In late March, a severe ice storm struck the northern part of Michigan.
Tree branches and limbs, weighed down by ice, broke and fell to the ground, leaving towering toothpick trees behind. Many roads, campgrounds, forests, boat launches and other facilities managed by the state were closed as a result.
Months later, most areas have reopened to the public, but the Michigan Department of Natural Resources is warning visitors to be cautious and expect some trail and road closures to still be in place for their safety.
Most trails, campgrounds open
The DNR staff went to work to ensure all campgrounds opened at the start of the season on May 15. Some state forests and boat access sites lagged behind, but most are open and ready for Fourth of July weekend.
Kerry Heckman, from the DNR’s Ice Storm Response team, said that travelers should be aware that some roads running through state forests are blocked off. Likewise, some trails may be blocked for visitor safety.
“If you are going to be just in the forest itself, just be aware that there are a lot of hazards that remain,” Heckman warned, adding that trees that are leaning or limbs caught in the tree canopy are still at risk of falling suddenly.
She said parts of State Parks Onaway, Clear Lake and Petoskey are temporarily closed. Additionally, Cheboygan State Park is closed for the summer for regularly scheduled updates unrelated to the ice storm.
Forest recovery efforts continue
It will take a while for the forest to fully recover from the cold snap, Heckman said.
”We’ll be working for many years to replant, and bringing the forest back to what they were prior to the storm,” she said.
Heckman says the DNR is also working to salvage fallen trees for timber as fallen limbs are cleared.
Finding new uses for the fallen wood and clearing it out is essential to minimize potential harms to the environment, though the dead branches have benefits as well.
Long-term impacts on the environment
The influx of fallen timber and moisture leads to a number of environmental impacts, Heckman said.
Forest health is a concern due to the rapid change, but the woods are resilient.
The dead wood will provide food for woodpeckers and pests like the pine bark beetle, whose population is expected to explode and cause further damage to trees. Exposed wood is also vulnerable to diseases.
One additional danger of having so much timber on the forest floor is providing fuel for potential wildfires, she said.
The open canopy gives room for new plant growth, including that of invasive species.
As the fallen branches decompose, they will replenish the soil. This — in addition to the moisture delivered by the storm — will promote the growth of fungi.
“For people who love morel mushrooms, that’s going to be amazing,” said Heckman.
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The U.S. Supreme Court could decide if a case involving the Line 5 oil pipeline stays in Michigan court or goes back before federal judges.
The case began in 2019 when Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel sued in state court to partially shut down Line 5. Nessel cited three state laws to make an environmental case for stopping the project.
It then got moved to federal court in 2021 at the request of Enbridge, the Canadian company that operates the pipeline. That request came much later than a 30-day window to do so, partly because Enbridge says it was waiting on the result of a similar lawsuit from Michigan’s governor.
A lower federal court granted an exception to the timeline. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, however, didn’t buy that argument and sent the case back to the 30th Circuit Court in Ingham County where a hearing was held in January.
The Supreme Court, on Enbridge’s appeal, will decide whether there are exceptions to the 30-day period to remove a case to federal court.
Enbridge argues, while the Sixth Circuit took a narrow view of that time frame, other appellate courts have allowed exceptions. It believes the case belongs in federal court because the matter butts up against international treaty law and some federal laws as well.
“The District Court cited the important federal issues in this case, including U.S.-Canada Treaty issues, and the fact that litigation of these issues was already pending in another case in federal court.
However, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed, deciding that district courts have no authority to give exceptions to the 30-day time limit.
The Sixth Circuit’s remand decision is in conflict with decisions from two other federal Circuit Courts of Appeals, which both held that there can be exceptions to the 30-day limit. The Supreme Court review will resolve this conflict in the courts of appeals,” Duffy said in an email.
Meanwhile, the Attorney General’s office is maintaining its position.
“The Department’s lawsuit is based on state claims and law, and it belongs before a Michigan court. We remain undeterred in our commitment to protect the Great Lakes, especially from the devastating catastrophe a potential Line 5 rupture would wreak upon all of Michigan,” a written statement from AG spokesperson Kimberly Bush said.
If the case goes back to federal court, the proceedings that have happened in state court may be moot. Meanwhile, the legal fight between Enbridge and the governor is already playing out in federal court.
All this is happening as Enbridge tries to move forward with a project to build a tunnel around a replacement section of the Line 5 pipeline that runs through the Straits of Mackinac. That project is currently in the permitting process.
