May 12 2011 | | 2 Comments
A view of Singing Bridge Beach. The Whitney Drain meets Lake Huron, as shown with a brown, horizontal line. GoogleEarth: USDA Farm Service Agency, USFWS.

Profiling is allowed for solving this kind of crime.

Health authorities type bacteria to identify sources of pollution contaminating beaches.

May 11 2011 | | 2 Comments
Michigan blueberries

Michigan’s agriculture food processing industry is no undersized enterprise.

The state’s agro-food diversity is second only to California’s.

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More mushrooms are popping up, attracting tourists who taste, hunt and participate in mushroom festivals in Michigan.

The fungi is most plentiful in Northern Michigan and is a good way for the state to showcase locally grown food.

A new Michigan proposal would make it easier to retrieve logs that are submerged in Lake Michigan. Photo: Lars Lenz. Retrieved from Wikimedia Commons.

Valuable logs sank to the bottom of Michigan’s lakes and rivers during the 1800s when loggers floated their hauls.
Now proposed legislation would make permits to retrieve them easier to get.

Diesel exhaust, like that coming from this train, Photo: Brian Forbes via Flickr.

Breathing diesel exhaust is unhealthy, and it does more harm than simply irritate organs. According to a new study, it is increasing the risk of cancer at an alarming rate.

Photo: Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

Thought to have been a lost genetic strain of native fish, the reef cisco has reappeared in Lake Michigan in increasing numbers after 20 to 30 years out of biologists’ view.

The number of Michigan farmer's markets is on the rise. Photo: Scott Stevenson/ARTZIEPHARTZIE graphic design. Retrieved from Wikimedia Commons.

On-site farm markets are becoming more common and were recently added to the Michigan Right to Farm Act.
The law includes roadside stands or farm markets but doesn’t define them or describe marketing.

Photo: NASA

Feral pigs wreaking havoc on fields and farms have made enough enemies for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources to propose a ban on ownership of wild boars.

Photo: GST HBK. Retrieved from Wikimedia Commons.

The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality is awarding almost $300,000 in its latest round of grants to counties and businesses to clean up 17 scrap tire sites and hold community events where people can bring tires for disposal.

May 2 2011 | | 4 Comments
A committee raised more than a million dollars to modify dams along the Boardman River in Traver City. Photo: Andrew Jameson.

Lack of funding for dam repair or removal is an increasing concern as many across the state approach the end of their design life.

Built to last 50 years, more than 90 percent of the Michigan’s 2,580 dams will have exceeded that lifespan in the next few years.