Southeast Michigan is wrapping up April with temperatures trending slightly higher than average, according to the National Weather Service. Despite several days in the 80s, early April brought cooler conditions.
“Overall, I think we are coming in just slightly above normal,” meteorologist Trent Frey told WDET. “We did have a couple of really hot days. We had 83 degrees on the 18th and then we had 80 [degrees] on the 23rd and 82 [degrees] again on the 24th.”
Rainfall totals for the month are near typical levels, with just under 3 inches.
Frey say a low-pressure system is expected to move in Thursday into Friday, bringing widespread showers and a drop in temperatures.
“This week is kind of a microcosm of the whole month,” Frey said. “We’ll be kind of up and down the rest of this week.”
Looking ahead to summer, Frey says the National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center gives southeast Michigan a 30% to 40% chance of warmer-than-normal conditions.
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The organization’s “State of the Air” report gives the region an “F” grade in ground level ozone pollution, a “D” in particle pollution, and a failing grade overall in pollution levels above federal standards.
The research finds metro Detroit has the sixth worst year-round particle pollution in the U.S.
High levels of air pollution can cause various health issues including asthma attacks and lung cancer, as well as impact other health events such as heart attacks and strokes, the Lung Association reports.
“Unfortunately, too many people in Detroit are living with unhealthy levels of ozone and particle pollution,” said Kezia Ofosu Atta, advocacy director for the Lung Association in Michigan, in a statement. “This air pollution is causing kids to have asthma attacks, making people who work outdoors sick and unable to work, and leading to low birth weight in babies. We urge Michigan policymakers to take action to improve our air.”
Detroit City Council member Gabriella-Santiago Romero has been disqualified from having her name on the city’s August primary election ballot. Wayne County officials say she had an unpaid campaign finance fee, preventing her appearance on the ballot. However, Santiago-Romero issued a release Tuesday saying she has filed all paperwork on time and that the county wrongly assessed the fee.
Henry Ford Health is offering free heart health screenings on Saturday at six Henry Ford Hospitals, including Grand Blanc, Clinton Township, Rochester, Providence Southfield, Warren and Wyandotte.
Efforts to beautify Detroit are showing results, as four million daffodils have bloomed in neighborhoods, parks and medians across the city. The General Services Department’s Floriculture Division says the best showings are in Jayne Playground, Gabriel Richard Park, LaSalle Park and on Oakman Boulevard between Linwood and Dexter. Officials say they hope to have 10 million daffodil bulbs planted in the city one day.
The Detroit Pistons are getting ready for another first round playoff game on Thursday night. The team won its first playoff game since 2008 when they beat the Knicks in New York 100-94 on Monday night. The series is now tied at a game each.
Do you have a community story we should tell? Let us know in an email at detroiteveningreport@wdet.org.
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The city of Detroit has a lot of concrete streets, slabs of road and old industrial buildings.
But green spaces like Palmer Park provide an outlet to connect with nature. The park is home to one of the city’s old growth forests with diverse plant and animal life.
And it’s just one of many spaces in Detroit hosting Earth Day celebrations and events this week to inspire environmental awareness and encourage community involvement.
On Sunday, the park will host Art in the Trees, an outdoor art exhibition among the trees in Palmer Park’s old growth forest featuring large-scale sculptures, music, activities and more.
Event organizer Mark Loeb joined The Metro on Earth Day to share more about the event.
Use the media player above to hear the full conversation.
Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.
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WDET is embarking on a new project exploring the multifaceted relationship between trees and community health in Michigan.
Amanda Le Claire, lead reporter and managing editor of the tree project, joined The Metro on Earth Day to talk about Detroit’s tree canopy and some of the most recent stories produced by the WDET newsroom.
Le Claire also shared a conversation she had with Andrew “Birch” Kemp, executive director of Arboretum Detroit, about a community forest restoration project on Detroit’s east side.
Studies have shown that urban tree canopies help make communities more climate resilient, reduce air pollution, and combat the urban heat island effect — exposing residents to higher risks of heat-related illness and higher cooling costs.
The tree canopy project will dig into all of these topics and more over 24 months of reporting.
Use the media player above to hear the full conversation.
Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.
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Experts and advocates with Oil and Water Don’t Mix said they don’t trust the federal government to properly vet Enbridge’s Great Lakes Tunnel Project.
Last week, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers expedited the permitting process for the project, which would cover the section of Line 5 that travels under the Straits of Mackinac.
The shortened timeline isn’t enough to confirm the project is safe, said Sean McBrearty, an organizer with the advocacy group.
“We’ve seen that we are not going to be able to trust the Trump administration to protect the Great Lakes,” he said. “And the Army Corps decision last week made that crystal clear, if it wasn’t before.”
The project is responding to what the Trump administration believes is “an energy emergency” under President Donald Trump’s January executive order “Declaring a National Energy Emergency,” the Corps said in a memo circulated last week. The order argues that the U.S. is too reliant on foreign energy and needs to increase domestic oil and gas production to protect national security.
The proposed tunnel around Line 5 would provide an extra layer of protection for the pipeline, according to Enbridge. The Canadian pipeline carries crude oil and natural gas liquids through the United States.
