Our fall wildlife newsletter brings you field updates, habitat highlights and seasonal insights from across Michigan’s wild places.



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The Wild Times: Fall 2025
Ermine in the snow

Fall and winter bring a busy season of important work across Michigan’s wild places. From habitat projects and research efforts to community events and seasonal wildlife updates, there’s plenty happening as the temperatures drop. In this edition of our quarterly newsletter, explore the great work the Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Division is carrying out statewide. 


* Featured species: Ermine [ #link_1 ]
* Review 2025 with the Wildlife Division chiefs [ #link_8 ]
* Photos from the field [ #link_3 ]
* First-ever wild rice camp [ #link_4 ]
* Grab your gloves! Winter stewardship days ahead [ #link_6 ]
* Christmas is for the birds! [ #link_7 ]
* NRC Meetings [ #link_17 ]
* Grants/Jobs [ #link_5 ]
* Support [ #link_2 ]

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Featured species: Ermine
Short-tailed weasel in the snow.

The ermine [ [link removed] ], also called short-tailed weasel or stoat, is one of Michigan’s most striking winter wildlife species, thanks to its dramatic seasonal color change. As daylight decreases in late fall, these small predators shed their brown summer coats and transition to a dense, pure white winter coat with a distinctive, black-tipped tail, offering excellent camouflage in snowy landscapes. This adaptation helps them stay hidden from predators while allowing them to remain agile hunters that can move easily across snow and navigate underground tunnels in search of prey. 

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Review 2025 with the Wildlife Division chiefs
Wildtalk Podcast mugs

In the latest episode of the "Wildtalk" podcast, we sit down with Wildlife Division Chief Sara Thompson and Assistant Chief Keith Kintigh for an in-depth conversation about the past year. Together, they reflect on key accomplishments, challenges and lessons learned in 2025, while offering a look ahead at the priorities and direction of the division as we move into 2026.

*Tune in to hear their insights on the work shaping Michigan’s wildlife future ► [ [link removed] ]*

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Photos from the field
Steve Griffith, wildlife biologist, ages deer

Wildlife biologist Stephen Griffith ages a buck as a group of hunters observe at the DNR's Hunter Appreciation "Drop-in Monday" in Traverse City Nov. 17. The Wildlife Division held four of the engagement events at customer service centers and field offices across the state, attracting dozens of hunters and their family members.

Wildlife biologists Shelby Adams and Angela Kujawa hang trail cameras

Wildlife biologists Shelby Adams, left, and Angela Kujawa remove field cameras from the Pigeon River Country State Forest as part of a research project to estimate the elk population [ [link removed] ]. The Wildlife Division set up about 200 cameras in and around the core elk range in the northern Lower Peninsula. Camera data will be compared against the current method of estimating the elk population – aerial surveys – to determine which method is more precise and cost-effective. The research project, led by Tyler Petroelje, the DNR’s northern Michigan wildlife specialist, will be featured on an upcoming episode of the DNR TV show “Wardens.”

Hemlock Wooly Adelgid training

DNR staff from Wildlife and Forest Resources divisions work collaboratively to treat trees for hemlock woolly adelgid in Pentwater State Game Area. Pictured from left to right: Rachel Kanaziz, Sarah McGrath, Don Poppe, Fahimeh Baziari, Drew Rayner, Jesse Bramer, James Wieferich and Mike Richardson.

This fall marks another successful year of HWA treatments on state game areas in southwest Michigan. Over 1,100 hemlock trees in Allegan, Muskegon and Oceana counties received insecticidal treatments against this fatal, invasive insect in 2025. This response was guided by the Wildlife Division’s regional HWA response plan as a landscape-level approach to conserving hemlock habitats on Wildlife Division lands. The work was completed through collaborative efforts with staff from Wildlife and Forestry Resources divisions, local conservation districts, cooperative invasive species management areas [ [link removed] ] and tribal governments. 

Eastern hemlocks are important for regulating stream quality, buffering fluctuations in soil and water temperature, stabilizing stream banks, providing thermal cover and serving as a food source for wildlife, and contributing to the cycling of nutrients.

