Michigan’s eastern Upper Peninsula boasts a vibrant natural and cultural history. However, the area has seen a notable loss in jobs, population, and tourism. One of the region’s challenges is to develop new economic opportunities and diversify the local economy. Thanks to the state’s diverse habitats and species, Michigan has many popular birding locations. By identifying and publicizing their own local birding hot spots, eastern Upper Peninsula communities can entice some of those visitors to their area.

Michigan Sea Grant helped create an interactive online birding trail and informational website to encourage winter tourism along the shores of Lake Huron in the Upper Peninsula. The interactive map and website direct birders to local birding hotspots, describe areas unique to the eastern Upper Peninsula, and help people understand the importance of shoreline habitat for bird migration and breeding. The North Huron Birding Trail has generated thousands of unique views since it debuted in 2016. In addition, Michigan Sea Grant held several birding presentations and hosted birding trips that reached 147 people — and brought tourist money to the eastern Upper Peninsula.

Michigan Sea Grant developed a new component of their research portfolio to support graduate student fellowships and contribute to training the next generation of scientists working on real-world problems studied by resource agencies. One student worked with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to evaluate migration patterns of native and invasive species in Michigan rivers. Another student is working with the NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory to evaluate, using buoy and model data, how wind-driven currents and changes in tributary discharge affect the distribution of harmful algal blooms (HABs) in the western basin of Lake Erie.

Data provided by the student working with USFWS will help resource managers estimate lamprey and trout populations and understand overlaps and differences in migration timing for native and invasive species. Results from the HABs project contribute to models that simulate, project, and track HABs and help target legislation and programs aimed at reducing the impact of agricultural and urban land uses on Lake Erie’s water quality.

Michigan Sea Grant funds the Sustainable Small Harbors project to identify barriers preventing small harbors from becoming economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable, and to equip coastal community leaders with the tools to assess and strengthen their own waterfront assets.

In 2016, Michigan Sea Grant facilitated community visioning sessions as part of the small harbors project. These collaborative visioning sessions, which involved members of the public and local officials, resulted in the development of 20-year plans that focus on the long-term social, economic, and environmental sustainability of each community’s harbor. Additionally, a guidebook for helping communities develop more sustainable small harbors was drafted and tested in two coastal communities as proof-of-concept applications. For example, Rogers City budgeted $10,000 for a new multi-use structure at the marina based on outcomes from the visioning process. Having identified equipment that would improve services provided at the public harbor, the city also received an $80,000 Waterways Program Grant from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources with community match to fund these improvements.