Advocates are concerned the tunnel won’t be effective and could actually do more harm to the bottomlands under the straits. That’s the land underneath the water in the lakes. It’s publicly owned, according to Michigan law.
Advocates with Oil and Water Don’t Mix said they want an independent review of Enbridge’s plans for the tunnel’s construction.
That includes Brian O’Mara, a geological engineer with decades of experience. The review process should take much longer than the fast-tracked plan the corps approved last week, he said.
“It’s really come down to the state of Michigan,” he said. “And hopefully they can do the right thing and give this project the scrutiny and the review that it deserves.” O’Mara said the bedrock underneath the straits is too fragile to support the tunnel project.
Enbridge has previously made its case before the Michigan Public Service Commission, where O’Mara testified. The commission didn’t find any problems with the company’s plans, Enbridge said in a statement.
The company has been working with the state and federal governments to reduce any negative impacts the tunnel could have, Enbridge said in a statement.
It’s also partnering with companies that have previously built tunnels in similar environments, the statement said.
But Enbridge still needs a permit from Michigan’s Submerged Lands Program. The advocacy group will direct their energy there, McBrearty said.
“We are going to focus on the state processes that are still functioning here in Michigan, rather than a dysfunctional and dishonest federal process.”
Editor’s note: Enbridge is among Michigan Public’s corporate sponsors.
The state House is poised to vote on legislation this week to allocate $75 million toward recovery efforts in northern Michigan following the massive ice storm that swept through the region last month.
The damage includes downed trees and utility poles, damage to buildings and schools and businesses forced to close.
State Rep. Parker Fairbairn (R-Harbor Springs) told the Michigan Public Radio Network that some communities would be bankrupted if they had to shoulder the cleanup and recovery costs on their own.
“The signal to people at the end of the day is, we’re here to help,” he said. “I mean, we’re estimating somewhere between $200- and $300 million worth of damage. I think it’s going to be much more than that and there’s a lot of things we can’t really estimate right now.”
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has declared a state of emergency across much of northern Michigan. She also asked President Donald Trump for a federal emergency declaration which would make the area eligible for more federal relief.
Rep. Cam Cavitt (R-Cheboygan) said it does not make sense to require students to remain in school to make up days lost due to a natural disaster.
“Our students just went through one of the most horrifying storms they will ever experience,” said Cavitt in a written statement.
“Things have been hard…We need to take steps to help these kids and their families, not force them to sit in schools that lack air conditioning until July.”
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As the Trump administration slashes funding for health, energy and climate research, there’s one science the administration is promoting: de-extinction.
Earlier this month, a biotechnology company announced it had genetically engineered three gray wolf pups to have white hair, more muscular jaws and a larger build — characteristics of the dire wolf, a species that hasn’t roamed the Earth for several millennia.
Now, the Trump administration is citing the case of the dire wolf as it moves to reduce federal protections under the Endangered Species Act of 1973. On Wednesday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced a proposed rule to rescind the definition of “harm” under the act — which for decades has included actions like harassing, pursuing, hunting or killing endangered wildlife and plants, as well as habitat destruction.
This undated photo provided by Colossal Biosciences shows a young wolf that was genetically engineered with similarities to the extinct dire wolf. (Colossal Biosciences via AP)
“The status quo is focused on regulation more than innovation. It’s time to fundamentally change how we think about species conservation,” said Interior Secretary Doug Burgum in an April 7 post on X, formerly Twitter. “The revival of the Dire Wolf heralds the advent of a thrilling new era of scientific wonder, showcasing how the concept of ‘de-extinction’ can serve as a bedrock for modern species conservation.”
But bioethicists and conservationists are expressing unease with the kind of scientific research being pioneered by Colossal Biosciences, a Dallas-based company on a mission to bring back extinct animals.
“Unfortunately, as clever as this science is … it’s can-do science and not should-do science,” said Lindsay Marshall, director of science in animal research at Humane World for Animals, formerly the Humane Society of the U.S.
The dire wolf also came up at an April 9 meeting of the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources that considered amendments to a proposed law that would strip federal protections from western Great Lakes gray wolves — the latest in a decadeslong back-and-forth between conservationists, hunters and politicians that has shifted the species on and off the endangered list since its inclusion 50 years ago.
At the congressional meeting, Democratic Rep. Jared Huffman of California suggested an amendment to allow a federal judge to reconsider the removal of federal protections if population numbers begin to decline significantly again.
“Well, didn’t we just bring a wolf back that was here 10,000 years ago? I mean, if it really gets that bad, we can just bring woolly mammoths back,” responded Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, a Republican and the bill’s sponsor.
“That’s a deeply unserious response to what should be a very serious issue,” Huffman replied.
Gray wolves that live in the Great Lakes and West Coast regions are one of 1,662 species currently protected under the Endangered Species Act. Hunting and trapping almost drove them to extinction in the lower 48 states by the mid-20th century.
Ken Angielczyk, curator of fossil mammals, compares a dire wolf skull, left, and a gray wolf skull in the collection at the Field Museum on April 16, 2025. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune)
Naomi Louchouarn, program director of wildlife partnerships at Humane World for Animals and an expert on human-wildlife coexistence, had a gut reaction to the dire wolf news: “This is going to be a problem for gray wolves,” she recalls thinking. “It almost immediately undermined our ability to protect species.”