DNR, City or Portage and Kalamazoo Nature Center staff at tree planting

Wildlifers from the southwest region recently joined partners for a “Leaf A Legacy” tree-planting event hosted by the City of Portage Parks and Recreation Department. In September 2025, volunteers planted 25 trees in the Celery Flats Historical Area to replace those lost when a devastating tornado touched down in Portage in 2024. Previously 30 trees were planted in October 2024, and an estimated 250 trees are expected to be planted by the end of the year.

Pictured, from left: DNR wildlife biologist Don Poppe; City of Portage Parks and Recreation Program Manager Annie Pryor; Kalamazoo Nature Center Senior Ecological Services Manager Kyle Martin; Alexander Mills; DNR Wildlife region manager Mark Mills; and DNR wildlife technician Nate DeVries.

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First-ever wild rice camp
Rice camp

Above, Roger LaBine, a member of the Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, roasts wild rice. Below, DNR Wildlife Division ecologist Sherry MacKinnon makes a push pole used during the harvesting of manoomin from a canoe.

Tool making

The Wildlife Division hosted its first manoomin camp to educate employees from the DNR and other state departments on the cultural, spiritual, ecological and economic significance of the wild rice to Indigenous communities.

Nearly 60 people attended the two-day camp at the Ralph A. MacMullan Conference Center in Roscommon, where tribal instructors led sessions focused on ceremony and traditional teachings that included harvesting tools, seed care and processing. The instructors represented Bay Mills Indian Community, Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe, Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, Cree Nation and Gun Lake Tribe.

The mid-August camp, organized by Bill Scullon, a U.P.-based DNR field operations manager, featured a canoe trip in the Muskegon River to see manoomin growing in the wild.

Native to the Great Lakes region and parts of Canada, manoomin – which translates to “the good berry” in Ojibwe – is a grain-producing grass. It grows to 6-10 feet tall in the shallow, quiet waters of marshes, inland lakes and slowly moving streams. In 2025, the Wildlife Division sowed about 2,200 pounds of manoomin seed [ [link removed] ], continuing its annual efforts to help restore or establish wild rice within state-managed rivers, creeks and wetlands in the U.P. Once manoomin matures in early fall, the rice grains provide energy-rich food for migrating waterfowl and are harvested by Anishinaabe communities.



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Grab your gloves! Winter stewardship days ahead
Hikers walk through snow

The Michigan United Conservation Club's On the Ground program [ [link removed] ] brings volunteers together to improve wildlife habitat on public lands across the state. From planting trees to removing invasive species, each project offers a hands-on way to support Michigan’s natural resources. Winter is a great time to get outside, meet fellow conservation-minded Michiganders and make a tangible impact on the places you love. Sign up for an upcoming stewardship day!

*Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026* - Wood duck box maintenance at Shiawassee River State Game Area (Saginaw County). Register for Jan. 17 event [ [link removed] ]*► [ [link removed] ]*

*Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026* - Wood duck box and public access maintenance at Maple River State Game Area (Gratiot County). Register for Feb. 7 event [ [link removed] ]*► [ [link removed] ]*

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Christmas is for the birds!
Audubon Christmas Bird Count

Audubon invites volunteers to participate in the 126th annual Christmas Bird Count from Dec. 14 to Jan. 5. For more than a century, bird enthusiasts have participated in the world's longest-running bird census to spend time with their communities and provide information that helps scientists protect birds and the places they need. This winter, join tens of thousands of bird-loving volunteers and participate in a Michigan count! Get more information, find a count near you and sign up today for the Christmas Bird Count [ [link removed] ].

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NRC Meetings

*Jan. 14: [ [link removed] ] *Natural Resources Commission meeting in Lansing.

*Feb. 11:* [ [link removed] ]Natural Resources Commission meeting in Lansing.

*March 11: [ [link removed] ] *Natural Resources Commission meeting in Lansing.




Grants/Jobs

DNR jobs [ [link removed] ]

DNR grants [ [link removed] ]

More ways to get involved with the DNR [ [link removed] ]

 




Support

Purchase a Kirtland's warbler wildlife habitat license plate [ [link removed] ] and help protect Michigan’s most vulnerable species.





"Learn more: Michigan.gov/Wildlife [ [link removed] ]"


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This email was sent to [email protected] using GovDelivery Communications Cloud on behalf of: Michigan Department of Natural Resources · Deborah A. Stabenow Building, 525 W. Allegan St., PO Box 30028 Lansing MI 48909 · 1-800-439-1420