwoodscall.com

Online subscription: $35 per yearand $60 for two years.

Print subscription: $55 per yearand $95 for two years

Address changes: Please send $2 tocover costs.

Editor & Publisher: Mike VanBuren

Publishers Emeritus:Marguerite Gahagan

Glen and Mary Lou sheppard

A Newshound Publication

North Woods JournalBy Mike VanBuren

Now that the strenuous winterof 2013-14 is drawing to an un-ceremonious close, we’re relievedto see some traditional signs ofspring.

Robins have been spotted scur-rying across icy mounds of snow.Blue skies and bright sunshinehave regularly been peekingthrough the dark, gray clouds thathave dominated our local envi-ronment for the past four months.And a season-long collection ofsharp icicles has all but disap-peared from the eaves of ourhouse.

Perhaps even more noteworthy,the spring edition of the Cabela’scatalog has arrived in our mail-box. Heck, the wildflowers andskunk cabbage should be alongany day now—if the still-deepsnow ever melts and uncovers theground.

There will be rain, of course,and plenty more cool days, but therebirth of springtime never fails tobolster my spirit and get me in themood for warm-weather adven-ture—and maybe a couple oflong-overdue road trips.

Road trips?Sure, spring is a perfect time to

break the chains of the home-bound and point the automobiledown a stretch of blacktop.

I don’t have to go very far, oruse a lot of gasoline. Just let mego someplace—anyplace—whereI can pitch a tent, hike a woodedtrail, explore a museum, or visitfriends and relatives. It’s time tothaw the frozen mind and clearthe cooped-up senses.

But don’t force me to look at alot of outdoor advertising—specifically highway billboards—on the way.

Not that I have anything againstadvertising. In fact, I’d like to at-tract more of it to The North

Woods Call to help ensure a morestable future.

But there’s something about thelandscape-blocking intrusion ofgiant signs that interferes with mythoughts and interrupts my peaceof mind.

Even Phineas T. Barnum—the

Springtime, billboards and roadside vistas

so-called “Shakespeare of adver-tising” and “greatest showman onearth”—apparently had his limits.Barnum, who is credited withplacing the first billboards in NewYork City, said there is an appro-priate time and place for such at-tention-grabbing salesmanship.

“No man ought to advertise inthe midst of landscapes or sceneryin such a way as to destroy or in-jure their beauty by introducingtotally incongruous and relativelyvulgar associations,” Barnum saidin his 1866 book, “The Humbugsof the World.” “Too many trans-actions of the sort have been per-petrated in our own country.”

Barnum said it is “outrageouslyselfish to destroy the pleasure ofthousands for the sake of addi-tional gain.”

No less a salesman, albeit in amuch different way, U.S. Presi-dent Lyndon Baines Johnson hada similar outlook.

“There is a part of Americawhich was here long before we ar-rived and will be here—if we pre-serve it—long after we depart,”Johnson said when signing theHighway Beautification Act of1965—probably at the urging ofthe First Lady. “The forests andthe flowers, the open prairies andthe slope of the hills, the tallmountains, the granite, the lime-stone, the caliche, the unmarkedtrails, the winding little streams.This is the America that noamount of science or skill canever re-create or actually ever du-plicate.

“In recent years, I think Amer-ica has sadly neglected this part of[its] national heritage. We haveplaced a wall of civilization be-tween us and between the beautyof our land, and of our country-side. In our eagerness to expandand to improve, we have relegatednature to a weekend role and wehave banished it from our daily

lives.”I’m not sure how much of what

ol’ LBJ believed that I wouldagree with today—I was tooyoung in the mid-1960s to havehad many public policy ideas my-self—but I think I could have got-ten on board with thesesentiments.

I’ve had similar thoughts when-ever I’ve driven the George Wash-ington Memorial Parkway leadinginto the nation’s capital—or trav-eled the Blue Ridge Parkway inVirginia and the Natchez TraceParkway in Tennessee. Even thePierce Stocking Scenic Drivethrough northern Michigan’sSleeping Bear Dunes NationalLakeshore reminds me of thestark contrast between most pub-lic highways and those where thenatural vistas have been carefullypreserved.

It’s probably not practical tothink that all roads could be con-structed in such a way. After all,America runs on commerce andcreative advertising is key to thenation’s success. But it would benice to at least consider these pos-sibilities before we cut thorough-fares through mountains, acrossprairies and along seashores, thenline them with gargantuan con-sumer messages that assault thenatural landscape.

Not everything should be forsale, especially shared publicspaces that would look and feelmuch better without all the clutter.

So long to “Outdoor Rhythms”For those of you who may be wondering what happened to Doug

Freeman’s column “Outdoor Rhythms,” which appeared regularly inThe North Woods Call for more than a year, the author has decidedto discontinue writing it—for now, at least.

As other columnists have also done, Doug graciously contributedhis words to our pages even when our anemic budget didn’t allowany real monetary reward for his efforts.

We are grateful for this generosity, and will miss Doug’s insight-ful comments and general passion for all things outdoors.

Some roadside advertising contains useful public service announcements, but the billboards on which

these messages appear still block views and mar landscapes, even in urban areas. —North Woods Call photo

Price-fixing and big businessIt had been several months since we received any response

from the Michigan attorney General’s office to our inquiries aboutthe agency’s bid-fixing investigation of Chesapeake energy andencana oil & Gas.

We thought perhaps they were stonewalling for some unknownreason. Turns out that the investigation just took longer than weexpected and criminal charges against the two companies havenow been filed (see story on Page 1). our apologies, Mr.schuette, for being suspicious.

The two firms are, of course, presumed innocent until provenguilty, so we will reserve comment on that until another time.