In a Wednesday statement to the Tribune, Colossal’s chief science officer, Beth Shapiro, said the company sees de-extinction as “one of many tools” that can speed up the battle against biodiversity loss, which humans are “not close to winning.”
“We don’t see this as an ‘either/or’ question, but rather as a ‘both and,’” she said. “We as a global community need to continue to invest in traditional approaches to conservation and habitat preservation, as well as in the protection of living endangered species.”
Advancements in genetic technologies could revolutionize wildlife conservation, said J. Elizabeth Peace, senior public affairs specialist with the Interior Department, in a statement Wednesday.
“By preserving genetic materials today, we equip future generations with the tools necessary to restore and maintain biodiversity,” the statement said. “This approach aligns with our commitment to stewarding natural resources responsibly, ensuring that our actions today support a sustainable and thriving ecosystem for the future.”
However, critics say de-extinction sends a misleading message and is, overall, a flawed approach to conservation.
“It’s important to realize that they did not bring the dire wolf back from extinction,” said Craig Klugman, a bioethicist and professor of health sciences at DePaul University. “What they did was genetically tweak a gray wolf … so you have a gray wolf that has some characteristics of a dire wolf.”
“It’s like one, but it isn’t one,” he added.
Shapiro said Colossal is working toward functional de-extinction.
“The goal of de-extinction has never been to create perfect genetic copies of an extinct species,” she said, “but instead to bring back key traits that fill an ecological niche that is vacant because of extinction.”
An inefficient science?
As the executive branch targets federal agencies through mass firings, funding cuts and regulatory rollbacks in the name of efficiency, those skeptical of de-extinction argue that it’s an inefficient science.
“It requires a lot of embryos that fail, a lot of pregnancies that don’t take, to get one creature,” Klugman said.
Those few dozen embryos were implanted in the wombs of two female domestic hound mixes, one embryo taking hold in each. A similar procedure was repeated a few months later with another surrogate who gave birth to a third puppy.
“This type of pioneering genetic research often requires multiple attempts to achieve success,” Shapiro said, “and the knowledge gained from both successes and failures contributes to future improvements in efficiency.”
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum listens as President Donald Trump speaks during an event to announce new tariffs in the Rose Garden at the White House on April 2, 2025, in Washington. (Mark Schiefelbein/AP)
Colossal announced in early March — around the same time Burgum met with company leaders to discuss their role in conservation efforts — that they had genetically edited 38 mice to have hair like the woolly mammoth, a significant step toward engineering Asian elephants with traits similar to those of the extinct species.
To get to those few dozen mice, however, scientists produced 385 embryos, of which 291 were implanted in 16 surrogate females.
“It’s mice. People don’t really care about mice — but we care about mice. We care what’s happening to them,” said Marshall, of Humane World.
Colossal’s facilities are certified by the American Humane Society and registered with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, according to Shapiro. She said the company’s research is overseen by a committee of scientists and nonscientists that is required by federal regulations. The committee reviews and evaluates the company’s research protocols and ensures the ethical use of animals.
Skeptics also argue that animals manipulated to mimic extinct ones likely have no future in the wild.
“They have to be taught how to live and hunt and take care of themselves,” Klugman said. “How do they know how to survive? How can they thrive?”
Leaders at Colossal have acknowledged this reality.
According to an Associated Press report, Matt James, Colossal’s chief animal care expert, said that despite the resemblance, “what they will probably never learn is the finishing move of how to kill a giant elk or a big deer,” because they won’t have opportunities to watch and learn from wild dire wolf parents
Shapiro said the pups won’t be released into the wild, where they would have to compete with gray wolves. Instead, they will live in an “expansive ecological preserve” — the company has said it’s a 2,000-acre site in an undisclosed location — where their health and needs will be continually evaluated under managed care.
According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, a wild wolf pack’s territory can be as large as 32,000 acres, extending up to 640,000 acres where prey is scarce. They can travel as far as 30 miles a day to hunt.
“If you think about (it), those pups aren’t going to live much of a life trapped in an area that’s a tiny percentage of what they should have,” Marshall said. “They’re not a self-sustaining population. They have nowhere to live. … We don’t know if those animals are going to suffer as they get older.”
Ed Heist, a professor at Southern Illinois University and a conservation geneticist, said the news bothered him.
“This is not conservation, but people conflate it,” he said. “The point is entertainment.”
Nichole Keway Biber feels similarly unsettled. She is a tribal citizen of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa and leads the wolf and wildlife preservation team at the Anishinaabek Caucus of the Michigan Democratic Party. She said it demonstrates that the natural world, to humans, is for consumption or entertainment — and that it ignores the inherent worth of voiceless animals beyond any commercial or amusement benefit they can provide.
“That has a danger,” she said, “of setting a pattern of behavior: to be dismissive of the vulnerable, or take advantage of the vulnerable or be abusive toward the vulnerable.”
Inability to coexist
Louchouarn, the Humane World program director, has dedicated her studies and research to the relationship between humans and animals, specifically carnivores like gray wolves.
