Announcer:
You know what that sound means. It's time for the Michigan DNR's Wild Talk Podcast. Welcome to the Wild Talk Podcast where representatives from the DNR's wildlife division chew the fat and shoot the scat about all things habitat, feathers, and fur. With insights, interviews, and your questions answered on the air, you'll get a better picture of what's happening in the world of wildlife here in the great state of Michigan. 

Katie:
And welcome to the Wild Talk Podcast. It's October. And I am your host today, Katie Keen. And I have with me Hannah Shower. Hannah, can you believe it's October?

Hannah:
I cannot. I am not really sure time has gone. Where did the summer go?

Katie:
What's your favorite thing about October?

Hannah:
I personally really love the cooler weather and the lack of mosquitoes that it tends to bring upon us and certainly the fall colors and the pumpkins and all that are excellent as well. But, the cooler weather is what I really look forward to.

Katie:
I definitely love the flannels and the sweatshirts. October is like pumpkin spice anything so give me a doughnut or a latte or gosh, what else do you get.

Hannah:
Apple cider. It's not pumpkin-y but it's fall in my mind.

Katie:
Gosh, I love the fall. I mean you can take the summer and I love the winter and the fall. This is my time of year. I wish it could extend a little bit.

Hannah:
Yep, I would agree with you on that one. I'm not one for the heat and humidity so bring on the fall and the snow and all that good stuff.

Katie:
So with October comes our meat and potatoes of the year. This is our fall hunting season. This is when everything just kicks into gear. We're there. 

Hannah:
Yeah, lots of people getting out in the field to do some hunting. Maybe even get out to do some bird watching or other outdoor activities. Certainly we'll have some snowmobiling in the winter. And snow shoeing, skiing, all that kind of stuff coming up. But fall is a great time to get out in the woods and enjoy the outdoors. 

Hannah:
So we're going to talk a little bit about what's going on around the state this month. We're also going to talk a little bit with Barbara Avers, our waterfowl and wetlands specialist.

Katie:
And then we're going to dip down into that mail bag, one of our favorite segments to talk about what's going on in our offices and around the state. And we are going to wrap up with a little segment where Hannah goes batty. It's October's podcast. Here we come right after this.

Announcer:
Fall is upon us and that means deer hunting. We at the DNR want to wish all hunters a safe and successful deer season. And we also want to thank hunters for staying informed on chronic wasting disease so that together we can work to have healthy wildlife for current and future generations. Check out the 2018 Michigan hunting digest or visit MI.gov/cwd for important regulation changes and additional information. And don't forget your actions matter.

Katie:
All right so we are coming in hot to the around the state segment. This is the time of the podcast where you get a sneak peek into what DNR wildlife staff are doing around the state. So all of the offices this time of year in October are seeing increase walk-in traffic and calls for more information. It's ranging from hunting related stuff, regulations, where to go. Maybe folks are just getting up to their property and they're pulling those trail cameras and wondering what they're seeing. All the way to stuff like trespassing and firewood permits. It's all good stuff. And we love all of these new questions that are coming in every fall. So just make sure to reach out to us at your local offices that are in your communities because we'd love to help you out. 

Katie:
With this around the state segment, let's get started in the south. So what's going on in South West Michigan, Hannah Shower?

Hannah:
Our southwest staff had a dedication ceremony to reopen the Otsego Dam access site which has been closed for about two years to facilitate clean up operations. And as you may recall we've been working with the EPA and department of environmental quality and some other partners to remove the 100 year old Otsego Township dam kind of along the Kalamazoo River just west of Plainwell. So this was a multi million dollar project. It included removing some PCB contaminated soils behind the old dam, removing the dam, and restoring the stream bank. So after much of this work this particular stretch of river is free flowing again and is healthy, vital river ecosystem. So this was a pretty big project and has some pretty big impact. And so this property is now open to the public for river access so you can hunt, fish, do bird watching, kayaking, canoeing, hiking, et cetera. But our staff do want to remind people that there are some areas at this site where there may be some hazardous conditions present.

Hannah:
So look for signs warning about dangerous conditions. And if you're going near the river please use caution when exploring and enjoying that part of the site. River conditions can change rapidly as you see happen with rain events or snow melt in the spring time. So just be mindful when you're out at that site. But it is open so we want to let folks know to go check it out and enjoy. Now let's jump up north to the upper peninsula. Katie, what's happening up there?

Katie:
So in the north Dayupe is how you say it, Hannah.