For those companies that are tempted to do the kind of thingfor which the defendants are charged, however, let this be a warn-ing. There’s no place for collusion and unfair bidding practicesanywhere in business, let alone during auctions of public re-sources.

We’re pleased to see the attorney general taking a tough standon this matter.

David vs. GoliathYet another grassroots citizens’ group—Friends of Fisherman’s

Island state Park—has formed to fight attempts by private in-dustry to pirate public resources that were set aside for preser-vation under the public trust.

add to that numerous other local organizations with similarpurposes—Michigan Land air Water defense in Barry County, theCoalition against strip Mining in the Upper Peninsula and don’tFrack Michigan, for example—and it’s clear that many importantissues are not being adequately addressed by elected represen-tatives and bureaucrats who are being paid to do so.

We support the right of businesses and corporations to makea fair profit while providing society with much-needed goods andservices. and the careful use of natural resources is often part ofthat equation. Yet—short of a national emergency—some thingsshould never be for sale or barter. and that includes parks,forests and natural areas that have been set aside for preserva-tion and enjoyment by future generations.

each year, we spend millions of taxpayer dollars on agenciesand programs aimed at protecting such areas. Is it too much toexpect those in charge of administering those activities to put thepublic interest first?

We applaud the efforts of concerned citizens who are alarmedby what they see as a dereliction of duty by public servants andorganize to take matters into their own hands. Great personaland financial sacrifices are made when jumping into the fray andstanding up to be counted, but the fruits of citizen action—whichsometimes means civil disobedience—are for the benefit of all.

Let’s support such activists in their struggles against giants andthank them for at least trying to make a difference.

2014 Environmental Hall of FameWe are pleased to hear that some folks long connected to The

North Woods Call as readers and news sources will be inductedinto the Michigan environmental hall of Fame next month.

as reported in the “North Woods Notes” on Page 1 of this edi-tion, Norm spring, Joan Wolfe, don Inman and dave dempseyhave been selected as the next group of individuals to receivethe honor. The Clinton river Watershed Council was chosen asthis year’s nonprofit organization.

each of these inductees has worked tirelessly over many yearsto educate the public, inform policymakers and protect Michigan’senvironment from damage and abuse.

Positive change doesn’t always happen easily. The road tocivic improvement is often long and difficult—filled with potholesand numerous other obstacles that require much strategic think-ing, and even more personal tenacity. Leaders like these haveproven time-after-time that they have the wisdom, courage andfortitude to bring about such change in the face of seemingly in-surmountable odds.

as a result of these gallant efforts, Michigan and the nation ingeneral are much better off today.

sure, there’s still a lot of work to be done, but it’s good to pausealong the way to recognize those who have gone before. We ad-mire each individual and organization that has heard the call andresponded by saying, “If not me, who? If not now, when?

There is a great need for active environmental stewardship andwe’re grateful that these folks—and others—have stepped for-ward to help preserve and defend our natural heritage.

Late March 2014 Page 5The NorTh Woods CaLL

A View From Elsewhere

That old, rusty underwater pipeline? No worry! By Eve Andrews

Recently, scenes from the frozenGreat Lakes region have broughtto mind the post-apocalyptic icylandscape of the Lands Beyond theWall.

The Straits of Mackinac in north-ern Michigan is currently facingits own “winter is coming” sce-nario and it doesn’t involve ahorde of aggressive snow zombieswith a penchant for disembowel-ment (we hope). This threat, how-ever, could result in the destructionof a vast ecosystem, threateningdrinking water supplies and thelivelihoods of local fishermen.

To stave off disaster, Michigan-ders are loudly voicing their con-cerns about a section of oilpipeline that runs along the bottomof the Straits of Mackinac, a five-mile-wide body of water separat-ing the upper peninsula ofMichigan from the rest of the state,and conjoining Lakes Michiganand Huron.

Called Line 5, the segment—part of a pipeline built in 1953—has undergone minimal repairs inthe past 60-plus years. As produc-tion from Alberta’s tar sands hassoared over recent years, many arebeginning to question whetherLine 5 can handle more of that oil.

Pipeline owner Enbridge ex-panded the line’s capacity byabout 10 percent last year, tonearly 23 million gallons per day.The National Wildlife Federationreleased a video in October 2013showing broken supports that sug-gest corrosion along Line 5, and isdemanding that it be replaced en-tirely.

Enbridge’s position is that thepipeline has “been operating therefor decades and operating safely.”But plenty of things tend to oper-ate less effectively after decades ofuse.

Enbridge already has a bad repin Michigan after one of itspipelines burst in 2010 and pouredover a million gallons of tar-sandsoil into the Kalamazoo River wa-tershed. According to the NaturalResources Defense Council, thatlittle oopsie was the costliestpipeline disaster in the nation’shistory—and, because tar-sandsoil is far more difficult to clean upthan the standard variety, thecleanup is still going on three-and-a-half years later.

A cleanup in the straits—whereparts of the pipeline lie under 270feet of water—would be muchharder still, as the Associated

Press notes:

“The Straits of Mackinac epit-omizes a potential worst-case sce-nario for a pipeline accident: aniconic waterway, ecologically andeconomically significant, thatcould be fiendishly hard to cleanup because of swift currents anddeep water that’s often coveredwith ice several months a year.”

In December, Sens. DebbieStabenow (D-Mich.), Carl Levin(D-Mich.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) sent a letter of concern to fed-eral pipeline officials aboutenvironmental risks posed by theaging pipeline.

The oil and natural gas industryhas a hell of a streak going whenit comes to pipeline spills, sospeaking strictly in terms of math-ematical probability, Line 5 shouldbe perfectly fine. That’s how sta-tistics work—right?

Source: “Sunken Great Lakes Oil

Pipeline Raises Spill Fears,” TheAssociated Press.