Enbridge says the tunnel would make the pipeline safer by protecting it from anchor strikes. Environmental groups are fighting it, saying it could potentially rupture and dump massive amounts of oil into the Great Lakes.
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A judge is set to decide whether low-level radioactive material left over from the creation of the first atomic bomb can find its forever home in a metro Detroit landfill.
The state of New York wants to send about 6,000 cubic yards of tainted soil and 4,000 gallons of contaminated groundwater to a waste disposal site near Belleville, Michigan.
It’s one of a handful in the country licensed to dispose of such waste.
Communities near the site, including Canton Township, filed a lawsuit to stop shipments of the toxic material from New York.
Canton Township Supervisor Anne Marie Graham-Hudak says the suit kept those remnants of the Manhattan Project out of Michigan so far. But not other contaminated material.
Listen: Graham-Hudak on keeping toxic waste out of Michigan landfill
The following interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Anne Marie Graham-Hudak: At this time, we still have this kind of waste coming into Michigan, whether it be into the injection well in Romulus or into the Wayne disposal site. But we’re hoping this lawsuit helps us launch some precedents to stop that.
Quinn Klinefelter, WDET News: But the specific one from New York has not come yet?
AMH: No. And it was supposed to start coming basically in January. So we’re glad that we were able to stop it. We met with the judge, the hearing was in May and the judge is scheduled to make a ruling on July 2. We hope that happens. We’ve been working also with Michigan state Sen. Darrin Camilleri (D-Trenton) and state Rep. Reggie Miller (D-Van Buren Twp). They have two bills that are going to increase tipping fees, amongst many other things.
“The EPA were saying that this was safe. Our question was, ‘If this is so safe, why is it being moved? Why don’t you just mitigate it in place?’ And that’s still what we’re questioning.”
– Anne Marie Graham-Hudak, Canton Township supervisor
Our tipping fees are one of the lowest in the nation. We’re at roughly 36 cents a ton, so we’re basically inviting people to come dump into Michigan. In other states you’re looking at $13 a ton — that just exacerbates what we already have. And at some point our landfills will be full and we will be looking for other places. The Canton landfill maybe has five years left. The EPA were saying that this was safe. Our question was, “If this is so safe, why is it being moved? Why don’t you just mitigate it in place?” And that’s still what we’re questioning. Radioactive waste in the body is absorbed and it’s additive, so if you live near where they’re dumping it, that’s a problem.
Also, Michigan has 21% of the world’s fresh water, and we’re putting this in a dense area. They’ve got schools nearby. The groundwater takes it out to the Rouge River, which takes it to the Detroit River, which takes it out to the Great Lakes. So why are we even thinking of putting it there? Also, they’re going to store the waste in what they call “burritos.” They wrap the waste in these plastic burritos and then come here and bury it and put a cap on it. But they could not even guarantee that the plastic they’re going to wrap it in will match the half-life of some of this radioactive dirt. I’m a retired engineer. One of the things that I worked on before I left Ford Motor Company was electromagnetic radiation — that was actually one of my favorite classes in college. And they can’t guarantee how this waste will stay encompassed in this plastic. There’s no test on this plastic that had been done to see that. I think their guidelines are way too narrow. But they’re going to keep dumping it, which makes it additive, and it doesn’t go away. It’s a constant radiation.
QK: So you don’t trust what the agencies or the company are saying about this?
AMH: Correct. I do not trust it. I think some of the guidelines that have been made in Michigan, especially, are leaning more towards favoring companies. We’re an automotive area and we know that we’ve got PFAS. We know that, in the early days, automotive companies would dump (material.) There’s brownfields here for a reason, because companies dumped. And I really believe that some of our land is contaminated. I think our guidelines in Michigan are way too low. They protect companies more than they do our residents. This is a public health issue, it really is.
QK: So what remedy would you seek at this point?
AMH: That we stop this. State Sen. Darrin Camilleri’s bill actually states that we just stop everything from coming in. We do more studies and more testing. We do not allow any more radioactive waste to come into Michigan. We do not allow any more new sites to be established. I know a lot of the businesses are concerned about this, but if you look at it, even hospitals generate radioactive waste. They do X-rays, MRI’s, things like that. So how do we mitigate in place what we have instead of transporting it? I don’t think we should be transporting it. Quit thinking about kicking things down the road and saying, “Oh, hey, we’re just gonna keep doing this. We’re gonna keep making nuclear reactors and we’ll just keep burying it, not really thinking about what’s going to happen in the future.” I think that we’ve done that for too long and too haphazardly. Our limits need to be looked at. I think that they’re more pro-business than they are pro-public health. That is my biggest concern.