Hannah:
Dayupe.

Katie:
So while the Sturgeon River slew in Baraga county, which is near the west end of the UP has had some long anticipated construction finally happening. And of course with good improvements comes some inconveniences. So hopefully those who are targeting the Sturgeon River slew this coming fall for duck hunting, or even trapping, that they've seen the communication we've had coming out through DNR email, writing into local media, and they're planning accordingly. So to just update folks in our upcoming interview with Barbara Avers she will also touch on why maintenance is so important at some of these managed floodings. But here at the Sturgeon River slew we are partnering with Ducks Unlimited to install a new central water control structure. So what this is going to do is give greater flexibility and efficiency to control water which is going to equal better habitat.

Katie:
So in the end this is a great thing. But just got to be a little bit patient while maintenance is happening. Water is going to be removed from some of those hunt units. So if you're a person who targets Barage County, Sturgeon River slew call that local DNR office in Baraga for the specific information or go try a new location. We have places all across the state. So maybe this is the year you give it a shot. One other thing that UP has going on is they actually have a four county chronic wasting disease surveillance area.

Katie:
This is Gogebic, Iron, Dickinson, and Menominee County. So what that is is they're looking to collect additional deer heads from those counties. So it's surveillance. It's actually starting early because of deer damage shooting permits. They're working really hard to meet those CWD surveillance goals in those four counties. So it's taking some additional staff time up there. 

Katie:
How about a little peek of what's going on in south east Michigan, Hannah?

Hannah:
Yeah, well so in south east, the managed waterfall hunt areas or you might know them or refer to them as the wetland wonders are going to be hosting open houses throughout this month. These are great opportunities for folks to come out and meet the staff, take a driving tour of the area, and learn how the managed hunt drawings work. So if you're a waterfall hunter you might be really interested in taking advantage of some of these open houses. They're are great for those experienced waterfowl hunters as well as waterfall hunters who may not have hunted those areas before. And there will be plenty of opportunities to ask questions and familiarize yourself with these locations before the waterfall season opens. All open houses will start at 6:00 PM. Just to give you a run down here, Crow Island open house is October 8. Nayanquing point is October 9. Harsens Island and Fish Point are on the 10. And Point Mouillee and Shiawassee River are on the 11. For more information about these open houses you can visit MI.gov/dnr and click on the things to do and then at the bottom of the page click on the events for a calendar of upcoming DNR events and those open houses will be included on this calendar. So be sure to check that out for more information.

Katie:
You now those open houses are a real cool way to get and inside look at what's happening. It's pretty small, intimate type meeting. It's not really a meeting even. You can get a tour and walk around and just kind of see the workings of one of those locations. And Barbara will talk about that later in our upcoming interview segment.

Hannah:
It'll be great to learn a little bit more about those from Barbara. But be sure to check them out if you're interested. So I think next we want to hear about what's happening in the northern lower region, Katie.

Katie:
Just like the upper peninsula, the northern lower which again give me the state of Michigan with your hand and it's the knuckles north. Our staff up there are also working on low water levels at some of the major wetlands due to maintenance. So the lower northern region staff are working on some major wetland maintenance projects which of course with those projects the water could be affected. And so we want to just emphasize that Reedsburg Dam and Missaukee County, Cullen Creek flooding and Midland County and Molasses number two and Gladman County are all seeing water levels being affected by this maintenance. But don't fret. There are so many other locations within that same township or county that you could really try a new adventure and get out and duck hunt and trap this fall. Because those water levels will be affected.

Katie:
Reedsburg Dam is also a campground. So camping won't be affected, but there'll definitely be some disturbance happening with that construction going on. So just be mindful. Give your local DNR office a call if you've got any questions. Something else is GEMS, Grouse Enhanced Management Sites. Folks are really targeting them come October all the way through November 14. Just keep in mind we had those crazy winds and storms coming through just before the labor day holiday. And we had a snarly mess of trees that had fallen. So when you think about getting back to those favorite spots to hunt it might be a little bit limited this year. So use that as a positive. Always turn a negative into a positive and try a new location. Hike in a little bit farther. Just be aware when you show up there could be some trees down. Also across the northern lower you want to keep in mind all of the deer check stations. So visiting MI.gov/deercheck. We too in the northern lower region have surveillance quotas for deer heads. 