Eve Andrews is a Grist fellow and

new Seattle transplant via the

mean streets of Chicago, Pough-

keepsie, and Pittsburgh, respec-

tively, and in order of meanness.

This column is used by permis-

sion of Gristmill online news.

By Alex Sagady

As to the Enbridge Line 5 MackinacCrossing matter, Grist said:

The National Wildlife Federation (NWF)released a video in October 2013 showingbroken supports that suggest corrosionalong Line 5, and is demanding that it be re-placed entirely.

I don't know if this completely and accu-rately summarizes NWF's present position,or not.

However, what should be clear is that allMichigan environmental groups addressingthe Enbridge Mackinac Line 5 crossing mat-ter should be demanding much more out ofEnbridge's hide than mere Line 5 replace-ment on the segment under the MackinacStraits.

Don't make the same mistake [of] beingsatisfied with mere Mackinac segmentpipeline replacement that U.S. Rep. Can-dace Miller mistakenly made [of] being sat-isfied with mere replacement of Line 6Bunder the St. Clair River.

Enbridge pipeline company isn't in the

Great Lakes water resource protection lead-ership business, whereas Rep. Miller shouldbe. Rep. Miller's mistake was in not de-manding that Enbridge get their pipelinesout of the St. Clair River by constructing asuitable pipeline bridge for the replacementLine 6B as it crossed the St. Clair River.

If Michigan environmentalists want toget tough with the Enbridge pipeline com-pany—and if you are not calling for Line 5operations cessation and de-commissioning(questions about that need to be asked aboutthe old pipe from the ongoing Line 6B re-placement operations, by the way)—thenthe toughest position that can be extractedfrom Enbridge pipeline company is the re-quirement that a Line 5 replacement in theMackinac segment get the pipeline out ofthe water and onto a proper form of pipelinebridge crossing support.

As long as Lines 5 and 6B exist as theypresently do at the Mackinac Straits and atthe St. Clair River, these pipelines are sus-ceptible to marine navigation accidents re-sulting from drift or loss of power from

ships on the Great Lakes. This means that aship or barge could damage or break thesepipelines if they ran aground on thepipelines in near-shore areas. Thesepipelines don't meet trench standards dis-cussed in a recent report to Congress onpipeline stream crossings.

Specifically as to the Enbridge Line 5Mackinac crossing, the existing installationfeatures about a quarter of a mile of com-pletely unsupported pipeline segment as in-dicated by Straits bathymetry and in theNWF report.

In considering this situation, Michiganenvironmental groups should not considerthat Enbridge maintaining an operatingpipeline with this manner of unsupportedsegment constitutes acceptable pipeline en-gineering design for either the current exist-ing facility, or any replacement pipeline inthis location. These two pipelines at theStraits with this design in this location can-not be practically and effectively visually in-spected from the outside for the presence ofstress cracking preliminary to failure.

What I'm saying is that Michigan envi-ronmental groups simply letting Enbridgemerely replace Line 5 at the MackinacStraits aren’t being tough enough on thiscompany. If anybody in Michigan doubtsthe need for our state to be resolute and de-termined with accountability as to the En-bridge pipeline company, you merely haveto spend some time with this report to seehow the entire Kalamazoo River Enbridgeatrocity could have been completelyavoided if Enbridge hadn't been operating ina reckless and irresponsible manner(ntsb.gov/doclib/reports/2012/par1201.pdf)

If Enbridge is going to be allowed to con-tinue to operate Line 5 in the future, thenMichigan environmental groups must insistas a primary demand that Enbridge recon-struct the Line 5 Mackinac crossing on apipeline bridge. The leadership for thismust come from the environmental move-ment, Michigan citizens and government,because you will not find such leadershipforthcoming from Enbridge.

(Continued on Page 6)

Environmental groups and state officials should consider

requiring Enbridge to route its controversial pipeline

across the Straits of Mackinac on some kind of bridge, says

environmental consultant Alex Sagady (see comments

below). If an independent structure isn’t feasible, then they

might consider routing it under the existing Mackinac

Bridge, he says. —North Woods Call photo

Controversial pipeline needs to be reconstructed to cross the straits on a bridge

Book Review

A Trust Betrayed: The

Untold Story of Camp

Lejeune, North CarolinaSpeaking of public trust issues, here’s one from outside Michigan

that should be of interest to Americans in general and conservation-ists in particular.

It’s about the poisoning of thousands of U.S. Marines and theirfamily members at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, in what is said tobe the largest drinking water contamination case in the nation’s his-tory.

We just received notice of this book—published by St. Martin’sPress in 2011—and haven’t had time to read it ourselves, but we’llput it on the stack and get to it as soon as we are able.

Written by tenacious reporter Mike Magner—a former Kalama-

zoo Gazette colleague of ours from years past—the book tells a storythat began in 1941 when the Marine Corps opened a base on the At-lantic shores to practice beach landings during World War II. For thenext 40 years, the Marines apparently dumped toxic wastes at nu-merous locations around the installation, which ended up seepinginto the groundwater that still supplies the base.

According to promotional material for the book, it wasn’t until the1980s that wells containing industrial-strength solvents, benzenefrom spilled fuel and other hazardous chemicals were tested andtaken offline. By that time, harm had been done to many base resi-dents, especially babies exposed to the pollution in the womb—with-out anyone even realizing it.

When a federal health study in 1997 estimated that more than 100children born at Camp Lejeune suffered from cancer or birth defects,victims of the contamination began to demand a full accounting.Seventeen years later, after much stonewalling and obfuscation bythe Marine Corps and the Department of the Navy, health studies arecontinuing, lawsuits are advancing and many affected parties are stillwaiting for compensation from the government.