Fossil mammals curator Ken Angielczyk compares a dire wolf skull without the tar surrounding the fossil and one skull still in the tar in the collection at the Field Museum on April 16, 2025. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune)
“The reason our current endangered species are becoming extinct is because we don’t know how to coexist with them,” she said. “And this doesn’t solve that problem at all.”
Humans can treat the symptoms of wildlife conflict with “big, flashy silver bullets” and “in this case, advanced, inefficient science,” she said, but the real solution is behavioral change.
“Assuming that we could actually bring back a full population of animals,” Louchouarn said, “which is so difficult and so crazy — that’s a big if — I don’t understand the point of trying to bring back a woolly mammoth when we already can’t coexist with elephants.”
In the United States, political discussions surrounding gray wolf conservation have been based on different interpretations of whether their populations have recovered enough to be sustainable without protections.
“But we define what well is, not the wolves,” Louchouarn said. “The ecosystem can carry a lot more wolves than that. We just refuse to live with them.”
Recent winter estimates count more than 750 wild gray wolves in Michigan, almost 3,000 in Minnesota and just over 1,000 in Wisconsin. Some of those wolves may occasionally travel to Illinois, where they were common until they were wiped out after the arrival of European settlers.
The bill in the U.S. House aimed at removing protections from the species is called the Pet and Livestock Protection Act, and its supporters and sponsors argue it will allow ranchers and communities to manage conflict with wolves as they fear for the safety of their domesticated animals.
Conservation biologists who oppose hunting worry it will only exacerbate this type of conflict. When a wolf is killed, it can disrupt pack dynamics, which can in turn lead to lone wolves preying on livestock or pets outdoors — smaller and easier to kill than larger prey such as bison, elk, moose and deer.
For other people, coexistence is a way of life. Biber said the Anishinaabe, the Indigenous peoples of the Great Lakes region, live by the principle of dabasendiziwin, or humility in regard to other living organisms.
“It’s not self-denigration, but a realistic awareness of our dependence (on) the elements,” she said, “but also plants and animals, and us. And all the other orders of being can exist apart from us. They’re OK. They were here long before. We’re the newcomers.”
Anishinaabe people, like the Ojibwe and the Odawa, believe in a parallel history with the gray wolf or Ma’iingan, that their fates are intrinsically connected.
“What happens to one, will happen to the other,” Biber said.
A question of stewardship
Species don’t exist in a vacuum, Heist often reminds his students at SIU. “They are parts of their communities.”
So when a species ceases to exist, it loses its place in the ecosystem. It’s a void left to be filled by others over hundreds, thousands of years.
Klugman wonders whether resurrecting animals unprepared for the modern world — “which we clearly have not done yet” — would even be fair to them. “Is that us being good stewards of this planet?”
During a livestreamed town hall with Interior Department employees on April 9, Burgum said: “If we’re going to be in anguish about losing a species, now we have an opportunity to bring them back. Pick your favorite species and call up Colossal. And instead of raising money to get animals on the endangered species (list), let’s figure out a way to get them off.”
Curator Ken Angielczyk talks about a dire wolf skull at the Field Museum on April 16, 2025. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune)
Ken Angielczyk, curator of mammal fossils at the Field Museum who researches extinct species that lived 200 to 300 million years ago, said it’s a misguided approach.
“If that’s the basis … for changing regulations related to the endangered species list, that is very, very premature,” he said. “Because we can’t resurrect things.”
Biber said humans should be focused on preventing further loss. “It’s a lot better use of effort, time, resources, mind power.”
“If the purpose is to restore the damage to the shared ecosystem, we have that opportunity right now,” she said. “And that’s the necessity immediately.”
Angielczyk, who studies mammals that survived the largest mass extinction in Earth’s history, said fossil records after such events show it takes a long time for real ecosystem recovery to occur: 1 to 10 million years — way longer than the human species has existed.
“So, changes that we can cause today quite easily, in some cases, have very, very long-term implications,” he said. “Just another reason why conservation efforts really are important and something that we should be concerned about and actively involved in.”
It’s also crucial to preserve the ability of species to adapt to changing conditions, Heist said, which requires large populations and genetic diversity.
Red wolves represent one such opportunity. The species — once common in most of the eastern and southern United States — still exists, but is critically endangered partly because in the wild, the wolves often mate with coyotes and produce hybrid offspring. That has led to low genetic diversity and weak evolutionary fitness. Just under 20 red wolves exist in their wild, native habitats today.
A collection of dire wolf skulls are on display at the Field Museum on April 16, 2025. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune)
Alongside the dire wolf news, Colossal announced it cloned four of these hybrids and removed most of the coyote DNA along the way. They say it’s the first step to restoring genetic diversity in the captive breeding populations of red wolves, 241 of which live in 45 facilities across the country.
Some conservationists feel more hopeful about this endeavor, though they still express reservations.
“There is a benefit to trying to bring back some of the genes that would diversify … red wolves, that would enhance their ability to survive,” Louchouarn said. “But will that fix red wolf extinction, at the rate that they’re going extinct? No, because the reason it’s happening is they’re being poached at extreme rates.”
Heist said it might not be practical to spend so much money trying to create genetically diverse red wolves to significantly restore their populations.
