Alpena NFWCO Biologists Andrea Ania and Heather Rawlings attended the Huron Pines technical committee, the Resource Advisory Group, in Grayling, MI on November 6, 2008.  This committee consists of natural resource professionals from state and federal agencies that review habitat restoration projects submitted to Huron Pines for funding and/or technical assistance.  Due to its nature as a technical committee, decisions rendered by this committee are taken into consideration by the Huron Pines Board of Directors, but are not necessarily the final decision regarding the involvement of Huron Pines in a project.  The committee is often used to brainstorm restoration options, and any committee member may bring a project to the meeting for discussion.  Members include staff from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (Forestry, Fisheries and Wildlife Divisions), Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, Natural Resource Conservation Service, and USFWS.

Three proposals were reviewed at this meeting: a volunteer water quality monitoring project on the Upper Manistee River, a large stream bank erosion site on the Thunder Bay River, and the responsibilities of the new Huron Pines AmeriCorps Member that will be focusing on invasive species locations, mapping, and control on the coastline of NE Michigan.  The water quality monitoring project and AmeriCorps position responsibilities were approved quickly by the technical committee; however, following a short debate, the stream bank erosion site was not approved due to the nature of the project.  Aerial photos indicate the river will soon change course and create an oxbow lake or backwater at the erosion sites in question, the location of the erosion is near the mouth of the river, and landowners have exacerbated the erosion by their land use practices.  The next technical committee meeting is scheduled for February 3^rd in Grayling.