Kirkus Reviews calls Magner’s book “a fast-moving, smartly de-tailed story of an environmental disaster compounded by the Corps’broken promise—”We take care of our own”—to the men [andwomen] who served and suffered.” And Publishers Weekly says “thisbook is the first complete account of what really happened—an adroitmixture of detailed factual reporting and disturbing accounts of theserious health problems suffered by individual Marines and theirfamilies.”

“A Trust Betrayed” is available in stores and online.We can say from our own experience that Magner is a fine re-

porter who has been a journalist for nearly four decades. In additionto the Kalamazoo Gazette, he has held various positions in Wash-ington, D.C. and currently is managing editor at National Journal.

A native of South Bend, Indiana, and a graduate of GeorgetownUniversity, Magner lives with his family in Arlington, Virginia.

(Continued from Page 3)

reasons we don’t quite understand. But the Au Sable seemed to

know of our sadness. Soon there-after, it put on a show, with a daz-zling sunset sending bolts of lightacross the water: “Fireworks forthe fish,” as my nephew used to

say. A balmy breeze blew and I

could almost hear the words, “I’mso sorry. ... Will you still be myfriend?” We always forgive ourdear friends for an occasional boutof temper or a poor choice, don’twe? Of course we do.

A continuing dialogue

with the Au Sable River

Page 6 Late March 2014 The NorTh Woods CaLL

There are many rites and signs of springWhen I began working at Sarett

Nature Center in 1977, we had a“phenology” chart where we kepttrack of the first arrival of certainspring fauna and flora.

We also produced a list of ar-rivals and departures based onyears studying the birds that camethrough our area.

Of course, all of us considerthe American Robin as a true signof spring’s arrival, as well asCanada geese moving north.

Well, things have changed.Now many robins remain here allwinter, as do Eastern Bluebirds, sothey are not as good an indicator.The same goes with the CanadaGoose. With the introduction ofthe “giant” Canada Goose, we nolonger have an easy way to distin-guish between northern flocksmoving through, or just residentflocks moving about.

Even the flight of SandhillCranes was a good sign of spring,but now—at least in some of thesouthern counties—some cranesremain here all winter. A betterjudge of the coming of spring isthe arrival of Common Gracklesand Red-winged Blackbirds (al-though a few of those, too, remainyear-round).

I usually don’t count the Red-winged Blackbirds as arrivinguntil I hear the first “konk-ah-ree-ah” of the males. Males typicallyarrive about a month earlier thanthe females to set up territories.

One bird that is great to keep aneye and ear out for is the Ameri-can Woodcock. Very rarely willone overwinter in the north. Ar-riving back in Michigan, begin-ning in March through April, themales also set up “peenting” terri-tories for the wooing of females.Usually the ground needs to besomewhat thawed and most of thesnow cover gone. The males willset up their peenting area in asemi-open space and begin theirpeenting dance and aerial flight at

The Natural World By Richard Schinkel

dusk and dawn during earlyspring, then off and on all night asthe females return a month or solater. If you have never experi-enced this ritual, go to YouTube,and call up “music of nature” andthe American Woodcock. Youwill see and hear the male doinghis thing before the aerial display.In fact, at our nature center, manyfriendly wagers were given onwho would be the first to locate awoodcock. I have won many acheeseburger this way.

Of course, as spring advances,we look forward to the first Balti-more Oriole, House Wren, Ruby-throated Hummingbird and PurpleMartin. Most often, these birdsarrive in the same short and fairlypredictable window of time. Insome cases, we can keep track ofwhen they move northward. Inthe case of the Purple Martin, youcan go to the Purple Martin Con-servation Society website andwatch the map as they are sightedmoving north. For the Ruby-throated Hummingbird, you canvisit hummingbirds.net/map.htmland get updates on migration.

As we move from late Aprilinto May, things get real crazywith multitudes of birds migratingthrough and it can test your iden-tification skills.

Another sign of spring is theleaving of the ice on ponds andlakes. This allows the critters tobegin to stir as the water warms.The DNR and local nature centersdo frog and toad surveys to keeptabs on the populations. It is funto know which begins callingfirst and how to tell them apart bytheir calls. One of the first is thewood frog, which is usually foundin wooded ponds and begins to

call even when there may be someice floating on the pond. The callis a soft quick “bark.” Soon willcome the sounds of the chorus andcricket frogs, followed by thespring peepers.

When it gets real warm and wehave some spring rains, we mayexperience a migration of frogs,toads and salamanders moving toponds in the warm rain.

The arrival of vegetation ismore dependent on the soil warm-ing up, but the skunk cabbagedoesn’t wait. It has a mechanismto warm the soil around it andoften we see it coming up throughthe snow. It is believed that thepurplish flower that smells badtakes advantage of the beetles andflies that are feeding on winter killcarrion, because few bees or but-terflies are out this time of year.

The parade of arriving bloom-ing spring wildflowers can vary asmuch as three weeks over differ-ent years.

I was lucky when growing up,as we had a small trout streamflowing through the farm. Wecouldn’t wait for the first warmApril day to wander down and dosome exploring. We usually“baptized” the creek on April 1,by throwing pebbles into the cool,clear water.

One of the other rites of springfor my brother and I was to gofishing with my uncle for suckersin the St. Joseph River betweenBerrien Springs and St. Joseph.If we caught extra fish, we couldsell them at the fish shop. But, asthe dip netters started fishing, theprice dropped dramatically. Yet,the dip-netters were fun to watchin their shoddy shacks below thedam in Berrien Springs.

A drive into springtimeThe trip was not planned. It started with a phone call from my brother.That was on Feb. 18 of this year. He was calling to see if I wanted

to ride along with him to take our mother down to see her sister—ouraunt—in Knoxville, Tennessee, for a short four-day visit. I said yes. Imean YES! Please! I only had one question—could I bring my fly fish-ing "stuff" along?

