Family-Outdoors

(Photo credit: Wikipedia) Department of Natural Resources officials recently have found evidence of the emerald ash borer, an invasive species that targets ash trees, at Aloha State Park near Cheboygan. Aloha State Park is a popular northern Michigan destination for many campers during the summer. This season, because of the damage to the trees, campers will see a change in the campground. Ash trees once made up about 85 percent of the trees within the campground. Over the past six months, approximately 400 dead ash trees have been removed from the park.  “The speed at which these trees have died is the most striking thing to me,” said Aloha State Park Supervisor Jeremy Spell. “Trees that looked healthy during the summer had bark falling off this winter.  "The DNR recognized years ago this could happen. The department has planted around 200 trees within the past five years thanks to grant funding received from the Odwalla Plant-...

(Photo credit: Wikipedia ) BRILLION Wis. -- A group of students at Brillion High School has taken science, technology, engineering and math to a whole new level with a project that’s been five months in the making. The end result is an inside look at the life of a wood duck that anyone can watch over the Internet. Nearly a dozen students divided up into three teams as part of project TrailerCAM: bio-interfacing, information technology, and power management. Their task was to create a wood duck habitat equipped with a video camera capable of streaming live video worldwide. “This is an ideal example of how learning and using science, technology, engineering and mathematics at the same time can be both highly effective and very engaging for both students and their teachers, ”said Ryan Peterson, one of two Brillion High School teachers spearheading this project. Two weeks after the new homes went up at the Brillion Wildlife Area, a hen moved in and laid a dozen egg...