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1 week ago | 
interlochenpublicradio.org | Ellie Katz
A ceremony to kick off the return of Arctic grayling to northern Michigan is taking place Monday, May 12 at 1 p.m. at the Oden State Fish Hatchery Visitor Center in Alanson. The Arctic grayling is a silvery blue salmonoid species native only to Montana and Michigan in the contiguous United States. But habitat loss and competition from non-native fish species decimated those populations, and grayling haven’t swum in Michigan rivers since the 1930s.
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1 week ago | 
interlochenpublicradio.org | Ellie Katz
In the summer of 2015, Traci Lynn Martin’s mom was in the final weeks of a battle with cancer. A hospice bed was set up in her mom’s living room in Kansas City. Traci would sit by her side and talk as they looked out the window. Traci asked her mom about everything — her childhood, her memories, her wishes. And during one of those conversations, her mom surprised her.
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1 week ago | 
interlochenpublicradio.org | Ellie Katz
An anaerobic digester in Fremont, which converted food waste into energy, is in the final stages of being shut down — a choice its owners made after clashing with the state’s Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy over how to permit the facility’s waste. The facility's process of converting food waste into energy created a sludgy waste byproduct that was spread onto farm fields.
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2 weeks ago | 
radio.wcmu.org | Ellie Katz
Cleanup crews are responding to an oil spill in Pigeon River Country State Forest which was discovered last week. More than 4,600 gallons of material spilled into a densely wooded wetland in the state forest: at least 50 barrels of crude oil, 60 barrels of brine, a saltwater byproduct, and 100 gallons of condensate, or natural gas liquids. The oil, brine, and natural gas liquids have impacted about one acre of a valley wetland so far.
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3 weeks ago | 
interlochenpublicradio.org | Ellie Katz
Cleanup crews are responding to an oil spill in Pigeon River Country State Forest which was discovered last week. More than 4,600 gallons of material spilled into a densely wooded wetland in the state forest: at least 50 barrels of crude oil, 60 barrels of brine, a saltwater byproduct, and 100 gallons of condensate, or natural gas liquids. The oil, brine, and natural gas liquids have impacted about one acre of a valley wetland so far.
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3 weeks ago | 
interlochenpublicradio.org | Ellie Katz
"Maples tend to survive even extreme amounts of damage."Tim Perkinsplant biologist The ice storm in late March dealt a hard blow to northern Michigan’s maple syrup producers, damaging trees and cutting production short. The Northeast United States experienced something similar after an ice storm in 1998. But research there points overwhelmingly to recovery for sugar maples. In Michigan, maple producers are facing partial or total tree crown loss in their sugar bushes.
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1 month ago | 
wbur.org | Ellie Katz
Changes in ecosystems have transformed the fishing industry, and that's bad news for whitefish in the Great Lakes. The fish is an important and popular commercial species, but its numbers in some of the Great Lakes have plummeted. Now, scientists are trying to get the fish to spawn in rivers for the first time in well over a century. Environment reporter Ellie Katz from Interlochen Public Radio reports. This segment airs on April 16, 2025. Audio will be available after the broadcast.
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1 month ago | 
radio.wcmu.org | Ellie Katz |Justin A. Hinkley
This story was reported in partnership with Bridge Michigan. When a once-in-a-generation ice stormslammed northern Michigan in late March, damaging hundreds of miles of forest, Bill Sterrett hoped his decades of careful management might help his woodlot north of Gaylord fare a little better. It didn't. "The first thing I saw was these pine right here, and I was looking for green," he said. "There's green up there, but it's not green like it was.
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1 month ago | 
bridgemi.com | Ellie Katz
A historic ice storm in late March destroyed millions of trees across a dozen counties in northern MichiganForest owners can apply for federal assistance with restorationForesters think it’ll take years to get back to normal — if they ever doWhen a once-in-a-generation ice stormslammed northern Michigan in late March, damaging hundreds of miles of forest, Bill Sterrett hoped his decades of careful management might help his woodlot north of Gaylord fare a little better. It didn’t.
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1 month ago | 
kuow.org | Ellie Katz
A changing ecosystem is depleting the whitefish population in the Great LakesChanges in ecosystems mean bad news for lake whitefish and those who love it. The species' population is rapidly declining in some areas of the Great Lakes.