"Fine with me," was his reply.Now I had purpose. Of course, I also looked forward to seeing my

aunt and spending some quality time with my mother.We left early the next morning at around 7 a.m. I have made this trip

to Tennessee many times, though not with Knoxville as a destination.And not in February.

The drive was pleasant and, thankfully, uneventful. My brother, whohas made the trip in February many times, commented that he had neverseen snow cover all the way through Indiana. Even the northern tier ofKentucky had patches of snow here and there.

As we drove on, the snow waned and disappeared altogether by thetime we got into Tennessee. Even the tops of the Smokies did not ap-pear to have snow and this was unusual. I have seen the mountainpasses closed the first of April, with the Forsythia blooming in Gatlin-burg and the tops of the mountains covered in snow.

As we arrived in Knoxville, the thermometer read 50 degrees. Whenwe stepped out of the car at my aunt’s house, it was like a dream.

The next morning after breakfast and a shower, we decided we shouldprobably let mom and her sister get caught up and not interfere with thatsacred reunion.

Oh, and maybe we should go to the mountains to give them plentyof time to bond. This seemingly unselfish act could by sheer coinci-dence lead to some random sightseeing and possibly trout fishing—mainly as a means of preoccupation, of course, so as not to lead us backto the house prematurely and possibly foul the atmosphere of two sis-ters in the depths of conversation and “catching up.” I felt that this wasthe responsibility of considerate sons and nephews.

As we drove higher into the Smokies, the thermometer seemed toclimb along with us. By 1 p.m. It was 65 degrees. We had the windowsdown and, as was fitting, the radio dialed into bluegrass music. The skywas a deep blue with nary a cloud to be seen. The snow shovel-bornblisters on my hands seemed to heal as they hung out the window, as ifthey were immersed in some traditional southern backwoods potion.

After a little bit of trout fishing and sightseeing, we decided to headback to Knoxville. It was late afternoon and food was the next order ofbusiness.

I suppose we hoped that our considerate and unselfish act would notgo unnoticed. Possibly we would be rewarded with a home-cookedmeal that would be ready to be dished out upon our arrival. This was notexactly how dinner played out, but it was in the making and served ashort time later.

The next two days seemed to go exactly the same as the first—upearly, coffee, a bite to eat and we were off. It appeared as if the two sis-ters were in fact in the depths of bonding, and it seemed only fair thatwe not interfere with the siblings catching up on all things family andotherwise.

So, for three full days, my brother and I dutifully stayed away. Wewent to the mountains, to the rivers and streams and had awesomeweather—all in the name of what was decent and righteous, as goodsons and nephews with a sense of "doing the right thing for others,"should do!

Early on Sunday morning, we departed for home.Leaving this virtual tropical paradise and driving back to the sub-arc-

tic regions of southern Michigan—with its normal daily routines likesnow shoveling hauling firewood and repeatedly checking the ten-dayforecast, which has been randomly similar to the results of a scratch-offticket.

We drove into snow midway into Kentucky and, well, if you live inMichigan, you know the rest of the story.

After being home for a few days and staring at the largest piles ofsnow that have ever adorned my yard, I have to really think hard to re-member an all-too-brief vacation that now literally seems like a dream.

Now when I check the ten-day forecast, it is for Tennessee. Then, asI watch the snow fall outside my window for a moment, I remember itwas real.

All OutdoorsBy Mark Karaba

Straits of Mackinac pipeline needs to be reconstructed(Continued from Page 5)

A dedicated pipeline bridge for Line 5 as a specificdedicated structure would be a major and expensive[option], with considerable visual impact on theStraits. Such a structure would require constructionof tall bridge piers in the Straits.

However, another alternative is to re-route Line 5under the Mackinac Bridge. Democrats MarkSchauer and Gary Peters should consider proposing aState of Michigan/Enbridge deal to re-route Line 5through the Mackinac Bridge and make it into amajor campaign issue in the coming [gubernatorial]and U.S. Senate races. Getting the Enbridge com-pany under some kind of decent system of accounta-bility for their Line 5 Mackinac Crossing could be awinning campaign issue.

The State of Michigan should extract a significantprice from Enbridge if the Mackinac Bridge were to

be used in this manner. A starting negotiating posi-tion might be to require Enbridge to assume a signif-icant share of bridge maintenance costs in exchangefor being able to route the pipeline through the bridge,or some other arrangement to shift bridge revenuesfrom bridge tolls to Enbridge payments.

In any event, insisting that Line 5 and 6B crossingsat the Mackinac Straits and at the St. Clair River bethrough pipeline bridges rather than bottom pipelinecrossings is an easily understood, physically tangibleand environmentally preferable articulation of hy-drocarbon pipeline stewardship that Enbridge shouldbe required to adopt if they are going to continue tooperate Line 5 at the Mackinac Straits.

Alex Sagady is an environmental consultant in East

Lansing, Michigan.

Much of the Straits of Mackinac could be harmed if Enbridge’s pipeline were to rupture and spill into the

water, conservationists say, such as the Mackinaw City Marina shown here. —North Woods Call photo

FLOW urges public trust frameworkThe Traverse City based For

Love of Water (FLOW) publicpolicy group says the InternationalJoint Commission (IJC) is on tar-get including public trust stan-dards in its recommendations forsolving Lake Erie’s harmful algaeblooms.

“The call for a public trustframework recognizes a bench-mark adopted by the courts of alleight Great Lakes states and On-

tario,“ said FLOW founder JimOlson. “The benchmark meansgovernments must act. It alsomeans that all private interests in-volved with phosphorous manage-ment practices, farming and thenonprofit sector must work to-gether, because we share this com-mon water held in public trust.”

Citizens may also “seek re-course” to make sure public andprivate uses are protected, he said.