Katie:
Specifically we're looking for bovine tuberculosis in that historic northeast location. So if you're a hunter who's always hunted over there you're aware. But just remember Montmorency, Alpena, Oscoda, and Alcona Counties. That's our core TB area as well as those counties that surround it. We have had goals. So stop in at a DNR deer check station wherever you're at, submit that head for testing. It's so helpful for us to be able to get good surveillance of that area. And don't forget about Isabella County. That's within the 16 county chronic wasting disease management zone. So same thing here. We have so many deer check stations set up. We even have the new drop boxes this year. Check out Mi.gov/deercheck. Get your plan before you're out in the field. 

Hannah:
And you'll be able to find at that deer check page, you'll also be able to find all the check stations. This is statewide. So even if you're hunting in the southern part of the state and want to have your deer checked for chronic wasting disease certainly check out one of those check stations and drop off your head. 

Katie:
So that wraps up the statewide aspect. But, Hannah, do you have something else that's happening that you want to let folks know about?

Hannah:
All right so people will notice an announcement soon about the grant awards for the wildlife habitat grant program. Those folks that will be getting funding coming up here and so this if you're unfamiliar the wildlife habitat grant program was started back in 2013 to kind of help bridge the gap and connect with new and old conservation partners. And as I mentioned bridge the gap between all the habitat work that we want to get accomplished in the state. And we do have limited staff time and so the grant funding allows different organizations and individuals to apply for that money through a competitive process. And then those moneys are distributed to those groups to get those project done. And during development and implementation of the projects most of the applicants work with their local biologists to develop a management plan that will most effectively meet our goals as well as partners goals and so forth. 

Hannah:
So you might wonder where the revenue is to supply these grants where that comes from. And it's generated from the sale of hunting and fishing licenses. When you buy hunting or fishing license basically your dollar is going to habitat work. So if you want to ake a look and find out what projects might have gone on in the past or are going on in your area you can visit MI.gov/wildlife and look for a sentence that says, "Your license dollars at work." If you click on that you can go to an interactive map that highlights projects that have gone on throughout the state, different habitat work and projects. Many of which are funded through this wildlife habitat grant program. And something else for you teachers or if you know a teacher out there or other educators, we also right now have registration open for our free wildlife curricula. And these are for classroom educators, formal educators, non formal educators, really any educators in Michigan who are interested in trying to get some more Michigan wildlife in the classroom.

Hannah:
And so we have curricula available for all the different grades. For Kindergarten through fifth grades we have go wild from Michigan's wildlife. For middle schoolers we have a year in the life of a Michigan black bear and Michigan's wondrous wetlands and waterfall. And then for those high school students we have elk university. The DNR has ample opportunities for educators to get involved with a variety of wildlife or habitat or fish or forest education in the classroom. So be sure to visit MI.gov/DNReducation to check out all those opportunities. And if you're interested in the wildlife classroom curricula specifically that can also be found there. Follow the link and then you'll get more information about each and find the registration links as well.

Katie:
All right. Well, that's our around the state segment. And coming up next we have our interview with Barbara Avers.

Announcer:
Is it time to renew the license plate on your car or truck? When that moment arrives show your support for Michigan elk and conservation by getting the wildlife habitat plate at the Secretary of State. 2018 marks the 100th year since the reintroduction of wild elk to the state of Michigan. And while the elk had been here for a century, this plate is only available for a limited time. So don't miss out. Visit MI.gov/elk and click on the license plate for more information.

Katie:
And welcome back to our interview segment of the Wild Talk podcast. And today we have with us our water fowl and wetlands specialist Barbara Avers. How are you, Barb?

Barbara:
I'm doing great. Thanks. Glad to be here.

Katie:
Great. Well Barb comes to us from the Lansing Customer Service Center. And we have her with us for just a few minutes to be able to talk all about water fowl, wetlands, and just those frequently asked questions and what's going on this fall.

Barbara:
Well actually our duck hunting season just kicked off up in the upper peninsula on September 29. And we've got our middle zone which is the northern lower peninsula opening on October 6 and our south zone opening on October 13. So duck season is under way.

Katie:
Awesome. So when this podcast comes out it will be the first of October and folks are going to be hearing this all across Michigan and believe or not, Barb, we have some followers from Cleveland, Ohio. So I think we got a lot of duck hunters from Ohio, don't we?

Barbara:
Yeah, actually we have a number of non-resident hunters that come up here to Michigan and actually we've got some really good news for them this year. We did make some changes to the hunting licenses. And so non-resident hunters can actually purchase a non-resident seven day or a three day small game license. And that allows them to purchase a water fowl license. And without getting into a lot of details what that means is it's going to save them a ton of money. 

