Family-Outdoors

Spring is coming to the Midwest and so are hundreds of thousands of birds looking for a summer home. Bank swallows - the smallest swallows in North America - are among them and they are actively looking for places to nest and raise their young. You can help protect these gregarious birds by keeping an eye out for their nesting colonies across the region. Bank swallows live in low areas along rivers, streams or reservoirs. Their territories usually include vertical cliffs or banks. Though in the past, bank swallows were most commonly found around natural bluffs or eroding streamside banks, more and more often these swallows populate human-made sites, such as road banks, construction sites and landscaping borrow sites. Social and always active, these small brown and white birds nest in colonies sometimes numbering in the thousands and quickly colonize these sites before landowners may realize. Under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, bank swallows and their nesting sites are...

PARK FALLS, Wis. -- Beginning Friday, Jan. 27, 2012, the  gray wolf  will no longer be considered a federally endangered species in Wisconsin and other parts of the western Great Lakes region. In Wisconsin, the state Department of Natural Resources will manage the wolf population outside of tribal reservation lands. DNR officials said areas where wolves have attacked domestic animals will be addressed immediately. DNR will take over management of the gray wolf in Wisconsin outside of reservations. This photo is of a captive gray wolf at the MacKenzie Environmental Education Center. Wisconsin Wildlife Federation Photo “We’ve been fighting hard to gain this authority, and we are grateful to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for removing gray wolves in the upper Midwest from the lists of endangered and threatened species,” said DNR Secretary Cathy Stepp. “We are ready and capable of managing Wisconsin’s wolf population at a healthy, sustainable level and we welcome the...

Image via Wikipedia Minnesota’s population of wolves will transition from federal protection to state management by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) on Jan. 27, bringing with that transition a number of law changes. Minnesota’s Wolf Management Plan will protect wolves and monitor their population, but also give owners of livestock and domestic pets more protection from wolf depredation. The plans splits the state into two management zones, with more protective regulations in the northern third, considered the wolf’s core range. “The DNR is well-prepared to manage gray wolves and ensure the long-term survival of the species,” said Ed Boggess, DNR Fish and Wildlife Division director. “The state’s Wolf Management Plan will allow Minnesotans more flexibility to address the real conflicts that occur between wolves and humans.” The major change with state management is the ability of individual people to directly protect their animals from wolf depredation, sub...

Hermitage Beach at Pomme de Terre State Park temporarily closed                JEFFERSON CITY, MO., MAY 25, 2011 – The planned openings of three Missouri State Parks swim beaches have been temporarily postponed and a fourth beach has been temporarily closed to the public following recent water samples that indicated elevated bacteria levels.   The openings of the two swimming beaches at Lake of the Ozarks State Park and the beach at Cuivre River State Park, scheduled for this weekend, have been postponed. Hermitage Beach at Pomme de Terre State Park, which opened last weekend, has been temporarily closed.   However, the Pittsburg Beach at Pomme de Terre State Park remains open. Two boat ramps at Pomme de Terre State Park are currently closed due to high water levels.   Visitors may check with the park or the website for additional information on current closings. The water at all des...