DNR News Digest - Week of Feb. 2, 2026: Camp Warbler, deerskin gloves, lighthouse keepers and more

Warmer than normal temperatures and gusty winds in the Upper Peninsula weather forecast mean more people working and playing outside mixed with a wildfire risk that’s higher than usual this late in the season.

Most people associate forest products with building materials like lumber and wood, but without Michigan’s raw material production you wouldn’t have a smartphone.

Here’s the real scary part about bats: Their numbers were decimated by a fungal disease called white-nose syndrome more than a decade ago and, despite researchers’ ongoing efforts, have not yet recovered. That’s frightening because bats play an important role in our world.

With repair work on trestle footings continuing beyond a previously anticipated completion date, a section of snowmobile Trail UP8 will be closed this winter, with a reroute available.

Do you fish the Muskegon River between Croton Dam and the river mouth at Lake Michigan? This fall you might see in the channel lake whitefish carrying acoustic telemetry tags and acoustic receivers for tracking the fish.

Most crew activity across the three Rugged Terrain Complex fires in the Upper Peninsula is beginning to wind down, with firefighters focusing on finding residual fire activity and patrolling containment lines as fire behavior remains calm and steady.

After a week of living under the “Ready, Set, Go!” protocol for potential evacuations initiated in response to the Ridge Fire, located 10 miles northwest of Marquette, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Marquette County Sheriff’s Office and Emergency Management have lifted the “Ready” status for residents along North Basin Drive.

As fire crews on the ground battle to suppress and contain the Rugged Terrain Complex wildfires in the Upper Peninsula, officials have confirmed that a lightning strike was the cause of the Black River Fire. This was also the confirmed cause of the Craig Lake Fire; the cause of the Ridge Fire remains under investigation.

Like most things, wildfires don’t always look like they do in the movies. Even at hundreds of acres each (just over 1,400 acres combined), the three fires that make up the Rugged Terrain Complex aren’t currently burning through the trees of the Upper Peninsula forests. They are burning up to 2 feet down in the duff, a layer of organic material lying under freshly fallen leaves and twigs and above the bare mineral soil.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources is now managing the three major U.P. wildfires – Ridge Fire, Craig Lake Fire and Black River Fire – as the Rugged Terrain Complex. One incident management team managing all three fires, known as a “complex,” allows for better coordination, logistical support, more streamlined communication and better efficiency.