Late March 2014 Page 7The NorTh Woods CaLL

Conservation Officer Logs (2/2/14 through 2/17/14)

More snowmobile madness, a frozen dog, sibling knife assault & drug offensesDISTRICT 1 (Marquette)

CO Dave Painter respondedto the scene of a snowmobilecrash in Iron County. The snow-mobile operator was travelling ata high speed and left the trail,crashing into some trees. Therider suffered leg fractures andwas transported from the scene toa waiting ambulance by COPainter and a local deputy.

CO Marvin Gerlach workeda snowmobile patrol in northernMenominee County. Whilestopped at a crossing of the snow-mobile trail and a county road,CO Gerlach observed a subjectwho was operating a snowmobilefail to stop at a stop sign at thecounty road. CO Gerlach esti-mated the subject crossed thecounty road at approximately 50miles per hour. After stopping thesubject, the snowmobiler proudlystated to CO Gerlach that he hadactually crossed the road at 63mph. Enforcement action wastaken.

CO Dave Painter observed alone group of anglers fishing anIron County Lake. When the sub-jects were observed smoking whatappeared to be marijuana, COPainter unloaded his snowmobileand made contact with the group.It was quickly observed that thesubjects were fishing with toomany lines and were in possessionof marijuana. Further conversa-tion with one of the individualsfound that he had shot a deer ille-gally. When the CO traveled tothe subject’s house to retrieve thedeer, an illegal marijuana growoperation was discovered. War-rants are being sought for the ille-gal deer and marijuana violations.

DISTRICT 2 (Newberry)

CO Mike Hammill received areport of a small dog frozen in thesnow on the edge of a snowmo-bile trail in a remote area north ofNewberry. CO Hammill re-sponded to the area on his snow-mobile and located the dog asdescribed. The small dog was dif-ficult to see as it was white incolor, sinking in the deep snowand covered by snow in subzerotemperatures. He picked up thedog, put it inside his snowmobilejacket and returned to town to thelocal veterinarian. He laterlearned that the animal had beenreported as lost by its ownerswhen it jumped out of their car.The animal was expected to makea full recovery and was returnedto its very happy owners.

CO Kyle Publiski assistedlocal deputies with a 911 call froma father who stated his 12-year-old son was trying to stab his 10-year-old son with a knife. Onceon scene, the situation was calmeddown, but got reheated when itwas proposed that the older son be possibly taken to a juvenile deten-tion center. The father becamevery agitated and stated that hewas not going to allow his son tobe taken. If the boy was taken, thefather said, he would kill himself.To compound matters, the father’sstash of marijuana was observed.While attempting to arrest the fa-ther, the subject began to resist ar-rest and was eventually taken intocustody. After allowing the offi-

cers to search the rest of his resi-dence, the father’s additional mar-ijuana was located. The fatherwas lodged in the county jail.

CO Kevin Postma was check-ing ice anglers when he contacteda subject as he was coming out forthe afternoon. CO Postma and theangler had a typical discussion for several minutes outside of thefishing shanty and the angler’s li-cense was checked. The subjectthen went to the back of theshanty, recovered a propane tankand advised that he was just outthere to pick up the tank and thenhead back home. CO Postma thenasked the subject if he minded ifhe took a look in the shanty. Thesubject agreed and opened theshanty. Inside CO Postma locatedtwo set lines. The subject stated,“Yep, you got me” and enforce-ment action was taken.

COs Brett Gustafson andMike Evink were on snowmobilepatrol in western MackinacCounty when an approaching sub-ject on a snowmobile ran COGustafson off of the trail, almosthitting him. The COs attemptedto stop the subject, at which timethe suspect tried to evade officers,resulting in a high speed pursuit.As CO Gustafson closed in on thefleeing sled, the suspect reachedinto his coat. The CO thought hewas reaching for a gun, but thesuspect threw something into thesnow. Finally, CO Gustafson wasable to stop the suspect and placehim under arrest. Further investi-gation revealed that the subjecthad thrown a bag of marijuanaand a dope pipe into the snow. Itwas also discovered that he wasoperating on a suspended licenseand was a convicted felon withmultiple felony convictions, in-cluding many narcotics crimes.The suspect was lodged in theMackinac County Jail andcharged with reckless driving,fleeing and eluding, possession ofdrugs and drug paraphernalia, anddriving on a suspended license.

DISTRICT 3 (Gaylord)

CO Steve Speigl responded toa Report-All-Poaching (RAP)complaint after 10 p.m. of an an-gler setting too many tip ups andleaving them unattended. Asearch on the ice revealed a totalof 10 tip ups set in front of a lake-side cabin. One of the tip ups hada ‘flag’ up and after an hour COSpeigl contacted the angler, whohad to be awakened. The anglerowned the tip ups and said he did-n’t think he was ‘slaughtering’ thefish, as he never caught anythinganyway. CO Speigl advised theimportance of keeping lines in im-mediate control, and then issued aticket for unattended lines.

DISTRICT 4 (Cadillac)

Around midnight, CO SteveConverse was traveling homewhen he observed sparks flyingover the Manistee River/M-115Bridge. Investigating, CO Con-verse was able to ascertain thatwhat he was seeing was a snow-mobile being operated down thecenter of M-115 without anylights. A stop was made and thesnowmobile operator was notwearing a helmet, had no func-

tional headlights or taillights onthe snowmobile, had not regis-tered the snowmobile since 2004and did not have a trail permit.Enforcement action was taken.

CO Sean Kehoe contacted asubject fishing and discovered hedid not purchase a fishing license.The subject was someone withwhom the CO had previous con-tact who had asked about becom-ing a conservation officer andexpressed great interest in the job.CO Kehoe ascertained the subjecthad fished at least three times thiswinter without purchasing a fish-ing license. When asked why hedid not purchase a license, thesubject advised that he did notthink he would see a CO today. Aticket was issued for fishing with-out a license.

