It’s winter, but the first half of January didn’t look or feel like it. “It’s milder than normal. It may turn colder toward the end of the month,” said Jeff Zoltowski, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. Leelanau resident and retired meteorologist Dave Barrons, a familiar face on local television for many years, says climate change is making expectations based on past years less reliable. “We’ve added more carbon dioxide to the air. Carbon dioxide holds more heat,” he said.
For some, birding is an engaging activity. For others, observing and helping our feathered friends is a passion. For Kay Charter, it’s a self-described obsession. “I had an epiphany three years after moving into our home,” said the founder of the non-profit Saving Birds Through Habitat. “I saw a winter wren. It’s the Mozart of the bird world.” Saving Birds Through Habitat is a haven for thousands of birds. “We’ve lost more than 30 percent of our birds. Songbirds and shorebirds are the ones that have taken the hit,” she says.
With important races looming for United States Congress, the Michigan House of Representatives and the Leelanau County Board of Commissioners (all politics is local!) the Glen Arbor Sun reached out to candidates on both sides of the political aisle and asked questions about important local issues, prior to the November 4 election.
The following are interviews conducted via email with Leelanau County Commission challengers Dave Barrons (a Democrat, running against Republican incumbent Debra Rushton), Patricia Soutas-Little (a Democrat, running against Republican incumbent Karen Zemaitis) and Ty Wessell (a Democrat, running against Republican incumbent Tom Van Pelt). Rushton, Zemaitis and Van Pelt all opted not to answer questions emailed to them.
Taking a stroll down Western Avenue in the village of Glen Arbor, you’ll come to a lawn that is beautifully landscaped in Michigan native plants. This is 6391 Western Avenue, the headquarters of Sleeping Bear Birding Trail (SBBT). What, you wonder, is a birding trail? That’s the most frequently asked question by both tourists and locals coming through the door, said operations director Mick Seymour. “What the heck is a birding trail?”
Dave Barrons, northern Michigan’s trusted television meteorologist for nearly two decades, officially declared his candidacy today for a seat on the Leelanau County Commission. Barrons, a Democrat, lives in Elmwood Township in the county’s southeast corner. He seeks to unseat District 2 incumbent, Republican Deb Rushton, in this November’s election.
The League of Women Voters Leelanau County (LWVLC) will present “The Weather Machine Shifts Gears,” with guest speaker Dave Barrons, at noon on Wednesday, Sept. 4, in the Leelanau County Government Center.
When the US Army Corps of Engineers measured Lake Michigan and Lake Huron water levels at the end of December, they discovered that the depth had receded to 576.15 feet above sea level — breaking the record for the previous all-time-low of 576.2 feet set in 1964. That’s not a record to celebrate. Numbers are complex and difficult to comprehend. But beaches along Sleeping Bear Bay offered more clarity, and sobering clarity at that. The shoreline has receded substantially from previous years, leaving behind a hard, rocky surface in places, and prompting widespread alarm.
That pie you ate at Cherry Republic last week wasn’t the fruit of a local tart cherry farmer’s labor — not this year, at least. The Glen Arbor retail company’s quick-thinking president Bob Sutherland imported those pie cherries from Poland after extreme weather this spring all but wiped out northern Michigan’s tart cherry crop.