Bioethicists and conservationists argue that, at its core, the issue is whether humans can put aside self-interest to invest in the well-being of other creatures.
“This whole idea that extinction is reversible is so dangerous,” Marshall said, “because then it stops us caring.”
Children stand near a display of dire wolf skulls in the “Evolving Planet!” exhibition at the Field Museum on April 16, 2025. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune)
The deer population has increased significantly in southeast Michigan, and as a result, so has the number of deer-related car crashes.
The high population has other negative impacts as well, such as crop damage and forest regeneration issues, leading some local communities to seek options for culling deer populations.
Chad Fedewa, a deer expert with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, said the absence of natural predators in the area creates the perfect conditions for deer to repopulate quickly.
“Fifty to sixty years ago there weren’t many deer in southeast Michigan,” he said. “But over the decades, we’ve done a pretty good job of restoring deer populations in the state, and they have become very accustomed to living in and around people.”
Some people have suggested trapping and moving deer or sterilization, but Fedewa says those methods are more timely, costly, and not effective. Instead, he says, professional shooters are the most effective, practical and humane option for culling deer in urban areas.
“Sharp shooting methods [are] very effective, you can remove a pretty significant number of deer in a small amount of time,” Fedewa said. “And often these programs are done in conjunction with process where those deer do get donated to food banks.”
Regulated hunting and some archery programs have been used in the past to manage deer populations, but aren’t ideal for suburban and urban areas. Fedewa says professional sharp shooters would be optimally suited as they use specialized equipment that minimizes public disturbance.
The cities of East Lansing, Farmington Hills and Ann Arbor are all considering multiple strategies for managing deer population, including sharp shooting.
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As Earth Day approaches, we ask the question: do we recycle correctly? As part of the weekly series MichMash, host Cheyna Roth and Gongwer News Service’s Alethia Kasben sat down with Conan Smith from the Michigan Environmental Council. They discuss how we could recycle better.
Michigan’s waste stream shows the state annually sends to landfills at least $130 million in cans and bottles with a 10-cent returnable deposit, according to the Michigan Sustainable Business Forum.
Smith says this is one of the reasons why an expansion of Michigan’s bottle bill is needed. The expansion would allow for easier ways for people to return and deposit bottles instead of just recycling them in their bins.
“On average, if you take your tin can and you put it in the recycling, that tin can is probably going to be some other type of aluminum product,” Smith said. “If you take that same can and you return it for your ten cents, it’s going to become a tin can six times every year.”
Smith said although it’s not bad to recycle by simply using your recycling bin, it is more efficient to deposit for ten cents for better usage.
Detroit’s General Service Department is looking to increase the tree canopy across the city to improve citizens’ quality of life. The department is accepting requests from residents for tree plantings in their neighborhoods.
The free program is open to residents and small businesses to plant a tree on the berm in front of their property.
Savion Stephens, tree planting program manager for the city of Detroit, says trees can help improve residents’ quality of life.
“And what that looks like is improving air quality over time, conserving water, reducing soil erosion, filtering runoff, reducing flooding, and even things like lowering energy costs and raising property values,” he said.
Trees are also known to trap pollutants such as dirt, ash, pollen and smoke which can help those with asthma.
Stephens says the city plants over 50 different species of tree throughout the city.
“They’re primarily urban tolerant trees for public and private property, including some native species like oak and elm,” he said.
The planting process involves three phases: utility marking, tree location marking, and tree planting. Eligibility for a tree is assessed based on site conditions, including utility lines and soil quality.
The city has planted up to 14,000 trees annually through this program.
Residents who would like to request a tree must fill out this form.
Detroit’s five reasons to plant a tree
Clean air. Trees absorb pollutants and improve air quality, reducing respiratory issues.
Cooler summer. A single tree can lower temperatures by up to 10°, providing shade and cutting cooling costs.
Stronger neighborhoods. Tree-lined streets increase property values and create a more welcoming community.
Flood prevention. Trees absorb excess rainwater, reducing the risk of street flooding.
Wildlife Habitat. Trees support birds, bees, and other beneficial wildlife, keeping our ecosystem balanced.
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The Department of Natural Resources says an untold number of trees and power poles snapped or fell over under the weight of an inch or more of ice. Some landed on people’s houses, causing roof damage.
Some trees look like toothpicks
DNR Incident Response Team spokesperson Kathleen Lavey says the coating was so thick it bent pine trees out of shape.
“And we have hardwood trees that have lost a lot of their top branches due to the weight of the ice,” she said. “It’s kind of shocking when you’re looking at it.”
Lavey says people traveling north on I-75 between Gaylord and Mackinaw City will see many broken trees this spring.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer declared a state of emergency in 12 counties where thousands of homes and businesses lost power for several days. She also mobilized the Michigan National Guard to help the DNR and local authorities remove fallen trees and branches from hundreds of miles of roads.
An ice storm brought down trees and damaged roofs in northern Michigan.
Lavey says DNR staff showed Guard members how to use chain saws to clear large tree trunks.
“Our No. 1 goal is to get trees out of the roadways so that people can drive as needed, especially for emergency purposes, and so kids could go back to school,” she said.
Things have mostly returned to normal up north, but the ice storm’s impact will last for weeks, maybe months.
