Rural Michigan

Campsite reservations are 35 - 80 percent booked through July across Michigan’s state parks.

All of the Great Lakes are experiencing declining ice coverage in the winter, which could affect recreation and shorelines.

Opponents of the new law, which stripped away local permitting control over large wind and solar projects, are pushing a ballot initiative that would ask voters in November to overturn the law.

At least 17 states have issued PFAS-related fish consumption advisories, KFF Health News found. But with no federal guidance, what is considered safe to eat varies significantly among states, most of which provide no regulation.

Amid a push toward renewable energy in Michigan, taxpayers are subsidizing technology to turn animal feces into fuel. Opponents say it further subsidizes the growth of an industry responsible for widespread water pollution problems.

Declining hunting participation isn’t the only reason deer populations are skyrocketing. Blame suburban sprawl, a lack of hunting land in southern Michigan, a century-worth of predator suppression and the newer threat of climate change.

Ahead of a gathering to assess the health of Lake Erie, the state acknowledges it won’t meet a 2025 deadline to cut phosphorus runoff into Lake Erie by 40 percent. The goal is to protect Lake Erie and Michigan’s small farms.

Michigan public school choice has grown in the last decade. See how many people in your district use school choice.

Once a largely city and suburban issue, school choice is now a statewide and rural phenomenon. That’s good news for many parents, but it’s causing financial problems and headaches for school officials.

An increase in precipitation can be detrimental for fields as it can cause heavy erosion and a lack of soil nutrients.

A deer with chronic wasting disease has been found in Ogemaw County — a county that had never seen the disease before.

The industry grew faster than the state’s overall economy, as it continued benefitting from a pandemic-era resurgence in camping, hiking, boating and the like. But there are challenges, and some argue the state must do more to bolster the industry.

‘You just can't come in and take our weapons away without giving us a fighting chance to stand up for ourselves,’ Holton Township Supervisor Alan Jager says.

Southern Michigan is being overrun by deer, and a series of steps to reduce herds have not helped. So state game managers are urging hunters this fall to forgo big bucks for does to lower birth rates. Not every hunter is on board.

In the run-up to Thanksgiving, many consumers are turning to locally-raised turkeys.

Licenses trending down. Ammo is in short supply, and overpopulation of deer has experts encouraging hunters to shoot more does.

State regulators are ratcheting down the number of fish anglers can keep in some rivers, citing fears that the fish could be in trouble. State scientists disagree.

In a party-line vote, the Senate passed bills that establish statewide permitting rules for large renewable energy developments, an end-run around local efforts to block wind and solar proposals in Michigan. Gretchen Whitmer is expected to sign the legislation.

Michigan farmers, looking to expand crop insurance and research funding, are pushing to see their needs recognized as the federal Farm Bill moves along on the congressional agenda.

The claim that clean energy and agriculture are natural allies overlooks a fundamental reality: the substantial land requirement for renewable energy projects.