Hannah:
That's pretty awesome that we can have that opportunity for those out of state hunters.

Barbara:
It is and we like to welcome as many as possible to come on up to Michigan and try out both our duck and our goose hunting.

Katie:
So, Barb, let's dig in to a little bit about your self. So you're a waterfowl and wetlands specialist. So tell us how you got started. Give us a little background about yourself.

Barbara:
Yeah, sure. Actually I'm maybe one of those odd people that knew that I wanted to be a waterfowl biologist back in junior high and once I found out what a waterfowl biologist was I said, "That's what I want to do." So I did end up going to Michigan State and got my bachelor's degree there and then from there migrated on down to Mississippi State University and started a waterfowl research project and had the great fortune of actually doing my research up in Manitoba at the historic Delta Marsh. And after that did a few years with Ducks Unlimited, both in Canada and the United States and then finally got to come back home to Michigan. And I've been working with the Michigan DNR now for about 18 years and about 10 years as the waterfowl and wetland specialist. So really enjoying it. This is what I've always wanted to do.

Hannah:
How great is that?

Katie:
So, Barb, why ducks? You said you knew all along what you wanted to go into. What was the draw there for you?

Barbara:
Yeah that's a great question. I grew up in a family that was really into duck hunting. My dad was a he had started the Jordan Valley chapter of Ducks Unlimited with some of his friends. And he went on to be a district chairman for Michigan Ducks Unlimited. So I think a lot of it was just that influence growing up in a household like that where the walls are covered with duck prints and everything is ducks. And everything is duck hunting. So I'm sure that that had a huge influence. But always just loved being outdoors and ducks just there was something about them that I thought was very intriguing. I still love them to this day. There's so many different species. They're all beautiful in their own way. And on top of hunting them, I just love watching ducks as well. 

Hannah:
So are there any particular places that you enjoy going hunting or birdwatching in particular here in Michigan?

Barbara:
Well, we've got so many I don't even know where to start. One of the things I always liked to tell our hunters but as well as those that don't hunt is that Michigan is super unique in that we have such a diversity of waterfowl hunting opportunities. Because of our location in the Great Lakes we have everything from sea duck hunting on the Great Lakes and diver duck hunting on both the Great Lakes and some of our big water inland areas. And then you can go hunt puddle ducks like Mallards and a lot of our emergent Cat tail marshes. Think of more typical marshes. And then you can also go hunt wood ducks in our abundant forested wetland areas or swamps. And then of course you can just go sit in an agricultural field somewhere in a cornfield and we've got amazing goose hunting opportunities here. We actually rank typically in the top three states in the nation for both Canada goose harvest and the number of Canada goose hunters. What I'd like to remind people is you can do all of those different things by just driving maybe a few hours. 

Barbara:
Like I said, you can have sea duck hunting, diving duck hunting, puddle duck hunting, and Canada goose hunting all within a few hours drive of each other. And I always challenge people to tell me where else in this country can you have that kind of opportunity.

Katie:
So, I know you're a mother but moms don't ever want to talk about favorites, right? But what is your favorite duck? If we pinned you down, what's your favorite?

Barbara:
That's funny. My favorite duck, and everybody always laughs about this, is actually the Ruddy Duck.

Hannah:
Mine too. I love that one.

Barbara:
I absolutely Ruddy Ducks. And that my love of Ruddy Ducks started back when I was a graduate student and I was helping out a fellow graduate student up on around the Delta Marsh area. Actually I was out in the pothole country of Manitoba. And they were doing a Ruddy Duck study and we were capturing them. And I just absolutely fell in love with them. They were such a funky little duck. 

Katie:
So you talked about Michigan being such a leader. Can you explain to us the different flyways and how Michigan plays into that type of management and why do we even talk about flyways.

Barbara:
Yeah so managing species like waterfowl, they are a migratory species. And so they're flying back and forth across different geographic borders, different political borders, and so their a species pretty uniquely that we have to manage. We don't manage them just within Michigan, but we have to manage them with fellow states, with other provinces and even other countries. Because a lot of them they might be breeding up north but they're wintering down south. And everything in between. And so it takes this really large geographic scale in order to manage them. So we have what's called the flyway system. And essentially there are four flyways in north America. Starting from the west there's a Pacific flyway, the central flyway, the Mississippi flyway, and then on the easy coast is the Atlantic flyway. And we have these different flyway set up based on how birds are migrating.

