What is Its Value to Michigan?
Value to Michigan's Wildlife
As programs and projects are successfully implemented, fulfilling conservation needs identified in the Wildlife Action Plan (WAP), Michigan’s wildlife will benefit in numerous ways.
- Status of many species with declining populations will improve, making it unnecessary to include them on lists of State and federally threatened or endangered species.
- Additional support for ongoing efforts to restore currently listed species and eventually remove them from these lists will improve probabilities of success.
- Species presently considered common will benefit from the conservation of all of the varied habitats that cover Michigan’s diverse landscapes.
- New information acquired and generated will also improve conservation of these landscapes and associated wildlife.
- Reducing the rate of occurrence of invasive species introductions and establishments, landscape fragmentation, habitat conversion and other broad-scale threats will benefit many species and landscapes.
- Perhaps most importantly, communication and cooperation between conservation partners will be improved, leading to more effective management of Michigan’s lands and waters, which will benefit the full diversity of Michigan’s wildlife and the landscapes it uses.
Value to Michigan's Conservation Partners
Non-governmental organizations (NGOs), other interest groups, and private individuals participated in developing this document, and their assistance in implementing its vision is anticipated. This strategy identifies priorities to help guide use of funds for addressing the needs of species, and landscapes they use, that have not been the primary targets of past conservation efforts. The strategy creates a collaborative framework for wildlife conservation that addresses the needs of all wildlife in the State, with an ultimate objective of protecting biodiversity. Protection of biodiversity has been a goal of many conservation partners for many years.
Coordination and exchange of information is critical to the conservation of wildlife. This strategy provides a baseline assessment of the current status of Michigan’s wildlife and habitats to which future assessments can be compared. The WCS provides a framework for describing, assessing, evaluating and addressing the efforts needed to conserve and manage for the diversity of ecosystems and wildlife in Michigan, and it provides specific recommendations for conservation actions, research and monitoring within the framework. Many of these recommendations were drawn from the ongoing efforts of conservation partners across the State.
Coordination within this framework will decrease redundancies between conservation partners and will result in more effective and efficient conservation efforts. Ultimately, successful holistic conservation of wildlife can only be achieved through partnerships between public agencies, private organizations, and private individuals.
This strategy is a tool that provides additional information for planners and managers to use in making informed decisions, regardless of the location or extent of the land or water they manage. The intent is not to provide operational objectives, but to provide strategic goals on which operational plans can be based. The strategy provides a snapshot of wildlife conditions today, and, when used with other plans, inventories and projects, will give managers additional insight to help identify options and make decisions.
Value to the DNR
The Constitution of the State of Michigan of 1963 (as amended), Article 4, § 52 states: ‘The conservation and development of the natural resources of the State are hereby declared to be of paramount public concern in the interest of the health, safety and general welfare of the people.’ To address this concern, the Michigan Legislature enacted Public Act 451, Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act (as amended) and established the DNR and assigned its duties (‘The department shall protect and conserve the natural resources of this State…’). Under the public trust doctrine, the DNR holds all wildlife, including mussels, snails, crayfish, insects, fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals, in trust for the benefit of the people of Michigan. This strategy is a tool that will aid the DNR in complying with this mandate, and can be integrated, as appropriate and applicable, into the DNR’s many public trust responsibilities and management efforts. Many recommendations for conservation actions, research, surveys and monitoring presented within this action plan were drawn from existing DNR efforts.
Many DNR programs address the conservation of natural resources on a wide range of scales. At a statewide scale, planning efforts produce strategic analyses that provide direction for desired future condition of the landscape and suggest programs and activities required to fulfill diverse societal needs. At a regional scale, planning efforts identify the unique contributions of a particular region within Michigan to the desired future condition of the state’s landscape and help to adapt programs and activities to that region. At an operational scale, managers determine how their management activities contribute to the strategic direction set forth at the regional level. The framework presented within the WAP, as an organizing tool for understanding species of greatest conservation need (SGCN) and their habitats, links and integrates DNR planning efforts conducted at these different scales.
In addition, DNR programs reflect the broad range of benefits and values that people desire from natural resources. Natural resources and human needs change over time; the challenge of natural resource management is to adapt and adjust plans and activities in response to these changes while ensuring the health of natural resources into the future. This action plan is designed to change over time as the resource, human interests and societal needs change.
Value to Michigan's Residents, Visitors & Future Generations
This action plan provides information that can be used by any individual to assist in making decisions about how to manage land and water in ways that will benefit wildlife.
As this action plan is implemented, Michigan’s citizens and visitors will potentially benefit from: enhanced wildlife-related recreational activities and experiences, such as bird watching, hunting and fishing; improved quality of life by having diverse and sustainable wildlife and habitats; and economic rewards associated with increased opportunities for nature tourism.
Implementation of this action plan will also help to ensure sound management of our ecosystems, resulting in healthy and functioning natural systems that provide ecologically and economically important services such as flood control, nutrient and contaminant processing, soil maintenance, and carbon sequestration.
This action plan is expected to improve the allocation and use of Federal and State funds. Conservation and restoration of threatened and endangered species tends to be an expensive and controversial process. Actions recommended within this action plan can help reduce these costs to Michigan’s taxpayers by improving the status of species listed as threatened or endangered, assisting species in decline before they are listed, addressing potential threats before they become severe, and leveraging State dollars through partnerships with non-State entities.
In the short term, individuals will gain the satisfaction of having had an opportunity to influence the scope and future of resource management by providing input into this action plan. In the long term, success of this strategic planning effort will enable residents and visitors to experience the diversity of Michigan’s natural resources in perpetuity.
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