The DNR has temporarily closed many state parks, trails and campgrounds. The agency expects to reopen them in time for the tourism season.
More fuel for wildfires
The amount of tree debris on the ground has also raised concerns about of wildfires in northern Michigan. The DNR responded to almost two dozen wildfires in mid-April. Lavey says as trunks and branches dry out, they provide extra fuel for wildfires. Insects and disease are another concern.
“A tree that has damage to its bark is more susceptible to like a fungal infection or to insects penetrating the tree, and we do have some concerns about forest health that we’re also going to be trying to address,” she said.
Lavey also warns people to watch for loose branches hanging in trees.
“The old loggers back in the day used to call them widow-makers,” she said. “If one landed on you, you were done.”
Forests will recover
Lavey says the ice storm has changed the appearance of Michigan’s forests, but their resilience ensures they’ll recover.
“Forests are used to having a reset every now and then,” she said. “They will persevere, and we will help them.”
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The National Poll on Healthy Aging has released new data regarding how climate change and extreme weather impact health for adults 50 and up.
Sue Ann Bell, associate professor of nursing at the University of Michigan, says she hopes the poll encourages older adults, health care providers and people who work in emergency response and government to prepare to care for older adults during emergencies.
“To prioritize extreme weather events and extreme weather event planning, because I think one thing we see so often is that we go for a period of time without a disaster happening. And you know, so you have sort of a false sense of confidence that can lead to being less prepared.”
The poll asked older adults about their experiences with extreme weather events and their concerns about how extreme weather events might impact their health, both now and in the future.
The survey found that 75% of people who’ve lived through an extreme weather event said they were very concerned about the impacts of these events on their own health, and that’s compared to around 33% of older adults in Michigan who had not experienced an extreme weather event.
The Michigan Attorney General’s office has launched a new form for residents to report social security benefit disruptions and share their experiences.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan is recommending that U.S. citizens be vigilant when traveling internationally, as Customs and Border Protection may want to search the electronic devices of some people coming back in the U.S.
The city of Detroit is accepting requests from residents for tree plantings in their neighborhoods to help improve the city’s tree canopy.
A documentary focused on pro-Palestine encampments at universities across the U.S. has come to Detroit. Screenings of “The Encampments“ will be held daily at the Bel Air Luxury Cinema, 10100 8 Mile Rd., Detroit through April 17.
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A once-forgotten cluster of vacant lots on Detroit’s west side is now home to Circle Forest, a community-led reforestation project created by the nonprofit Arboretum Detroit. Co-director Andrew “Birch” Kemp says the space, made up of 12 formerly vacant lots, was transformed from illegal dumping grounds into an accessible public green space.
“We cleared out like 60 yards of garbage and did a tree assessment, pulled out invasives, planted 200 native trees,” Kemp said. “It’s a park where there wasn’t a park.”
Andrew “Birch” Kemp, co-director of Arboretum Detroit.
Now, neighbors and visitors can walk more than a mile through a continuous green corridor woven through backyards and hidden blocks that were once overgrown and avoided.
Kemp says the group’s philosophy is about honoring what already exists, rather than starting from scratch.
“I’m not mad at any tree out here because they’ve been providing shade for decades before I got here,” he said. “So who am I to come through and just decide you have to go?”
The project, which includes programming, nature walks, and a tree nursery, is one example of ongoing grassroots movements to restore native ecosystems and increase access to nature in Detroit’s neighborhoods and beyond.
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The nonprofit Greening of Detroit says the severe flooding caused by a recent water main break in Southwest Detroit may have affected the trees there, but they won’t know until May or June.
The Greening of Detroit plants city-tolerant trees that can sustain conditions like heavy pollution and flooding from clogged storm drains — or in this case — a water main break. The nonprofit planted nearly 250 trees in Southwest Detroit in 2021.
Fai Foen, director of green infrastructure at the Greening of Detroit, said the group chose urban tolerant trees to protect them from issues like this.
“We plant trees in Southwest and other parts of the city that might be exposed to pollution, air pollution, whether it’s manufacturing or a highway,” she said.
Foen says people are more of a danger to trees than the environment.
“You know, like, if it’s in a park, you know, the kids see the branch there may grab it. Or, like you can’t control for all the individuals that walk by a tree and just want to give it a good grab,” Foen said. “And I think the hidden trees that are being mown and maybe nicked at the base of the tree causes damage, but it’s like a death from like 1,000 cuts over a longer period of time.”
Foen said the flooding did not last long enough to have a lasting effect on the trees. But they won’t know for sure how much they were affected until the trees wake from their dormant period.
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In communities around Little Traverse Bay, the snow and ice is starting to melt but clear signs of destruction remain.
It’s being called the worst ice storm in northern Michigan in modern history, knocking out power to about 100,000 homes and businesses.
One week later, fallen trees still line the road shoulders. Dozens of utility vehicles are parked behind orange cones. And hundreds were still without power as of April 4.
The workers who’ve poured in from across the state are getting the job done. According to outage maps, power started coming back on in downtown areas at the end of last week.
But some residents say recovery from the ice storm will take more than just turning the lights back on.
