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By Samantha Plunkett For residents of Dearborn, Michigan, creating greenspaces in the community has been an important mission for schools and researchers. In a recent study, academics from the University of Michigan-Dearborn partnered with Salina schools to assess their outdoor play spaces.



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Local award-winning filmmakers will take viewers into one of the least accessible and visually striking areas of the Great Lakes on Earth Day. On April 22, Yvonne Drebert and Zach Melnick of Inspired Planet Productions will use a cutting-edge underwater robot to take viewers into the fish-filled waters surrounding the



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By Akia Thrower The 2025 State of the Birds report, an evaluation of U.S. birds by conservation organizations, showed a continued decline in bird populations across the nation. The decline is largely due to the habitat loss of wetlands.



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By Anna Ironside Postage stamps featuring wildlife are helping to fund conservation and bring awareness to communities about habitat protection throughout the Great Lakes region by centering species like the wood duck (Aix sponsa), wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) and piping plover (Charadrius melodus).



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By Anna Ironside

Caroline Miller is a botanical technologist at Michigan State University’s W.J. Beal Botanical Garden, as well as a master’s student. Her work has made her a driving force behind restoration projects on campus and beyond. From invasive species removal days to a growing movement to replace traditional turf lawns with




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By Kyrmyzy Turebayeva

More than 30 years ago, a group of scientists planted just 4,200 seeds of the rare Pitcher’s thistle in the sandy dunes of the Great Lakes. At the time, no one knew if the new populations would survive. Today, three decades later, the restored populations are thriving




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By Kyrmyzy Turebayeva

In the late 1970s, when most wildlife conservation programs in the United States focused almost exclusively on game species, a quiet but historic shift began in Minnesota. It was here that one of the nation’s first state programs dedicated to protecting so-called nongame wildlife emerged from butterflies




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By Victoria Witke

Christina Petalas, a doctoral student McGill University, studies herring gulls to learn about plastic pollution near the St. Lawrence River. Across two studies, she found plastic additives in every bird sampled, which could have human health consequences.

The post What herring gulls tell us about plastic pollution



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By Eric Freedman

Empty lots in deindustrialized cities like Detroit may contribute to bird species diversity, says a new study by researchers at MSU and Carleton University in Canada. The study is based on sound recordings collected at 110 sites in 11 Detroit neighborhoods. The study recommends that vacant land