Barbara:
So Michigan falls within the Mississippi flyway. And so we work with... it's fourteen other states in the Mississippi flyway as well as some of the provinces to manage these duck species and these goose species. So that's essentially what the Mississippi flyway is and how we work in this enormous partnership. 

Katie:
Okay, let's switch gears a little bit, Barb. Our managed waterfowl hunt areas. Let's talk about how many of those we have across the state and why we have them.

Barbara:
We do have our, we call them our wetland wonders and in particular we have seven, what we call managed waterfowl hunting areas across southern Michigan. On the west side of the state we've got Allegan, the Fennville Farm Unit at Allegan as well as the Muskegon County Wastewater. Then over on the east side of the state we've got a few around Saginaw Bay. We've got Nayanquing Point Wildlife areas, as well as Fish point. We've got Shiawassee River State game area. And then down we've got Harsens Island on Lake Saint Clair. And then we also have the Point Milliay State Game Area down on the western shore of Lake Erie. So we call these our managed waterfowl hunting areas. And essentially what that means is folks can come in and you register for a hunt. You go through a drawing process. And once you're drawn you pick a hunting zone. And then that's where you hunt for the time period that you're there.

Barbara:
These areas have actually been around for a very long time. Most of them started back in the 1970's. That's also when we kind of had peak numbers for waterfowl hunters. And what we found on some of these areas because they are located in some of the best most historic waterfowl hunting areas in the state, is that we had an awful lot of people using them. And it became a safety issue. And also just the quality of hunt wasn't as good. So what we did was set up the Michigan DNR at that time. Set up this idea of managed waterfowl hunting where there were these daily draws. And so what that does is it kind of spreads hunters out more. And it also just allows for a higher quality hunt. You're going to see a lot of birds when you're out there. We manage these areas very specifically for waterfowl and if we're waterfowl hunting. So we try to provide a really good experience for people to try to attract some folks to come out and try them and also to try more than one. We have now what we call the wetland wonders challenge.

Barbara:
And that's a contest for waterfowl hunters. You can come out and hunt these areas. If you hunt at least three of them you're entered into this contest and we've had some really great waterfowl hunting prizes to give away. We draw seven winners at the end. And have won some really nice waterfowl hunting packages through that. So it's been really popular. This is the seventh year that we'll be doing the wetland wonders challenge so if you haven't tried those areas or you haven't been out there in a while, come on out. It's just kind of a fun way to get to know them a little bit better.

Katie:
I've been able to go to Nayanquing Point for the morning draw. And it's so exciting. It's like the little lottery that occurs and I mean no one's awake at that time of morning. And you have a bunch of people in a room raring to go. So those areas that you talked about that have the staff there to do the draw. We also have more rural floodings and those also require maintenance. So this time of year we have folks who are traveling to their favorite holes to go duck hunting. There's some locations that there could be some changes. Barb, could you tell us why maintenance is occurring, why now, and what type of maintenance that is?

Barbara:
Yeah, absolutely. So we do have a lot of infrastructure on all of these wetland areas around the state. And what that infrastructure does is it allows us to manage the water levels there. So what I mean by infrastructure, it could be we have a dyke system, maybe around an area we could have some water control structures. In some areas we even have some pumping stations. And again that's to help us manage all of the water levels to provide specific habitat for waterfowls. But part of having that is that we do have to maintain it. And some of that can be pretty intensive maintenance. Sometimes we need to replace pumping stations or to replace water control structures. It could just be because they've been around long enough and they're aging and starting to fail a little bit. Sometimes that can cause some safety problems too. Some of our larger water control structures or larger dams that we have. Of course it's important for us to maintain those. 

Katie:
Barb you mentioned the safety of it. And it's funny to think about some of those large managed waterfowl hunt areas are actually protecting big communities from huge flooding events. 

Barbara:
Yeah, some of our places where we have our big waterfowl management areas are really important for flood protection as well. I mean just in general one of the biggest values of wetlands is helping to mitigate flooding. One of our greatest examples of that is probably our Shiawassee River State Game area. A lot of people might not know that entire area was originally developed as a very large flood mitigation project back in the 1950's. The way it's been designed is the state game area actually when there is a big flood which actually happens quite often because it's a huge flood plain. You've got the confluence of a five very large rivers coming in there. So the area does go underwater very often. So what happens is the state game area's designed, it goes underwater first. And so obviously that's protecting those local communities. After that, the neighboring Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge goes underwater. Again protecting that private land in those communities surrounding there. And then if it's bad enough then it's the private land that goes underwater after that. 

