Here’s the Super Duper Tuesday Eve Edition of the outdoors articles.  Tomorrow is all doughnuts and C-SPAN.  It’ll be better than the Super Bowl.

The Center for Michigan forums sure have some intriguing stuff.  Here is a picture of a wikiup from one participant.  A wikiup is a type of snow shelter with a packed snow base and, traditionally, a birch bark roof:

http://www.thecenterformichigan.net/blog/winter-wikiup-at-sunset-by-cyndi-vonklingler/

The closure of the Electrolux plant in Greenville has created the opportunity for new parkland along the Flat River in that city.  Read this Muskegon Chronicle article about plans for redevelopment:

The city’s plan breaks up the Electrolux property off Greenville West Drive into zones, reserving land nearest the Flat River for parks and boardwalks. Adjacent to that is a high density residential district, which would lend itself to multifamily housing or condominiums, Bosanic said.

http://tinyurl.com/2qs7qz

The Marquette Mining Journal reports on a local art gallery’s plan to display hundreds of community photos in a new exhibit:

http://www.miningjournal.net/page/content.detail/id/505147.html

The Flint Journal has a report on DNR land consolidation in the Tri-Cities area:

The DNR wants to sell 60 of the parcels in Genesee County, totaling 95.01 acres. It plans to retain 13 parcels totaling 147.82 acres, mostly located in Fenton and Montrose townships.

The DNR also is reviewing 23 parcels totaling 343.21 acres in Lapeer County. The plan there is to retain 296.11 acres and dispose of eight parcels totaling 47.1 acres.

The parcels being considered for sale are near Otter Lake, the Lapeer State Game Area, Ortonville State Recreation Area and the Metamora-Hadley State Recreation Area, although none border those state lands.

Shiawassee County will be reviewed Wednesday in St. Johns, where the DNR will consider disposing of three parcels totaling 41.8 acres, most near Vernon and the Rose Lake State Wildlife Area.

http://tinyurl.com/yoazly

The Ludington Daily News published a review of the bleak financial situation for the MI DEQ and why we should care:

http://www.ludingtondailynews.com/news.php?story_id=38930

The Ludington Daily News also has a detailed report on the current funding status of the DNR.  Rebecca Humphries, head of the DNR, spoke at the Michigan Outdoor Writers’ Association:

License plate plan

The plan proposed by the Citizen’s Committee for State Parks to fund state parks with an additional fee on license plates has gone nowhere, Humphries said. It does not have a sponsor in Lansing, in spite of approval by the Natural Resources Commission.

Sporting goods tax

Humphries said the proposal by Representatives Matt Gillard and Joel Sheltrown to capture a portion of sporting goods sales tax for recreation purposes is still around and several other sponsors have jumped on board, but it’s not known how that will work out, she said. Projections indicate about $20 million could be generated by taking 1 percent, but that is money already being collected and already going to another program. The proposal would leave current programs — whatever they are — looking for replacement funding, which would cause problems in the legislation.

http://www.ludingtondailynews.com/news.php?story_id=38929

The Chicago Sun-Times has a review of a new Nature Conservancy study that shows a dramatic drop in the frequency of outdoor activities among most Americans:

By studying visits to national and state park and the issuance of hunting and fishing licenses the researchers documented declines of between 18 percent and 25 percent in various types of outdoor recreation.

The decline, found in both the United States and Japan, appears to have begun in the 1980s and 1990s, the period of rapid growth of video games, they said.

For example, fishing peaked in 1981 and had declined 25 percent by 2005, the researchers found. Visits to national parks peaked in 1987 and dropped 23 percent by 2006, while hiking on the Appalachian Trial peaked in 2000 and was down 18 percent by 2005. Japan suffered similar declines, the researchers found, as visits to national parks there dropped by 18 percent between 1991 and 2005.

There was a small growth in backpacking.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/nation/775978,communing020408.article

The Chicago Tribune has a story about fitness walking while traveling:

My favorite travel fitness walk, no contest, is on the deck of any cruise ship, anywhere. Round and round and round I go, for at least an hour. Why is this walk so wonderful when, the view is unchanging (sky and water)? Well, the air is yummy, the sky (on good days) is blue, the clouds (ditto) are fluffy and it just feels great, especially with the right tunes. A sunset walk is particularly glorious.

This paragraph rings kind of true for me.  During my many trips on the S.S. Badger, I enjoy walking around the top deck.  I’ll usually try to get a few miles in.  Unfortunately, the back end of the ship is quite narrow and a round trip is almost always impossible.  The worst time to do this walk is when the fog horn is sounding.  It blows every two minutes and always comes unexpectedly.  It’s hard not to hit the decks.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/travel/chi-dembling_walk_rc_pmfeb03,0,7892235.story?track=rss

The Trib also has a story about skijoring.  That is skiing while latched to a dog:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/travel/chi-skijoring_rc_pmfeb03,0,2666479.story?track=rss

The Toledo Blade’s Tom Henry writes about the decline in ice cover on the Great Lakes and what that means to the lake lifestyle:

http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080204/NEWS06/802040333/-1/NEWS

The Detroit Free Press has a RECOMMENDED story about the avian botulism deaths on Lake Michigan:

Doting father C3 had stayed behind at Seney as other loons left, to tend to his chick, hatched in July — late for a loon chick.

