----Over seventy-five people attended the Public Forum on February 18, 2009 at the Westfield Center in Trenton, MI. Photo taken by Karen Skrocki.

----Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge Manager John Hartig discusses the priority public uses of the National Wildlife Refuge System. Photo taken by Karen Skrocki.

A public meeting took place on Wednesday, February 18, 2009 from 7-9 PM at the Westfield Center in Trenton, Mich. The meeting, hosted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, International Wildlife Refuge Alliance, Friends of Detroit River and the Trenton Parks and Recreation Department, provided information on the visitor services plan under development for the refuge, projects recently completed at Humbug Marsh, plans for the Refuge Gateway, and projects still in the planning stages. 

The Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge obtained the Humbug Complex, made up of Humbug Island, Humbug Marsh, and adjacent undeveloped upland habitats, in 2004. It includes 410 acres of unique fish and wildlife habitats in Trenton and Gibraltar, Michigan. Humbug Marsh represents the last mile of natural shoreline on the U.S. mainland of the Detroit River. Over 97 percent of such coastal wetlands in the river have been lost to shoreline development and 90 percent of such coastal wetlands in western Lake Erie have disappeared during the past 50 years. Because they are home to such a high diversity of fish and wildlife, such marshes have been identified by The Nature Conservancy as globally unique and globally significant in biological diversity - nothing like this marsh exists anywhere outside the Great Lakes.  The Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge strives to protect and preserve the fish, wildlife, and plants under its care as well as facilitating ways for the public to participate in wildlife dependent recreation.

The public heard from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Friends of the Detroit River, the and the International Wildlife Refuge Alliance.  The agenda included time set aside for questions from the public and invaluable feedback and input was provided by many of the seventy five members of the community that were in attendance.