Michigan has thousands of bear hunters. About 40 of them showed up for a recent Natural Resources Commission meeting in Lansing.

The commission was considering a new licensing system – one for hunting public land and another for hunting private land.

A couple weeks ago Echo marked its first anniversary. The evolution has been fast, the learning curve steep. It’s hard to find the time to stop and take stock of what’s been accomplished. But here’s a good excuse:
Environmental news stories written for Great Lakes Echo and other publications of Michigan State University’s Knight Center for Environmental Journalism are among those recently recognized at the 2009 Region 4 Mark of Excellence Society of Professional Journalists contest.
Among the Echo winners:
Online In-Depth Reporting

First Place: Cleaning Coal – by Sarah Coefield, …

Michigan doesn’t require the inspection of vehicle exhaust systems. That is unlike Indiana, Ohio, Wisconsin and Illinois.

Michigan’s air quality meets federal standards for ozone, a pollutant created in part by car exhaust.

Sharedearth.com is a new Web site where gardeners post requests for land to grow gardens and land owners post their available land to share.

Great Lakes states have roughly $44.8 million left to hand out in energy-saving appliance rebates.
The region received $80 million in recovery funds to spur economic growth and encourage the use of energy-efficient refrigerators, washers and dryers and heating and cooling systems.
Cash for appliances programs in Illinois and Pennsylvania start later this month; Minnesota is already out of funds.
Focus on Energy representative Bobbi Fey expects Wisconsin funds to last through the end of April.
Click here for the original Great Lakes Echo story.
Follow these links for details on cash for clunker appliances …

There’s been some buzz around the “If you can’t beat em, eat em” Asian carp control strategy. One Chicago alderman wants to use carp to feed the poor. Others argue that the Asian carp diet is no replacement for policy- and infrastructure-based eradication. Either way, carp bomb Flickr group member Joel has proof that the anglers of Manistee, Mich. are ready to provide the raw material to get the carp cuisine rolling.

Joking aside, Manistee is a hot spot for Great Lakes fishing, and the city’s charter captains are as worried …

You know the big names credited with major policy decisions that affect the basin. But who are the people behind the names that shape Great Lakes policy?

This week: Derek Stack, the Canadian who promotes Great Lakes progress on both sides of the border.

LANSING, Mich. – Michigan is angling for more business in the fishing and tourism industries with two new laws that will increase the number of fish anglers can keep.

One establishes a 72-hour fishing license. The other allows anglers to keep an additional two-day’s possession of fish.

The new laws will take effect April 1, 2011.

Just a heads up that the Echo crew has implemented a few features you can use to help us make the site even better.
Notice that at the bottom of “Catch of the Day” we’ve created a link for you to suggest something for that feature. It can simply be something relevant to the Great Lakes environment that you’ve stumbled across and thought that perhaps we’d want to highlight or comment upon.
We’ve established a similar link under “Great Links” where you can flag news stories and URLs that we can consider …

State programs for regulating and preventing farm runoff are falling short, according to a new report (PDF) from the Environmental Law and Policy Center and Mississippi River Collaborative.
Farm runoff is a problem because it carries nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus from fertilizers into lakes and bays. Once there, the nutrients can contaminate drinking water or fuel algae blooms that muck up beaches. Bacteria that break down dead blooms use up oxygen and leave behind dead zones where wildlife can’t breathe.
State programs to control runoff don’t work as well as they …