DISTRICT 5 (Roscommon)

COs Matt Liestenfeltz andMike Hearn worked an investi-gation of illegal trapping activi-ties. The investigation, involvingseveral family members, led themto numerous otters, one of whichwas not tagged. Enforcement ac-tion was taken on the untaggedotter, as well as additional warn-ings for other issues.

Responding to ongoing tres-pass complaints from the railcompany, CO John Huspen

worked a high problem area nearFrederick. The compacted snowfrom snowmobiles has been re-sponsible for numerous train de-railments over the years. Duringhis patrol, CO Huspen issued sev-eral tickets to snowmobilers foroperating on the railroad right-of- way.

CO Warren MacNeill re-sponded to a report of a skier lostin the woods. On the way to thescene, CO MacNeill made contactwith the lost skier over the phone.Once the subject explained to theCO the area they were in, COMacNeill was able to give thesubject directions back to a vehi-cle.

DISTRICT 6 (Bay City)

CO Phil Hudson responded toa snowmobile personal injurycrash where the operator hadstruck a tree head on. CO Hudsonrendered first aid and covered thevictim with his emergency blan-ket and duty issued uniform coatto keep them warm until fire res-cue arrived on scene with a backboard and basket to transport thevictim.

CO Joshua Wright workedtwo midnight shifts on Belle Islewith Lt. Dave Malloch and Sgt.

Tom Wanless. During those twoshifts, a total of 29 warrants werediscovered, seven people werelodged at the Detroit Detention

Center, and one felony and ninemisdemeanor charges were is-sued. Some of the evidenceseized ranged from a loaded hand-gun to illegal narcotics.

Sgt. Tony Soave received acomplaint of two snowmobilersriding their snowmobiles acrossan open stretch of water on theSaginaw River, and running overand killing at least nine ducks. Awitness at the scene, who waswatching the ducks with his son,photographed the snowmobilesoperating through the water. Onephoto showed one of the sledswith a hen mallard on the left ski.Due to the increased attentiongiven to the issue by the media,Sgts. Soave and Kimmerly havebeen following up on several tips and leads that have come in. Sgt.Soave is awaiting results from theMichigan State Crime Lab Audio-Visual Division as to whether ornot registration numbers can berecovered from the photos of thesnowmobiles.

A DNR pilot who was flyingover the area of Riverdale ob-served a large amount of deer feedbehind a house. The informationwas passed onto CO Quincy

Gowenlock. The CO made con-tact with the homeowner, who ad-mitted to putting all the feed in thefield. He advised he felt sorry forthe deer because of the harsh win-ter. The CO explained the rulesregarding feeding along with theintent of the law in regard to thedangers of disease spreadingthrough the herd. Enforcementaction was taken.

DISTRICT 7 (Plainwell)

CO Dave Rodgers was calledto a report of coyote hunters withdogs trespassing in Kent County.CO Rodgers met with deputies atthe scene, who were holding someof the hunters and beginning theirinvestigation. Hunters on the roadindicated their companion had en-tered the property only to recovera dog, but they had no permissionto hunt any surrounding property.CO Rodgers followed tracks ap-proximately one-half mile, whichbegan to indicate a running stride.CO Rodgers found a rifle buriedin the snow near a tree during thetrack. After a mile of tracking, hefound the hunter standing on thenext road across a section with theexcuse of just waiting for his dog.The recovered rifle diffused theargument and he was ticketed fortrespassing.

COs Cary Foster, Dave

Rodgers and Ivan Perez con-ducted a snowmobile patrol near the Conklin, Sparta and Kent Cityarea, and also patrolled the Mus-ketawa Trail. During the patrol,four people were ticketed for op-erating unregistered snowmobilesand two people for failing to wearhelmets. The COs reported oneperson attempted to flee after see-ing the approaching officers, butstopped when he realized hewould be leaving two daughtersbehind, both of whom had nosnowmobile safety training. COsticketed a total of eight people,and gave several warnings fortrail permit violations, as mostwere ticketed for no registrationsor other offenses.

DISTRICT 8 (Rose Lake)

CO Kyle Bader checked a pairof anglers on Gilead Lake. Oneangler said he hadn’t caught anyfish, but when the CO asked abouta plastic shopping bag in his jetsled, he said “I do have a fish inthere.” The bag contained a largeperch and a 13-inch largemouthbass. The angler was ticketed fortaking a bass out of season.

CO Jason Smith followed upon a deer complaint where ahunter had shot a deer on openingday without a license and postedpictures of himself on Facebook.CO Smith talked with the hunter,who was less than truthful, andwhen CO Smith asked him about the pictures on Facebook, thehunter then remembered that hewent out and shot a buck openingmorning and purchased a licensethat night. Enforcement actionwas taken.

DISTRICT 9 (Southfield)

While working a midnight shifton Belle Isle, Sgt. Tom Wanless

and CO Josh Wright observed avehicle with no lights on parkedin the traffic lane on DouglasMcArthur Bridge. The COs ap-proached the vehicle and couldsmell the odor of marijuana. A fe-male sitting in the driver’s seatsaid her vehicle broke down andwould not start. She also said herhusband just left walking acrossthe bridge to get help. The femaleadmitted to having a smallamount of marijuana on her per-son. A search of the vehicle lo-cated four additional bags ofmarijuana, some unknown pills,and an open bottle of whiskey.The female had 10 misdemeanorwarrants for her arrest and had novalid driver’s license, due to mul-tiple suspensions. The subjectwas lodged on the warrants andthe vehicle was towed. A warrantis being sought for the traffic anddrug violations.

