To highlight some of these career paths and opportunities, we’ve put together two new videos so you can hear from the employees themselves about the work they do, what it means and how they got started. Earlier this year, we shared the first batch (fisheries research biologist, park interpreter and deputy public information officer).

In the new installments:

• Harbormaster Derrick Horn talks about his work at Mackinac Island State Harbor. Horn and his crew run the day-to-day operations, help dock boats, assign slips, ensure visitors have a safe, welcoming space, and maintain this Clean Marina-certified spot that is the destination harbor of northern Michigan.
• Forest fire officers Jake Burton, Jen Hansen (pictured), Brendt Sheridan and Nick Wheeler discuss the diversity of their work – responding to wildland fires, assisting local fire departments and managing prescribed burns – and its direct influence on outdoor recreation, a thriving timber industry and healthy fish and wildlife.

Inspired? Check out the full Michigan DNR Careers YouTube playlist to see all five showcased positions. We’ll continue to add new videos as they’re completed. In the meantime, learn about DNR career pathways and job opportunities at Michigan.gov/DNRJobs.

January and February are the best time of year for an owling trip, and Michigan’s eastern Upper Peninsula is one of the best areas to view winter owls. The Shore to Shore Birding Trail can help guide you. Birding trails are driving routes with specific stops identified that offer bird viewing opportunities and can highlight natural and cultural features of local communities.

Learn how to identify these rare visitors, as well as our year-round resident owls including great horned, eastern screech and barred owls (pictured). These vocal flyers will start to hoot and holler at dusk and dawn in January and February to establish their nesting territories and find a mate.

• Give owls space. View owls from a distance with binoculars or a scope.
• Don’t lure owls with audio recordings. Hearing another owl’s call can be stressful.
• Leave “live baiting” to the pros. Owls can learn to associate food with people and be drawn to dangerous areas like roads or airports.
• Submit your eBird observation to scientists, but keep them hidden from the general public. Here’s a step-by-step guide.

Happy owling!

MI Birds is a public outreach and education program presented by Audubon Great Lakes and the Michigan DNR that works to build and bring together wildlife enthusiasts across the state to engage with and conserve Michigan’s birds, wildlife and public lands.

Questions? Contact Erin Rowan Ford at 313-820-0809.

The park is home to 450 acres of motorized dune riding. Each summer, thousands of motorcycles, quads, four-wheelers and other off-road vehicles descend on these sugar-sand dunes, the only sand dune riding opportunity east of the Mississippi River. Come winter, the recreation options switch to shoreline horseback riding (Nov. 1-30) and then to fat-tire biking (Dec. 15-March 15).

The shoreline and dune opportunities are part of the DNR’s ongoing efforts to expand off-season outdoor recreation in the Silver Lake ORV Area.

“Fat-tire biking at Silver Lake draws cyclists of varying ages and experience levels,” said Jody Johnston, Silver Lake State Park manager. “It’s a one-of-a-kind outdoor activity that capitalizes on the area’s natural features and beauty, and we’re excited to bring it back for a second season.”

During the fat-tire biking season, cyclists on the sand dunes enjoy rolling through elevation changes of 80-100 feet, access to Lake Michigan and sunsets over the lake from the top of the dunes. There is no cost or registration.

For season information, including rules, maps, tips and other details, visit Michigan.gov/SilverLake. A Recreation Passport is required for vehicle entry into state parks. A Recreation Passport self-pay station is available at the lot entrance.

For general questions about the park and season, call the park’s main office at 231-873-3083. For media inquiries, email park manager Jody Johnston at [email protected].

The meeting also will include presentations of a Lifesaving Award from the DNR Law Enforcement Division and the Shikar Safari Officer of the Year Award, along with several land use orders, land transactions and a legislative update.

The meeting starts at 9:30 a.m. in West Campus Rooms M119-121 of Lansing Community College, 5708 Cornerstone Drive, in Lansing.

See the draft meeting agenda at Michigan.gov/NRC. For more information, email [email protected].

This year, we planted 5.6 million trees in state forests, plus another 820,000 in national forests through the Good Neighbor Authority partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service.

Donors from the Arbor Day Foundation, American Forests, Finkl & Sons and One Tree Planted contributed to the effort, providing more than $1.4 million to add more trees to Michigan’s landscape. Funds helped purchase seedlings and planting equipment such as tree tubes to protect young trees from hungry herbivores like deer.

Tree species planted include jack pine, red pine, northern red oak and white pine.

These new trees will produce an array of benefits. Renewable forest products, outdoor places to hunt, hike and explore, and habitat for wildlife including the rare Kirtland’s warbler and game species such as grouse and elk are all provided by Michigan’s sustainably managed forests.

Tree planting isn’t the only way the DNR renews forests. While seedlings are planted to regrow some areas following timber harvest or insect damage, natural regeneration also is encouraged. Heavy machinery is used to rough up the soil and allow seeds from nearby trees to take root. Soon, what was once a bare field is full of young saplings stretching toward the sun.

Questions about tree planting on state-managed lands? Visit Michigan.gov/MiTrees to view our statewide planting map and add your own new trees, or contact DNR silviculture expert Jason Hartman.

Get ready! State-designated trails are open Dec. 1 through March 31, and grooming occurs when there is enough snow on the ground. Learn more and purchase your trail permit today.

A nationally recognized, award-winning, six-week class for anyone with a passion or curiosity for inland lakes, including lakefront property owners, local government officials, lake managers and educators, MSU Extension’s Introduction to Lakes Online course is full of information and inspiration. Led by Extension educators and state agency personnel, it covers lake ecology, watersheds, shorelines, water law, aquatic plant management and community involvement.