Barbara:
But that whole flood project was developed to try to help protect those local communities. And so we continue to do that to this day.

Hannah:
So a lot of the management and work we do for wetlands and waterfowl habitat is funded through the waterfowl hunting license that hunters purchase. And then Michigan duck hunters association working with us has a Michigan duck stamp that they put out annually. Can you tell us a little bit about this year's waterfowl stamp?

Barbara:
Yeah actually it's really exciting this year. For the first time ever we have a special governor's addition duck stamp. The duck stamp program is run through our partner, the Michigan Duck Hunter's Association. And this year, 2018, the decision was made to have this special governor's addition stamp. Only 100 copies of this special addition stamp are going to be available in a print as well as 200 copies of the actual special addition stamp. And of course we'll have the standard additions available for this too. But the great thing about these duck stamps is when people purchase them the DNR does receive back a portion of all of those sales and that goes directly to either wetland habitat protection so it helps us to purchase more wetland areas. It also helps us to restore some of our wetland areas and also just to manage some of our wetland areas. So it's a great way for both hunters and people who just like watching wildlife to help protect some of our wetland habitat is by purchasing this beautiful artwork.

Hannah:
Awesome. Well, thank you so much, Barbara for joining us today. We really appreciate it. Again for those of you who are listening we've been talking with Barbara Avers, our waterfowl and wetland specialist.

Barbara:
Yeah, thanks for having me. And happy hunting everybody.

Announcer:
The elk and bear draw has come and gone but you can still enter the pure Michigan hunt and have a shot at both elk and bear along with spring and fall turkey, anterless deer, and first pick at a managed waterfowl area. If you're one of the three lucky winners, not only do you get all those licenses but you will also receive a hunting prize package valued at over $4,000. Get a $5 application or two anywhere hunting licenses are sold or online at MI.gov/PMH.

Katie:
Welcome back to the Wild Talk Podcast. And we are to that segment of the show where we're digging deep into the mail bag. Hannah, what's at the top?

Hannah:
So the first one is from Tom. And he emails with a question and says, "The last few days the back of my house has been covered with moths I've never seen before. Here is a picture of one that made it in the house." So now we're not exactly experts on identifying all the different possible bugs or insects that we have out there. So with this type of question we usually refer folks to Michigan State University etymology department. We refer Tom over to talk to them about what sort of moth was in the picture. So if you have bug questions, good place to start is to head over there.

Katie:
I love that they can send us pictures. It helps so much in identifying and knowing what they're talking about.

Hannah:
Well, what do you got for us, Katie?

Katie:
Well I got a note the other day from Bruce out of Muskegon. He had heard that we were looking for hunters to give us some rough grouse from particular locations of the state. And he hunts there and he wants to know if he could help. Great question. I've gotten several of these this fall. Which means folks are getting our DNR emails that we're sending out and they had read this press release that talked about West Nile Virus and rough grouse. And so we had an overwhelming response this year from grouse hunters who were hunting in our target locations. So we were looking for folks who really harvested birds. And Dickinson, Iron, Marquette, Chippawa, Loose, and Mackinac Counties which are all in the upper peninsula as well as some counties in the lower peninsula, Alpena, Montmorency, Presque Isle, Missaukee, Ogemaw, and Roscommon. We have all the hunters we need. And season has started so we're targeting those rough grouse. We appreciate everyone who wanted to lend a hand for this study, but we got all the hunters we need for this fall. Thank you, Bruce. So, Hannah, what's another email that you've been getting lately?

Hannah:
Well it is baby snake season. So I think earlier this spring I mentioned getting a lot of snake identification emails. And the same is true right now this fall. And so Mike emailed several photos in of what he thought was a baby rattlesnake. Turns out the snake in the photos was actually a young Easter Hognose snake. And so they have very similar markings to the Massasauga Rattlesnake that we have here in Michigan. A lot of people think that the baby Massasauga don't have a rattle. Which is why baby snakes a lot of times get confused for potentially the Massasauga rattlesnake. And those baby rattlesnakes have the first segment or nub of the rattle started. They can't necessarily make a lot of noise with it but they have that first little bit started. So it's usually obvious that there's something going on at the end of the tail there that will probably turn into a rattle at some point. Now we do have some snakes that lay eggs and others give live birth.