Sgt. Tom Wanless and COJosh Wright stopped a vehicle onBelle Isle in the early morning foroperating in a closed area. Thepair could smell marijuana as they approached the vehicle. Thedriver admitted to having somemarijuana. The bag of marijuanawas located and the driver andpassenger were place in the patrolunit for a consent search of the ve-hicle. An open bottle of alcoholwas found under the seat and aloaded .38-caliber revolver wasfound in the glove box. Thedriver admitted he purchased thefirearm from “an acquaintance ofan acquaintance.” The driver hadsix warrants for his arrest and asuspended driver’s license. Hewas lodged on the warrants and awarrant is being sought for thefirearm, drugs, and traffic viola-tions.

CO Ken Kovach reports thata subject he arrested late last yearfor shooting a pheasant from amotor vehicle was found guilty.He was ordered to pay $200 infines and costs, $500 reimburse-ment and his hunting license wasrevoked for a year.

Advertise in TheNorth Woods Call

The NorTh Woods CaLLPage 8 Late March 2014

Published twice monthly (except one issue in January, april, Julyand october) by Newshound Productions LLC, 5411 east de av-enue, Kalamazoo, Michigan 49004. First-class postage paid atKalamazoo, Michigan, and additional mailing offices. online sub-scriptions $35 per year and $60 per two years. Print subscriptions$55 per year and $95 for two years. PosTMasTer: send addresschanges to The North Woods Call, 5411 east de avenue, Kala-mazoo, Michigan 49004. MDOT Code: 8021-0068

Final Shot Fishery conversation & coffeeThe Department of Natural Re-

sources (DNR) will host informalpublic discussions of local andstatewide fisheries managementactivities and concerns.

“Conversations & Coffee withDNR Fisheries Division” willtake place in each of the eightmanagement units that overseethe state’s fisheries, and will givepeople the opportunity to meetmanagers and biologists, discusslocal issues and management ac-tivities, and get specific ques-tions answered.

Refreshments will be served.The meetings will be as fol-

lows:Tuesday, March 18, from 7

to 8 p.m. at the Bay City StateRecreation Area Visitor Center,3582 State Park Drive, in BayCity.

Wednesday, March 19, from6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Carl T. John-son Hunt and Fish Center, 6087E. M-115, in Cadillac.

Thursday, March 20, from 7to 8 p.m. at the Waterford FishStation, 7806 Gale Road, in Wa-terford.

Thursday, March 20, from 7 to9 p.m. at the DNR Pocket Park(U.P. State Fair Grounds), 240112th Ave. N, in Escanaba.

Thursday, March 27, from6:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the D&RSports Center, 8178 W. Main St.,in Kalamazoo.

Tuesday, April 8, from 7 to8:30 p.m. at the TahquamenonArea Public Library, 700 New-berry Ave., in Newberry.

Wednesday, April 9, from 7 to9 p.m. at the Ishpeming TownshipHall, 1575 U.S. 41, in Ishpeming.

Thursday, April 10, from 6 to8 p.m. (CST) at the GogebicCommunity College, E 4946Jackson Road, in Ironwood.

Monday, April 14, from 7 to8:30 p.m. at Sydney’s Restaurant,400 Cedar St., in Munising.

Wednesday, April 16, from 7to 9 p.m. at the Portage Lake Dis-trict Library, 58 Huron St., inHoughton.

Wednesday, April 16, from 7to 8 p.m. at the Northland Sports-men’s Club, 1592 Old Alba Road,in Gaylord.

For more information, visitwww.michigan.gov/fishing.

“The newspaper for people who love the north.”

Outdoor Education + ExerciseThis past winter may have been a tough one for adults grasping snow shovels, but for children outfitted

with snowshoes, it represented new learning and exercising opportunities. Just ask these fifth-graders

from Charlevoix, who explored the great white wilderness with staff from the Little Traverse Conservancy.

The enthusiastic group of kids gathered recently in Charlevoix County at the Barry “Nathan” Driggers Pre-

serve along the Boyne City-Charlevoix Road—across from the Camp Sea-Gull property—and took to the

northern woods. —Photo courtesy of Little Traverse Conservancy

Bill would alter

beaver trapping

requirementsProposed legislation in the

Michigan Senate would allowlicensed fur dealers to trapbeavers—a move that wouldreportedly open the door tocommercial trapping of the an-imal.

The bill, introduced by Sen.Tom Casperson (R-Escan-aba)—who also championedMichigan’s wolf hunt law—has been reviewed by the Sen-ate Outdoor Recreation &Tourism Committee and wasreported in the legislative bodyearlier this month.

Although beavers can betrapped now, such action by li-censed fur dealers has beenoutlawed since the early 1900s.The current law was created ata time when the beaver popu-lation needed to be increasedand the intent was to make itharder for beavers to be har-vested, according to MichiganDepartment of Natural Re-sources officials.

It is a law that some say is nolonger needed.

Some animal rights activists,however, say that trappingmore beavers would be “sense-less and cruel.” But supportersof the plan say beavers can bea nuisance to humans and it’shelpful—for people andbeavers—to keep the ecosys-tem from getting overpopu-lated.

If you don’t have a personal copyof this collection of writings bylongtime North Woods Call Pub-lisher Glen sheppard there arestill a few available.

order yours today.

The book is out-of-print,but we picked up a handful ofnew copies from shep’s estateand are offering them for saleuntil they are gone.

Check our website for availabilityand ordering information:

www.mynorthwoodscall.com

Only a handful leftGet yours today!

Electronic subscriptions:

$35 per year, or $60 for two years

Print subscriptions:

$55 per year, or $95 for two years

Details at www.mynorthwoodscall.com

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Advertise your business here!Contact: editor@mynorthwoodscall.com