A private landowner in Antrim County stands with the contractor (left) to showcase his almost-completed wetland. The slope on the earthen berm was modifiedd, and the site was seeded and mulched the following week. 10/09/2008 Photo credit: Heather Rawlings, USFWS

The fall months are typically the busiest for the Partners for the Fish and Wildlife (PFW) Program at the Alpena National Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office (NFWCO), and this year was no exception.  October flew by with the final construction projects of the year wrapping up, landowner site visits for potential 2009 projects, and the scramble to get all potential projects surveyed before winter got serious about piling up snow.  Six potential 2009 wetland sites were surveyed in Emmet, Cheboygan, Otsego, and Alpena counties, and two visits were made to potential stream restoration sites in Antrim and Emmet counties.  Four inspections were made to wetland sites that were either in the construction process or had been completed. 

In addition to fieldwork, biologist Heather Rawlings assisted station Fish Passage Coordinator Andrea Ania in writing two fish passage proposals submitted for work in the Upper Black River watershed (Montmorency County, Mich.), and began preparing proposals for the PFW Program’s Fish Habitat Restoration request for proposals due in November.