We had a 15-year period of intense evaporation followed by a cold snap (the Polar Vortex) in a sequence that was unprecedented. The weather turned. Quickly. This indicates a change. The range is new and the speed of the swing is new. “If you have events that are not part of your historical record that represent a change in conditions, that’s the definition of climate change,” said scientist Andrew Gronewold.
“Although the water coming from over the (Leland Dam in Fishtown) is forceful, it’s not the real cause of the floods,” Leelanau County drain commissioner Steve Christensen told the Glen Arbor Sun. “When you look at the forces involved, the flooding is from Lake Michigan-Huron.”
The League of Women Voters Leelanau County will host a forum entitled “Care for the Planet Because Your Health Depends On It: Health Impacts of Climate Change and What We Can Do About Them” on Wednesday, June 6, at noon at the Leelanau County Government Center Lower Level Community Room.
Northern Michigan’s heritage landscapes are changing as invasive species, urban development and climate change alter, damage or destroy familiar plant and animal communities on the land and in our waters. Longtime science journalist Joe VanderMeulen understands the challenges these developments pose to volunteer conservationists, natural resource professionals and the organizations working to manage, protect and preserve the forests, wetlands, streams and lakes of our beloved region.
Could Trump’s hiring freeze affect staff, and operations, at the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, which typically hires 100 seasonal employees in May when it opens popular mainstays such as the Sleeping Bear Dune Climb and Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive in time for the summer tourism season?
For his doctoral dissertation, Lukas Bell-Dereske has been studying dune grass in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. He created an experiment in which he mimicked one of the effects of climate change — increased precipitation in larger pulses — to see how dune plants would respond.
Air and water temperatures are expected to rise, and lake levels are predicted to decline over time, with longer droughts between heavier rain events. An ecologist explains what scientists believe will happen to our ecosystem in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore area and the single, most important reason behind it all.
New online magazine NatureChange.org tells Northern Michigan stories about conservation and climate change, including this one about difficult choices facing the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore following the August 2, 2015 super storm.
It’s common knowledge that the public can walk along the Lake Michigan shoreline. You can walk it anywhere on public property. That means public road ends, or the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. The question is: how far from the water’s edge can a person legally walk along private property? This is an important issue, since about 70 percent of Michigan’s “third coast” is privately owned. The answer is unclear, because neither courts in Michigan nor in other Great Lakes states have offered a clear and consistent answer.
On her way to work one morning this past summer, Kama Ross noticed some sick-looking oak trees near a recently cleared right-of-way in Bingham County. Luckily, Ross knew what she was looking at: the first confirmed case of oak wilt disease in Leelanau County.