Power restored to cities
At the Community Reformed Church in Charlevoix, volunteers packed away pans of ground beef. Over the past few days, they worked by lantern light to serve hot meals to those seeking shelter.
Lights at the church came back on Wednesday. Buns, chips and sloppy joe mix were left over and the group that came for lunch Thursday was smaller than it was earlier in the week.
Utility workers tend to fallen power lines following the 2025 ice storm on April 3.
To Pastor Chip Sauer, those are good signs.
“Power lines have been down all over the place. It is like the apocalypse, like a bomb exploded,” he said. “In the city, it doesn’t feel like that anymore. It’s gotten back to normal. The lights are on. The restaurants are open. But there’s still a handful of people [without] power.”
The situation is much the same further north in Petoskey.
Many gas stations are reopened, providing critical fuel for line workers and generators. City Manager Shane Horn says about 95% of Petoskey’s service area had power as of Thursday, April 3.
The quick turnaround, he said, is owed to the city’s mostly underground power lines.
“Having that percent of our community undergrounded has truly been a blessing in that we don’t have similar issues that other communities have with downed power lines and utility pole issues,” Horn said.
Rural communities still in response phase
Leftover sloppy joes about to be refrigerated at the Community Reformed Church in Charlevoix.
While cities are starting to see a return to normal, those living in more rural areas are still in what emergency managers call “the response phase.”
Great Lakes Energy, which still has nearly 20,000 customers without power, established a camp for utility workers in Otsego County on Saturday — one of the hardest hit areas. GLE chief executive Shaun Lamp said the company hopes to “substantially restore” many areas by April 8, it could take longer for more backcountry areas.
On the north side of Little Traverse Bay in Harbor Springs, Shay Elementary School served as one of the busiest warming stations in the area.
City police officers were stationed at the front entrance, keeping a list of names in front of stacks of water bottles. Nurses with the American Red Cross brought dozens of cots that lined the school’s cafeteria.
The people who had to stay the night were mostly elders. That’s because a housing community for low-income seniors called the Village of Hillside lost power. Some had to stay to power oxygen machines or get medication.
“Nobody wants to leave home and sleep in a school with all these people, but I think they’ve become accustomed to it,” said Matthew Bush, Hillside’s service coordinator. “I mean, they’ve come to realize that there’s not much of a choice. It’s either this or be very, very cold.”
Seniors rest on cots provided by the American Red Cross at Shay Elementary after a housing community for low-income elders called the Village of Hillside lost power.
Despite this, the attitude at Shay Elementary is positive, especially among the volunteers.
“It’s been overwhelming in, like, a really great way, but also just a really devastating way at the same time,” said Jessica Mills, a fourth grade teacher at Shay Elementary who’s been helping coordinate the shelter. “Initially, I was just watching the door to let people in and make sure they got settled and answered questions. Since then, I was kind of made the point person.”
The school’s cafeteria is staffed by restaurant workers from downtown Harbor Springs. They’ve been serving free hot meals three times a day since the shelter opened.
“Everyone has been helping, like the police officers’ wives have all been with their parents, my parents, like the whole community, has really just come together,” Mills said. “And we couldn’t have done it without every single other person.”
Mills said she’s eager for recovery to begin and that she hopes her school reopens soon. Helping out has been a good distraction but she’s eager to check in on all her students she hasn’t seen in days. Some of their families, she said, will deal with the aftermath of this storm for months.
“I just think there’s so much we need to do. People have gone days without being able to contact their loved ones because the service has been atrocious. People’s fridges are going to need to be cleaned out,” she said. “It just feels like any support would help.”
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Huge numbers of Americans took to the streets over the weekend for so-called “Hands Off” protests. People were condemning the Trump administration and many of its policies, including cuts to the National Park Service and other public lands.
Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has reduced staff that oversees public lands by hundreds of people. A judge ordered those positions to be reinstated, but it’s unclear how many people have actually returned to work. The White House has vowed to fight those rulings.
Advocates, meanwhile, are bracing for additional cuts. This upheaval has raised concerns about the health and survival of America’s public lands, from popular national parks like Yosemite and Yellowstone to national lakeshores like Michigan’s Sleeping Bear Dunes.
Tom Ulrich was the deputy superintendent for Sleeping Bear Dunes for more than two decades before retiring in 2023. Ulrich joined The Metro to discuss the current challenges facing America’s public lands.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum issued an order last week, directing national parks to “remain open and accessible.” Burgum says that means there will be proper staffing, but not everyone is convinced this will happen.
Use the media player above to hear the full conversation.
Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.
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Environmental groups and tribal nations are asking the Michigan Supreme Court to put the brakes on a Canadian company’s plans to bury an oil and gas pipeline under the Straits of Mackinac, a waterway that connects Lake Michigan and Lake Huron.
“These failures jeopardize the sanctity of the Great Lakes and the Tribal economic and cultural interests and treaty-protected rights, which are inherent rights, including ‘the usual privileges of occupancy’ — such as the rights to fish, hunt, and gather, in perpetuity,” the complaint said. “They also threaten to harm everyone who depends on the Great Lakes for drinking water, recreation, or economic benefit because all likely effects of the proposed project, including oil spills, have not been considered.”
The tribes argue the commission’s review failed to fully consider the consequences of leaks or a spill in a waterway that could lead to widespread contamination of the Great Lakes.