Registration, course information

The course runs Jan. 30 through March 20. Register by Jan. 12 for the early-bird discounted rate of $95 per person; after that, the rate is $115. Registration closes Jan. 28. Course details and scholarship and other information are available on the Introduction to Lakes Online course webpage.

More than 1,850 people across the country have taken the annual course since it was first offered online in 2015. Participants regularly praise the content and level of interaction they enjoy with instructors and other students.

Online reporting provides the most efficient and effective data for deer management and conservation, and it’s pretty easy, too. More than 208,000 hunters submitted online harvest reports in 2022, with nearly 83% of those hunters able to complete their report in under five minutes.

Earlier this month, we shared a news release outlining steps for smooth, simplified reporting, including three key points: 1) Download the Michigan DNR Hunt Fish app, 2) Have your hunting license/kill tag number ready, and 3) Wait for the confirmation number to pop up and then record it for your records. Read the full story for detailed reporting and assistance information.

Questions? Contact Dustin Isenhoff at 517-275-1468 or the DNR Wildlife Division at 517-284-9453.

Did you know that turkeys not only gobble, they also cluck and purr? In addition to flying, wild turkeys can even swim when needed! Thanks to collaborative conservation, these incredible birds are once again thriving across Michigan’s forests and open woodland habitats.

In the 1950s, the Michigan DNR began an effort with partners to reintroduce wild turkeys to the state. Fifty wild turkeys were purchased from Pennsylvania and released into the open woodlands of Allegan County, helping to strengthen and diversify the population. Thirty years later, wild turkeys from Missouri and Iowa were released across the state. There are now 200,000 wild turkeys gobbling across Michigan thanks to a half-century of partnership.

NWTF is a MI Birds partner and has co-hosted immersive birding field trips at oak-savannah restoration sites, engaging the birding community in wild turkey conservation. Some songbird favorites like eastern towhees and blue-winged warblers rely on the same habitat to thrive.

Read the full MI Birds story to learn how you can help support Michigan’s wild turkey populations.

MI Birds is a public outreach and engagement program presented by Audubon Great Lakes and the Michigan DNR that works to build and bring together wildlife enthusiasts across the state to engage with and conserve Michigan’s birds, wildlife and public lands.

Questions? Contact the DNR Wildlife Division at 517-284-9453.

Lt. Tom Wanless, who heads the DNR’s recreational safety, education and enforcement section, said that although some tips seem like common sense, it’s critical for anyone hunting with firearms to consider safety basics.

“Success is not always about filling your tag, it’s about safely enjoying the experience and sharing it with friends and family after the hunt,” Wanless said.

All hunters should:

• Treat every firearm as if it is loaded.
• Be aware of your surroundings – know your target and what is beyond it.
• Unload firearms when crossing obstacles and/or getting in or out of an elevated stand.
• Obey “no trespassing” signs; they are there for a reason.
• Obtain landowner permission to retrieve game that has wandered onto private property.
• Wear “hunter orange” to increase your visibility to other hunters. Hunter orange garments (such as caps, hats, vests or jackets), including camouflage, must be at least 50% hunter orange and be visible from all directions.

During hunting seasons, the DNR strongly encourages nonhunters to wear bright colors, especially hunter orange, and be aware of their surroundings near woods or fields where hunting may occur.

Get more hunting and tree stand safety tips at Michigan.gov/HuntingSafety, and season and regulation details in the 2023 DNR Hunting Regulations Summary.

Questions about safety? Email [email protected].

Year-round, hundreds of bird species draw us outdoors as they flit in the treetops, hop through shrubs or run along the shorelines. With winter on its way, birders are excitedly awaiting the arrival of northern finches and owls.

Whether we encounter rare vagrants, irruptive northern breeders – those birds that hit the scene suddenly and in large numbers – or common backyard birds, it’s important to use best birding practices to protect Michigan’s birds and visitors. The following tips and resources from Mi Birds can help guide your next outing.

Keep a respectful distance. Getting too close to birds, and their nests, can cause them to flush (or fly away), interfering with their natural behavior and potentially preventing them from caring for their young or eating. If your approach causes a bird to flush, you’ve gotten too close.

Share the shore. Great Lakes beach-nesting birds, like the Great Lakes piping plover, require special care. By leashing pets and giving birds plenty of space (more than 100 feet, or about 16 beach towels), we can help ensure their survival.

Leave the drones to the pros. Although drones can be useful for researchers and biologists documenting bird populations (such as at island nesting colonies), drones in general can be very disruptive to birds, especially osprey. They also are illegal in national parks, and their use is limited in state parks. (This DNR land use order provides more detail about unmanned aircraft, such as drones.)

Here are additional resources to help protect birds and habitat:

• The Birding Code of Ethics.
• Audubon’s Guide to Ethical Bird Photography and Videography.
• Best Practices for Stress-Free Snowy Owl Viewing.

For more birding and wildlife photography best practices, explore Audubon’s library of ethics articles. Enjoy your next birding adventure!

MI Birds is a public outreach and education program presented by Audubon Great Lakes and the Michigan DNR that works to build and bring together wildlife enthusiasts across the state to engage with and conserve Michigan’s birds, wildlife and public lands.

Questions? Contact Erin Rowan Ford at 313-820-0809.

Whether you’re a veteran hunter of several species, a devoted trapper or someone just getting familiar with the ins and outs of these outdoor traditions, Michigan’s got something for everyone, and the DNR has all of the resources to keep you informed, safe and confident when in the field. In case you missed it, we recently put out a hunting and trapping roundup, complete with season dates and links to more information about places to hunt and trap.

If you have questions about late fall and early winter hunting and trapping opportunities, email the DNR Wildlife Division at [email protected].