State Roundup

Lansing
State cuts Lake Michigan Chinook stocking by 2/3
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Lake Michigan’s Chinook salmon are doing so well that Michigan has decided to sharply reduce its stocking of the popular game fish, the state announced Monday.
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources said it will cut its annual Chinook stocking in the lake by two-thirds, from 1.67 million to 560,000. The change begins in spring 2012.
The decision implements last month’s Lake Michigan Committee recommendation that states reduce stocking by half, from 3.3 million to 1.7 million annually. Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Indian tribes are represented on the committee.
“This reduction is essential in helping to maintain the balance between predator and prey fish populations in Lake Michigan,” Jim Dexter, chief of the DNR’s Fisheries Division, said in a statement. “These reductions are necessary to maintain the lake’s diverse fishery.”
Naturalists say overstocking of predator fish threatens the population of other lake species and upsets the ecological balance.
“This will give the DNR more flexibility to adaptively manage the lake. Traditionally, we have made changes in stocking and waited five years to evaluate it,” said Michigan DNR fisheries official Jay Wesley. “Now we have the ability ... to make changes as they are needed.”
Besides, the salmon now do a pretty good restocking job themselves, officials say.
“Streams in Michigan continue to produce significant numbers of naturally reproduced Chinook salmon and lake-wide estimates show more than half of the lake’s Chinook population is of wild origin,” the Department of natural Resources said in its announcement.
The Lake Michigan Committee, part of the Great Lakes Fishery Commission, made the recommendation Aug. 27.
One of the Chinook’s major food sources, a tiny fish called the alewife, is at or near historic lows.
“It’s only right and good fishery management to try to hone in on a stocking level consistent with what the ecosystem would support,” committee spokesman Marc Gaden said at the time. “We will see an ecosystem that is healthier and more in balance.”
In addition to the reduction in Michigan’s stocking, the committee recommends Wisconsin stock 440,000 fewer fish, Indiana 25,000 fewer and Illinois 20,000 fewer.

Lansing
Michigan commission OKs new historical markers
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — The Michigan Historical Commission has approved new historical markers for sites including a Grand Rapids-area bridge, a Detroit-area golf course and an Oceana County lighthouse.
The state announced Monday that 11 markers were approved at a meeting this month. There are more than 1,700 markers already in place across Michigan.
The state says the sites include Pine Island Drive Bridge in Kent County, Rackham Golf Course in Oakland County and Petite Pointe Au Sable Lighthouse in Oceana County. Erwin Central School in Gogebic County, the Hannah and Lay Mercantile Building in Traverse City and Lakeville Cemetery in Oakland County are on the list.