Local voices reveal the personal stories and cultural legacy of a once-flourishing fishing town impacted by environmental change. Weaving together the stories and voices of residents, anglers, community leaders, and environmental workers and researchers, this compelling account details the lives and livelihoods impacted by a once-unrivaled Michigan salmon fishery. From the introduction of Chinook salmon to the Great Lakes in the late 1960s, a thriving recreational fishery industry arose in Northern Michigan, attracting thousands of anglers to small towns like Rogers City each week at its peak. By the early 2000s, a crisis loomed beneath the surface of Lake Huron as the population of a prey fish species called alewife unexpectedly collapsed, depleting the salmon's main source of food. By 2007, the salmon population had collapsed too, leaving local fisheries and their respective communities lacking a key commodity and a bid on fishery tourism. Author, angler, and ecologist Carson Prichard artfully incorporates fisheries science and local news media into an oral history that is entertaining, rich, and genuine. Complementing an ecological understanding of events, this narrative details the significance of the fishery and its loss as experienced by the townspeople whose lives it touched.

As the new chief of the Michigan Department of Conservation’s Fish Division in 1964, Howard A. Tanner was challenged to “do something . . . spectacular.” He met that challenge by leading the successful introduction of coho salmon into the Michigan waters of the Great Lakes. This volume illustrates how Tanner was able to accomplish this feat: from a detailed account of his personal and professional background that provided a foundation for success; the historical and contemporary context in which the Fish Division undertook this bold step to reorient the state’s fishery from commercial to sport; the challenges, such as resistance from existing government institutions and finding funding, that he and his colleagues faced; the risks they took by introducing a nonnative species; the surprises they experienced in the first season’s catch; to, finally, the success they achieved in establishing a world-renowned, biologically and financially beneficial sport fishery in the Great Lakes. Tanner provides an engaging history of successfully introducing Pacific salmon into the lakes from the perspective of an ultimate insider.

The author covers the little things, but he also talks a lot about the basic mentality that we must have for consistent success. He uses more than 30 years of experience as a Charter Captain and recreational fisherman to provide guidelines for finding fish -- usually the most important part of any equation for success. Dan also breaks down techniques so that any angler can understand them. He has created a book that will help anyone.

Thousands of lakes and streams await anglers in Michigan State; pick almost any spot on the map and chances are there's a fishing spot nearby. But the fun and challenge is in catching fish, not just searching for them. Now with Michigan's Top Fishing Maps finding - and catching - fish just got a whole lot easier. Fresh water, trout, salmon, steelhead, bass, walleye... the opportunities are endless. Michigan native Chuck Lichon takes the guess work out of fishing some of Michigan's top rivers and lakes, including areas of Huron, Superior, Erie and Michigan lakes. Each river and lake is individually covered, Lichon discusses fish species and average size; seasonal availability; run timing; most productive techniques; best tackle and flies; shore and boat access; known structure such as sunken islands and drop-offs; and much more. You'll also find everything you need to plan a successful fishing trip - local hotels, lodges and B&Bs; campgrounds; National Parks and Ranger Stations; guides; tackle and fly shops; sporting goods stores; restaurants; chambers of commerce and visitor's centers; the amount of information is incredible. The 86 detailed maps alone are worth the price of this book.

Northern Michigan is a place, like all places, in change. Over the past half century, its landscape has been bulldozed, subdivided, and built upon. Climate change warms the water of the Great Lakes at an alarming rate—Lake Superior is now the fastest-warming large body of freshwater on the planet—creating increasingly frequent and severe storm events, altering aquatic and shoreline ecosystems, and contributing to further invasions by non-native plants and animals. And yet the essence of this region, known to many as simply “Up North,” has proved remarkably perennial. Millions of acres of state and national forests and other public lands remain intact. Small towns peppered across the rural countryside have changed little over the decades, pushing back the machinery of progress with the help of dedicated land conservancies, conservation organizations, and other advocacy groups. Up North in Michigan, the new collection from celebrated nature writer Jerry Dennis, captures its author’s lifelong journey to better know this place he calls home by exploring it in every season, in every kind of weather, on foot, on bicycle, in canoes and cars. The essays in this book are more than an homage to a particular region, its people, and its natural wonders. They are a reflection on the Up North that can only be experienced through your feet and fingertips, through your ears, mouth, and nose—the Up North that makes its way into your bones as surely as sand makes its way into wood grain.

This history of the salmon in the Great Lakes describes the decline and extinction of the Atlantic salmon in Lake Ontario in the 1800's; the failure to establish, by salmon culture, permanent or sizable populations of Atlantic or Pacific salmon in any of the Great Lakes in 1867-1965; and the success of plantings of coho and chinook salmon in the Great Lakes, 1966-1970 -- particularly in Lake Michigan.

New York Times Bestseller Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize Winner of the J. Anthony Lukas Award "Nimbly splices together history, science, reporting and personal experiences into a taut and cautiously hopeful narrative.… Egan’s book is bursting with life (and yes, death)." —Robert Moor, New York Times Book Review The Great Lakes—Erie, Huron, Michigan, Ontario, and Superior—hold 20 percent of the world’s supply of surface fresh water and provide sustenance, work, and recreation for tens of millions of Americans. But they are under threat as never before, and their problems are spreading across the continent. The Death and Life of the Great Lakes is prize-winning reporter Dan Egan’s compulsively readable portrait of an ecological catastrophe happening right before our eyes, blending the epic story of the lakes with an examination of the perils they face and the ways we can restore and preserve them for generations to come.