QK: So that’s what you would hope to have happen. You’ve been dealing with this issue for a while now. What do you think is within the realms of reality?
AMH: I think if we want it to be more in the business of reality it can be. Look at the concerns raised by the agencies, the mayors and supervisors and the townspeople. That’s why we have this injunction, that’s why we’re trying to push this legislation through. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce needs to take a look at things a little bit more. Let’s just talk about changing tipping fees. They’re saying they don’t agree with that. But we’re just a dumping state based on 36 cents a ton.
QK: If the disposal company comes back and says, “We’re licensed to do this. As you say, hospitals and other places keep making this kind of material. This site is allowed to take it and we’ve got to put it somewhere. So why not here?” How would you answer them back?
AMH: My answer is that we need to study this even more. I can understand that we have to decide what to do with Michigan’s waste, where this is happening. But taking outside waste, it just gives us less space to figure out what to do with our own. And it also is in a densely populated area. There is an interstate commerce clause that does not allow us to stop. There would have to be a constitutional change on the federal level also, because this is considered trading commerce and money.
QK: Have you ever had much reaction back from the federal government on this entire topic, no matter which administration was running it at the time?
AMH: Not really. They keep pointing to the interstate commerce clause. People always say it’s hard to change a constitution and it will never happen. But the U.S. Supreme Court just changed some things that were in the Constitution for 50 years. So I think it’s a possibility. I think the need is there. The want has to make it happen.
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Power plants and industrial facilities that emit carbon dioxide, the primary driver of global warming, are hopeful that Congress will keep tax credits for capturing the gas and storing it deep underground.
The process, called carbon capture and sequestration, is seen by many as an important way to reduce pollution during a transition to renewable energy.
But it faces criticism from some conservatives, who say it is expensive and unnecessary, and from environmentalists, who say it has consistently failed to capture as much pollution as promised and is simply a way for producers of fossil fuels like oil, gas and coal to continue their use.
Here’s a closer look:
How does the process work?
Carbon dioxide is a gas produced by burning of fossil fuels. It traps heat close to the ground when released to the atmosphere, where it persists for hundreds of years and raises global temperatures.
Industries and power plants can install equipment to separate carbon dioxide from other gases before it leaves the smokestack. The carbon then is compressed and shipped — usually through a pipeline — to a location where it’s injected deep underground for long-term storage.
BKV Carbon Ventures project manager Spencer Crouch explains how the carbon capture and sequestration process works at their facility in Bridgeport, Texas, Thursday, May 29, 2025. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Carbon also can be captured directly from the atmosphere using giant vacuums. Once captured, it is dissolved by chemicals or trapped by solid material.
Lauren Read, a senior vice president at BKV Corp., which built a carbon capture facility in Texas, said the company injects carbon at high pressure, forcing it almost two miles below the surface and into geological formations that can hold it for thousands of years.
The carbon can be stored in deep saline or basalt formations and unmineable coal seams. But about three-fourths of captured carbon dioxide is pumped back into oil fields to build up pressure that helps extract harder-to-reach reserves — meaning it’s not stored permanently, according to the International Energy Agency and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
BKV Carbon Ventures senior facility engineer Laura Mamazza walks at a compression station at a carbon capture and sequestration facility in Bridgeport, Texas, Thursday, May 29, 2025. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
How much carbon dioxide is captured?
The most commonly used technology allows facilities to capture and store around 60% of their carbon dioxide emissions during the production process. Anything above that rate is much more difficult and expensive, according to the IEA.
Some companies have forecast carbon capture rates of 90% or more, “in practice, that has never happened,” said Alexandra Shaykevich, research manager at the Environmental Integrity Project’s Oil & Gas Watch.
That’s because it’s difficult to capture carbon dioxide from every point where it’s emitted, said Grant Hauber, a strategic adviser on energy and financial markets at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.
BKV Carbon Ventures project manager Spencer Crouch looks at a compression station that’s part of a carbon capture and sequestration facility in Bridgeport, Texas, Thursday, May 29, 2025. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Environmentalists also cite potential problems keeping it in the ground. For example, last year, agribusiness company Archer-Daniels-Midland discovered a leak about a mile underground at its Illinois carbon capture and storage site, prompting the state legislature this year to ban carbon sequestration above or below the Mahomet Aquifer, an important source of drinking water for about a million people.
