When winter settles over Oakland County, its hundreds of inland lakes become a destination for anglers willing to trade open water for a layer of ice. But successful ice fishing is about more than finding fish beneath the frozen surface. A safe and rewarding day on the ice begins with preparation, from understanding Michigan’s fishing regulations and choosing the right gear to monitoring ice conditions and preparing for emergencies.

On a warm Michigan evening, just after the sky turns cobalt and before the mosquitoes lay their claim to the summer air, a familiar spark appears. Then another. Then a dozen. To children, fireflies are summer’s smallest fireworks bringing smiles and laughter and wonderment. To scientists, they are beetles in the family Lampyridae, insects with complicated courtship codes, surprisingly predatory young, and life cycles tied to soil moisture, wetland edges, dark nights, and the

Lush, green lawn may be a point of pride for many lakefront homeowners, but the fertilizer used to achieve it can have unintended consequences.

Wetlands are easy to overlook, especially their importance. They may look like unassuming acres of native plants, wet soil, and trees, filled with frogs and other amphibians and animals. That is, until your basement floods, your favorite lake turns green, the shoreline at your lakeside home erodes, or the spring night chorus of frogs you usually enjoy goes silent. These aren’t wastelands but an assembly line of working landscapes – part sponge, part kidney, part nursery – tha

Michigan lakes, streams, and rivers get their life from the watersheds that feed them, and the health of those watersheds is crucial to the life of those waterbodies. With 63 major watersheds in Michigan that break into another 267 sub-watersheds, these networks of lakes and streams eventually make their way to the Great Lakes. To dive deeper into efforts to maintain the health of watersheds, five Southeast Michigan Watersheds, including the Clinton River, Rouge River, Huron

Dredging an inland lake is necessary for recreational reasons but can also be destructive to a lake’s local ecosystem.

Blessed by the Southeast Michigan Catholic Churches as a Lenten rescue, hailed as an ecosystem indicator, a boon to the fur industry, but can also be a bane to the existence of lakefront property owners – Michigan muskrats. For generations, these small furry nocturnal or crepuscular (active at dawn and dusk) creatures have navigated Michigan’s rivers, lakes and streams, making their homes on the banks and creating huts on the water.

Home insurance can be complex for lakefront property owners, with insurance agents recommending these homeowners have the necessary amount of insurance to provide significant financial protection against a catastrophic event like structure fire or serious personal injury.