He’d been banded in 1993 as an adult at Seney and spent each spring, summer and early fall through 2005 there with the same mate, the longest pairing ever recorded at Seney, said biologist Damon McCormick.

They broke up between 2005 and 2006 when he found a new mate (his ex took up with one of their sons). Loon parents share chick care equally, and C3 helped raise 17 chicks before his death, a refuge record.

To see the much-studied C3 as one of the botulism victims was moving for Kaplan.

“It gives you an odd sense,” he said, “that something is wrong in the lake.”

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080204/NEWS05/802040334

The Detroit News reports that some Michigan environmental programs will have flat or decreased budgets under President Bush’s fiscal year 2009 budget:

President Bush’s $3 trillion budget blueprint released today for fiscal year 2009 includes a slight increase in federal funds for Michigan, with a bump to $5.7 billion in Medicaid money, a constant $35 million to clean up polluted sites in the Great Lakes, a boost of $10 million for special education, and a cut of $15 million to enforce court-ordered child support payments.

Bush’s proposal for the Great Lakes is $15 million below what Congress authorized in the Great Lakes Legacy Act signed into law in 2002.

The program’s task is to clean up “areas of concern,” 31 of 43 sites of which are on the U.S. side of the Great Lakes. So far, three sites have been cleaned up, including Black Lagoon and Ruddiman Creek in Michigan.

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080204/METRO/802040429/1409/METRO

The Rifle River Recreation Area has a variety of activities scheduled for Feb. 15:

http://www.michigan.gov/som/0,1607,7-192–184868–RSS,00.html

The MI State Park and Harbor reservation service will be down for maintenance for a short time:

http://www.michigan.gov/som/0,1607,7-192–184867–RSS,00.html

Michigan Sweet Spot has a great picture of the Grand Haven Lighthouse in winter:

http://michigansweetspot.com/2008/02/04/grand-haven-winter-lighthouse/

The Chief Noonday chapter of the North Country Trail Association is hosting a hike this Saturday at Yankee Springs State Recreation Area in West Michigan:

http://getoffthecouchnews.blogspot.com/2008/02/yankee-springs-hike-open-to-all.html

Pinckney and Putnam Township in Livingston Township are working on an updated recreation plan, according to the Detroit News:

Among projects listed in the draft plan are improvements to the township’s six-mile portion of Lakelands Trail, which residents ranked high in the survey, said Fortin. Other recreational additions residents wanted to see were a sledding hill, bowling alley, outdoor skating rink and pool.

The plan to improve the Lakelands Trail has been in the works for a few years. The pathway is a 13-mile linear state park that runs throughout the southern portion of Livingston County including Green Oak, Hamburg, Putnam and Unadilla townships.

Last summer, Putnam Township signed a 25-year lease with the state to pave a six-mile portion of the trail and make other design improvements. The project will mirror the one in Hamburg Township, opened last spring.

John Calvert, president of the Friends of the Lakelands Trail, said the group is already working on applications for two state grants that will help pay for trail enhancements. He said he wasn’t surprised that residents wanted to see improvements to the trail.

“Because of the recent improvements that were done in the Hamburg section, a lot of people embrace that trail and use it,” he said. “It stands to reason that the people in Putnam would want the same thing.”

Pinckney resident Barbara Kendall said she’s in favor of a trail project.

“I know there are a lot of people that want to stay fit and this is a place where you can go and walk,” she said.

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080204/METRO04/802040331/1409/METRO

Tom Walton of the Toledo Blade has a good column in yesterday’s edition:

I have a simple formula for Lucas, Wood, Fulton, and Ottawa counties in Ohio and Monroe and Lenawee counties in Michigan:

Stop thinking provincially and start thinking regionally.

Take full advantage of the intersection of I-75 and I-80-90, or “Main Street and Main Street,” as the CEO of Bass Pro describes it. Consider the Maumee River just one more busy thoroughfare between two neighborhoods that need each other. And make the state line as invisible in economic development efforts as it already is in fact. Ohio’s Ted Strickland and Michigan’s Jennifer Granholm are both Democratic governors. They should be working much more closely for the mutual benefit of both states.

http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080204/COLUMNIST44/802040316/-1/RSS06

The Toledo Blade reports that two additional meetings have been scheduled to give the public a say in planning for a new Downtown Toledo Metropark on the Maumee River:

The two newly scheduled meetings will be Feb. 11, from5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Lagrange branch library, 3422 Lagrange St.; and Feb. 18 from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the Kent branch library, 3101 Collingwood Blvd.

The next meeting, previously announced, is from 4 to 8 p.m. tomorrow in the Locke Branch of the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library, 703 Miami St.

http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080204/NEWS16/647005885/-1/RSS10

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