Stories indexed with the term ‘Michigan Dept. of Natural Resources’

Council Commits Up to $750,000 for 721 N. Main

A commitment of up to $750,000 from the city’s general fund – to undertake planned improvements to the city-owned property at 721 N. Main – has been made by the Ann Arbor city council in action taken at its June 17, 2013 meeting. The commitment is a requirement for a grant application that the city is making to the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund for $300,000.

If the city’s plan unfolds as it expects, then none of the $750,000 in general fund money would be needed.

The improvements to 721 N. Main have resulted from work done by a North Main corridor improvement task force that has been working at the direction of the city council since the summer of 2012 … [Full Story]

Grant Applications Recommended for 721 N. Main

The Ann Arbor park advisory commission has voted to recommend applying for two grants related to the city-owned 721 N. Main property. PAC took the action on Dec. 4, 2012, before its land acquisition committee meeting.

The grants would come from the Washtenaw County Parks and Recreation Commission’s Connecting Communities program, and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources trust fund. No amounts were indicated in the resolutions that were approved by PAC, but up to $300,000 could be requested from the state, and at least that much could be requested from the county. The amounts in the applications will be determined after a phase 2 environmental assessment is completed later this year. That environmental study will give the … [Full Story]

In the Archives: Carp-ocalypse

Editor’s note: Faced with evidence that Asian carp have managed to find their way past an electrical barrier, earlier this month Gov. Jennifer Granholm called for aggressive action to prevent the fish from entering the Great Lakes: “In the meantime, we must use every available tool at our disposal to protect the Great Lakes, including closing the locks, expanding eDNA testing and applying additional rotenone as necessary.”

This week, The Chronicle’s local history columnist Laura Bien takes a 40-year look back into the past at the use of rotenone on a local lake – Ford Lake. That body of water received a passing mention in Matt Naud’s environmental indicator column on phosphorus – it involved a 1991 algal bloom.  But back in the early 1970s Ford Lake wasn’t blooming algae, it was blooming fish.

Shoreline of Ford Lake after the fish kill.

In 1973, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources wanted to turn Ypsilanti’s Ford Lake into a fisherman’s paradise. They planned to stock it with muskellunge, rainbow trout, and large- and smallmouth bass.

The only problem was the lake’s population of “rough fish” – mostly the common carp, plus bullheads and suckers. Carp are not native to Michigan. They were introduced in the late 19th century by the era-equivalent of the DNR as a valuable food fish that was cheap to keep on artificial ponds dug on farmers’ land. The farmers’ aquaculture projects inevitably spilled into Michigan waterways.

A century later, the DNR planned to douse Ford Lake with the piscicide rotenone to kill the carp and other rough fish, then whisk the remains into the Ypsilanti Township landfill and restock the pond.

Instead, the project led to a statewide ban on rotenone. [Full Story]