Hannah:
And so another question I get is, "Oh no, I have all these baby snakes. Are they going to stay here?" Those young snakes might hang out in that area for a day or so. But then they're going to disperse and all go their separate ways. And they're all not going to want to necessarily stay in the same area because there's competition for food resources. So they'll split up. Again, it's great when you can get a picture if you have a question about what snake you're seeing. We're happy to take a look at those and identify the species for you. All right, what do you got for us, Katie?

Katie:
I got an email the other day from Edward. He hunts in Newaygo County which of course is one of the 16 chronic wasting disease management zone counties. And he wants to know about carcass transport. So to transport a carcass outside of the CWD area which includes Newaygo County, you have some options here. Presenting that deer head within 24 hours of killing the deer at one of our designated drop off locations. And you can go to MI.gov/deercheck to see the map. You can see all the dots. You can figure out where you're traveling. And where you are. We have drop off boxes this year. You can do 24 hours a day, seven days a week. So even if you are out late tracking that deer and you finally found it, you can still drop off that head at midnight. How cool is that?

Katie:
You have to do that within 24 hours. Or you can transport the hyde, de boned meat, clean teeth, or finished taxidermy. Or you can have a quartered deer that has no part of that spinal column or the head attached. Or antlers that are attached to a clean skull cap. So you got several options there kind of according to what your plan is as far as processing goes. So what you can do, Edward, is to check your deer, get it tested, and avoid any long distance movements with your deer carcass. Edward, thank you for that email. 

Hannah:
Yes, that's awesome. It's good we have lots of options and we want to try and limit that spread outside of the CWD zone there. So we appreciate hunters keeping that in mind while they're out this fall.

Katie:
We have a great website with all the information listed at MI.gov/CWD. So all of the questions I'm getting right now about chronic wasting disease or CWD go onto that website. There's maps. There's frequently asked questions. There's links to our deer check interactive map. So make sure to check that out too. Okay, Hannah, what's your next email?

Hannah:
All right. I've got one more here. I've got note from Kit and she says, "I have bats living in the siding of my home. Of course I do not want to hurt them yet I want them gone. Can you tell me how to get rid of them or who I can contact to help?" For bats in the house, if you need help with getting those bats outside of the house or finding out what removal options or methods might be available we have permitted wildlife damage and nuisance control folks who you can have come to your home and assess the situation. They're able to remove bats. These permitted organizations are allowed to undertake various control methods including lethal and non-lethal of bats with their permit. It just gives home owners that option to have someone come in and do that work professionally. Now as far as not harming the bats, that's certainly preferred.

Hannah:
And so typically exclusion or non-lethal methods like one way door. Those usually have to wait until the young are able to fly on their own. So we don't recommend using those methods about May through August because those flightless babies could get trapped and the mother might not be able to get back to them to care for them. And so fall and winter are the best times to do those exclusion methods and seal up your home or building to prevent the bats from reentering next spring. So that's one thing to keep in mind.

Hannah:
But again, if it's the middle of summer and you have issues with bats, certainly these organizations can help with that.

Hannah:
I think that wraps up our mail bag. Remember if you have questions about wildlife or hunting you can call 517-284-wild. You can also email DNR-wildlife@michigan.gov. Or you can stop by one of our offices. Your question could be featured on the mail bag.

Announcer:
The wetlands wonder challenge begins October 13 and runs through February 14, 2019. Winners take home a duck hunting prize package including a $500 gift card for duck hunting gear, a custom zinc duck call, and a golden ticket good for one first choice pick at a non-reserved managed waterfowl area drawing. You must hunt at least three of the seven areas to qualify but each additional area you visit gets you another contest entry. Visit MI.gov/wetlandwonders for more info.

Hannah:
All right, so much to Katie's disappointment we will not be talking about elk right now. I know that's been a hot topic for pretty much every podcast we've done so far I think. 

Katie:
Tears are running down my face.

Hannah:
Yes. It's all right, Katie. We are going to talk about something just as interesting and exciting and fitting for the October month here. So October is home to bat week. And also Halloween. So it's a perfect time of year to talk about bats. So bat week takes place later this month, October 24 through the 31. So be sure to join us and celebrate all about Michigan's bats. We have nine different species of bats that call Michigan home. For those of you who might have potentially bat habitat around your area which would be usually some forested areas near some open bodies of water. So good places to find lots of insect. All of our bats here in Michigan are insectivores. So they eat bugs which is super helpful. They eat a lot of crop damage pests so that's helpful. They also eat flies, moths, beetles, and yes also mosquitoes. So they're very helpful critters to have around. And you may have noticed that those warm buggy summer evenings that there were less bats flying around and you might have wondered why you haven't been seeing as many.