“If you take a step back and you do that holistic review and analysis, I think people would understand that there are alternatives that could lead to a decommissioning of Line 5 and wouldn’t have to construct this one-off tunnel through the Straits of Mackinac,” said David Gover, a senior attorney with the Native American Rights Fund, which represents the Bay Mills Indian Community.
Gover told the Michigan Public Radio Network the tunnel’s location also violates long-standing treaty rights and disrespects “a sacred place” for tribes.
“So, any proposed tunneling and running of a pipeline through that area is a desecration of that sacred place,” he said. “It would like be putting an oil and gas pipeline under the Vatican or through the Garden of Eden.”
Enbridge spokeperson Ryan Duffy said in a statement e-mailed to MPRN that the Michigan Public Service Commission and the appeals court got it right.
“The February decision from the Michigan Court of Appeals correctly affirmed the comprehensive and detailed work of the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) to approve the application for the Great Lakes Tunnel Project,” he said. “The Michigan Court of Appeals concluded that the MPSC appropriately examined the location of the Line 5 replacement segment within the Great Lakes Tunnel, consistent with Michigan law.”
He said the tunnel will make “what has always been a safe pipeline even safer.”
Enbridge faces other legal and procedural hurdles, including state and federal permits and other lawsuits. The protective tunnel was part of a agreement between Enbridge and the then-Gov. Rick Snyder’s administration. That was following revelations of known gaps in the existing line’s protective coating and an anchor strike in 2018 that damaged the line.
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Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has deployed the Michigan National Guard to help with ice storm recovery.
Two specialized teams were deployed Wednesday to help clear debris on roadways.
“These are engineers with chainsaws and other equipment working with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and the Michigan Public Safety Communications System,” said Michigan national Guard spokesman David Kennedy.
The National Guard is also responding to a request from the MyMichigan Medical Center in Alpena to set up a temporary shelter.
Kennedy confirmed servicemen have set up medical tents outside the hospital to support emergency room overflow.
“We are continuing our all-hands-on-deck approach to help families and communities impacted by the storms in Northern Michigan,” Whitmer said in a news release. “Power restoration is a top priority, and I’m grateful to our utility partners for positioning hundreds of utility workers to help get power back online as fast as possible.”
Due to lost power at gas stations, a lack of fuel has been among the main concerns in the region. Whitmer also said she would temporarily lift restrictions on weight and commercial driver hours to allow energy supplies to move quickly to northern Michigan.
Great Lakes Energy said in a Monday night statement that it “advises members to prepare for a five-day to multi-week outage event.”
The governor’s latest orders also added Alcona and Antrim counties to an earlier state of emergency declaration.
“The declaration authorizes the Michigan State Police, Emergency Management and Homeland Security Division (MSP/EMHSD) to coordinate state efforts above and beyond what MSP/EMHSD has already been doing in conjunction with local agencies,” said a news release from the governor’s office.
The state of emergency declaration now applies to Otsego, Oscoda, Montmorency, Presque Isle, Emmet, Charlevoix, Cheboygan, Crawford, Mackinac, Alpena, Alcona, and Antrim counties.
“Our Soldiers and Airmen train to be ready to support communities across Michigan when facing natural disasters,” said U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Paul D. Rogers, adjutant general and director of the Michigan Department of Military and Veterans Affairs. “Our focus will be to assist state and local agencies as we clear roadways overcome by debris.”
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Area residents dealt with sleet and rain during their morning commutes as scattered thunderstorms moved through the region. The National Weather Service has placed most of metro Detroit under a Flood Watch from 8 p.m. Wednesday through Thursday morning, with risk of high winds, heavy rain, and the possibility of hail or an isolated tornado.
The heaviest rainfall is expected to develop overnight, with NWS estimating up to two inches of rain. That could lead to rising water levels in creeks and streams. Low-lying areas could be affected as well, and residents who have experienced flooding during past heavy rain events are encouraged to check their basements through the evening to make sure water isn’t backing up.
Temperatures will rise into the 60s during the evening hours.
Other headlines for Wednesday, April 2, 2025:
The city of Highland Park issued a boil water advisory for residents this week after receiving complaints about low water pressure over the weekend. Officials say they’ve been working to modernize the city’s system by replacing water mains and installing master meters in different parts of Highland Park.
Wayne County Health Director Abdul El-Sayed is stepping down to “consider a future opportunity in Michigan,” after serving in the position for two years, County Executive Warren Evans announced in a news release Wednesday.
State Sen. Mallory McMorrow (D-Royal Oak) announced Wednesday that she is running for the U.S Senate seat that will be left open by outgoing Sen. Gary Peters.
Detroiters are waiting to hear details about tariffs that President Donald Trump says he will implement Wednesday, on what he calls “Liberation Day.” Trump is expected to deliver late afternoon remarks about the subject in the White House Rose Garden.
Do you have a community story we should tell? Let us know in an email at detroiteveningreport@wdet.org.
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WDET strives to make our journalism accessible to everyone. As a public media institution, we maintain our journalistic integrity through independent support from readers like you. If you value WDET as your source of news, music and conversation, please make a gift today. Donate today »
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