Local Foresters Win Awards for Quality Work
By Paul Gingras

Members of the Forest Service, the Straits Area Sportsmen’s Club, and the Brevort Lake Homeowners Association met Monday, December 190, to celebrate awards for outstanding work on outdoor projects. The awards were presented by the Forest Service at the Pfister Hotel in Milwaukee December 1 . Pictured are (from left) Bill Kemeny, Steve Christiansen, Kari Stanley, Jimmie Miller, and Louie Colegrove.

The staff of the St. Ignace U.S Forest Service office hosted a potluck meal for local winners of three prestigious awards Monday, December 19. The awards were presented by Regional Forester Randy Moore, who represents Region 9, the northeastern third of the United States. Hundreds were nominated from 15 National Forests within 20 states for quality work in their regions.

Steve Christiansen, District Ranger for the Hiawatha National Forest, said the awards went to individuals for heroism, excellent resource work, and stewardship in working on outdoor projects.

“These are highly coveted awards,” he said, “which are given not only to Forest Service workers, but also to our cooperators.”

Joe Carrick

The awards were presented in Milwaukee on December 1.

Collaborative Aquatic

Resource Stewardship Award: Jimmie Miller, Louie Colegrove,

Bill Kemeny, Jon Reattoir,

Chuck Bassett

Jimmie Miller, Louie Colegrove, Bill Kemeny, Jon Reattoir, and Chuck Bassett were presented with a plaque for several projects on Brevort Lake in Mackinac County.

The Brevort Lake Association was honored for initiating, conducting, and managing the cormorant control project to deal with the increased population of DoubleCrested Cormorants. The birds are thought to be a major factor in the decline of the fishery. Members of the association have been rewarded for dissuading large flocks of the birds from landing on the water during the spring fish spawning season.

The award also acknowledged the role of the East Unit of the Hiawatha for leading and supervising periodic fish surveys on Brevort Lake. The data and history associated with these surveys was instrumental in obtaining permission to conduct the cormorant control program.

The Brevort Lake Association also constructed fish habitat cribs on Brevort Lake and worked in association with the East Unit of the Hiawatha National Forest and the Straits Area Sportsmen’s Club on the project. The East Unit workers provided guidance, technical expertise, and obtained permits for the construction of the cribs. Jon Reattoir provided the design and logs.

Linda Swartz

The Sportsmen’s Club also hosted Annual Kids’ Fishing Day. To facilitate the event, the group arranged for trout to be stocked in ponds. Members also provided volunteer help for the event and gave prizes.

Kids’ Fishing Day took place Saturday, June 11, this year at Castle Rock Ponds in St. Ignace. Kids were introduced to fishing in two ways: by dropping lines into a 1,500-gallon holding tank loaded with fish, or by fishing on a designated trout pond.

Members of the Hiawatha National Forest, East Unit helped support kids fishing day by providing supervision, obtaining permits, gathering volunteer help, supplying materials, and offering information via handouts.

Kari Stanley, recreation planner for the Forest Service was considered instrumental in organizing and running the event, which she said was designed to bring “the joy of the outdoors” to children.

The Collaborative Aquatic Resource Stewardship Award also acknowledged the Sportsmen’s Club and the Lake Association for work distributing rock along a reef on Brevort Lake.

Workers grouped the rocks, forming a long string which allowed them to stretch the material as far as possible. The purpose was to increase habitat to enhance fish spawning in the area.

Members of the Forest Service, the Brevort Lake Association, and the Straits Area Sportsmen’s club praised each other for their mutual efforts.

“We’re proud of the work the Forest Service does,” Mr. Christiansen said “but we wouldn’t get much of this work done without the help of these local organizations.”

Sportsmen and residents did much of the groundwork under the technical direction of Forest Ser