Hannah:
This situation is not unique to Michigan. In fact many places throughout North America have seen declines in bat numbers unfortunately. Perhaps some of you have heard of it, but we are contending with a disease called White Nose Syndrome. It's caused by a fungus. I'm not going to try and pronounce it's name. I'm not very good at Latin. So just know that it's a fungus and so many of our insect eating bats survive the winter by going into hibernation. They will hibernate in caves, mines, some even might roost in man made structures. So when they're in this hibernation process their body temperatures are lowered and whatever fat deposits they've built up over the summer are what help them survive those winter months when there's nothing for them to eat.

Hannah:
Now, places where those bats hibernate such as caves or mines are ideal environments for this fungus to thrive because it likes cold, damp conditions as you can imagine if you've got a moldy basement you know what I'm talking about. And this fungus disrupts the bats hibernation. It causes them to prematurely and repeatedly awaken. So imagine you waking up multiple times in the evening while you're trying to sleep, you're going to not feel rested in the morning.

Katie:
No I'm not a happy camper if I get up multiple times in the night.

Hannah:
Exactly.

Katie:
I'm like a bat.

Hannah:
Yeah.

Katie:
I'm just like a bat.

Hannah:
Exactly. Only difference is when you repeatedly awaken all night you're not necessarily depleting your fat reserves so that you're going to starve to death. And really unfortunately that's kind of the situation for our bats is that they will lose that body fat and have no way to replenish it because it's the middle of winter and we don't have any bugs out for them to eat. So unfortunately they're very weak and a lot of them are going to die before spring. Especially depending on weather conditions. If we've got a late spring in some of these places, the insects aren't going to be out as early in the year and so it can kind of wreak havoc on our bat populations. So the name White Nose Syndrome came about because they do sort of get a white powdery appearance on their muzzle or wings or other exposed skin. So that's kind of where the name has come from. This disease was first documented just to give you a little background, in 2006 in New York. And we confirmed it here in Michigan in 2014. So we have had it here for several years now.

Hannah:
There's no evidence that people can get this. But we might have potentially indirect impacts from the loss of bats. Again, I mentioned they're a huge predator of crop pests as well as biting flies and mosquitoes and things like that. So it could impact us other ways to have a loss of bats. And we have seen, as I mentioned, declines in bat populations. In fact the northern long eared bat was listed as a threatened species by the fish and wildlife service not too long ago because of drastic declines in their populations from this disease. Now all this sounds horrible and dyer and it's the end of the world. Fortunately, some of our bat species do not appear to be as heavily impacted by White Nose Syndrome. And these could be some of our bat species that maybe don't always roost in those caves and mines where it's ideal for the fungus to survive. 

Hannah:
So the good news is while we will likely continue to see less of some species of bats here in Michigan, bats will not be eliminated from our landscape. We will still have bats around just probably not as many as we would like to see. And probably fewer of certain species that are most heavily impacted. But we will still have bats around. They will still be here to provide those important ecological services by eating insects and moths and beetles. And so that's something really important that we want people to be aware of that yes, you'll see less bats but they will not completely disappear there.

Hannah:
And there are some ways that people can help bats. You can put up a bat house and just maintaining bat habitats around your property and maybe reduce the use of insecticides in your garden. Because that can certainly impact the bats as well. And if you are someone who likes to go explore caves and mines, please, please don't enter a cave or mine that's been closed off or has closure signs. And there are decontamination guidelines put out especially in those places where White Nose Syndrome is known to occur. There are guidelines for decontaminating your gear so you don't inadvertently spread it to a cave or mine that doesn't have it there. Because other than some bat to bat contact that can move the fungus around, humans are also a way that this fungus gets moved around from site to site. So if you want to learn a little bit more about White Nose Syndrome or bats in Michigan or these decontamination guidelines, things like that you can find all those tidbits at MI.gov/bats.

Katie:
Well, that's our October podcast. So get out there, enjoy the fall. Grab a pumpkin doughnut. Maybe some cider. And we'll see you next time.

Announcer:
This has been the Wild Talk Podcast. Your monthly podcast airing the first of each month and offering insights into the world of wildlife across the state of Michigan. You can reach the wildlife division at 517-284-9453 or DNR-wildlife@michigan.gov.