Carbon capture can be used to help reduce emissions from hard-to-abate industries like cement and steel, but many environmentalists contend it’s less helpful when it extends the use of coal, oil and gas.
A 2021 study also found the carbon capture process emits significant amounts of methane, a potent greenhouse gas that’s shorter-lived than carbon dioxide but traps over 80 times more heat. That happens through leaks when the gas is brought to the surface and transported to plants.
BKV Carbon Ventures senior facility engineer Laura Mamazza closes a gate on a carbon sequestration injection well pad site at a carbon capture and sequestration facility in Bridgeport, Texas, Thursday, May 29, 2025. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
About 45 carbon-capture facilities operated on a commercial scale last year, capturing a combined 50 million metric tons of carbon dioxide — a tiny fraction of the 37.8 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide emissions from the energy sector alone, according to the IEA.
It’s an even smaller share of all greenhouse gas emissions, which amounted to 53 gigatonnes for 2023, according to the latest report from the European Commission’s Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research.
The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis says one of the world’s largest carbon capture utilization and storage projects, ExxonMobil’s Shute Creek facility in Wyoming, captures only about half its carbon dioxide, and most of that is sold to oil and gas companies to pump back into oil fields.
BKV Carbon Ventures senior facility engineer Laura Mamazza stands near part of a compression station at a carbon capture and sequestration facility in Bridgeport, Texas, Thursday, May 29, 2025. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Future of US tax credits is unclear
Even so, carbon capture is an important tool to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, particularly in heavy industries, said Sangeet Nepal, a technology specialist at the Carbon Capture Coalition.
“It’s not a substitution for renewables … it’s just a complementary technology,” Nepal said. “It’s one piece of a puzzle in this broad fight against the climate change.”
Experts say many projects, including proposed ammonia and hydrogen plants on the U.S. Gulf Coast, likely won’t be built without the tax credits, which Carbon Capture Coalition Executive Director Jessie Stolark says already have driven significant investment and are crucial U.S. global competitiveness.
They remain in the Senate Finance Committee’s draft reconciliation bill, after another version passed the House, though the Carbon Capture Coalition said inflation has already slashed their value and could limit projects.
Associated Press reporter Jack Brook in New Orleans contributed to this report.
The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
BKV Carbon Ventures health and safety advisor Adam Pope looks on at a compression station that is part of a carbon capture and sequestration process in Bridgeport, Texas, Thursday, May 29, 2025. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
There are some areas in metro Detroit that experience significant flooding almost every time the region gets heavy rains. One of these floodplains is the Ecorse Creek Watershed.
Located in Wayne County, Ecorse Creek has 15 cities within its boundaries including Westland, Wayne, Romulus, Taylor, Inkster, Dearborn Heights, Dearborn, Allen Park, Southgate, Lincoln Park, Wyandotte, Ecorse, Melvindale, River Rouge and Detroit.
The nonprofit group is one of 17 organizations recently awarded Watershed Council grants from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) to address flooding and stormwater runoff problems. Friends of the Detroit River will receive $40,000 of the total $600,000 awarded.
McKenzi Waliczek, stewardship director for Friends of the Detroit River, joined The Metro to talk about how the organization will utilize the funds.
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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Smears of crusted goo plastered the grip tape Tim Harrison pulled off a tree in southern Monroe County.
They aren’t patches of mud. The streaks were the leftovers of egg masses left behind by spotted lanternflies, invasive insects working their way through lower Michigan and the Midwest.
This early into the summer, the hatchlings from these egg masses are small nymphs, black with white spots. They will soon grow larger, a centimeter in diameter, and turn bright red. They will eventually transform into large, showy insects with striking gray and red coloring.
And eventually, the bugs that are limited to a few sites in southeast Michigan will make their way throughout the Lower Peninsula.
“It’s just a matter of time,” said Harrison, a Michigan State University graduate student studying entomology.
The Lower Peninsula — particularly cities such as Detroit, Lansing and Grand Rapids — is a ripe breeding ground for spotted lanternflies, Harrison said. The places are littered with the bugs’ preferred food, an invasive, fast-growing and common tree called the tree of heaven.
Spotted lanternflies have become a sensational nuisance on the East Coast, where they were discovered in the Philadelphia area in 2014. They are prolific breeders and voracious. They suck the sap from trees and other woody plants, leaving behind a sweet, sticky excrement called honeydew that attracts insects, and can build up and mold.
Cities pursued public awareness campaigns encouraging people who encounter a lanternfly to “squish it.”
Spotted lanternflies are in 18 states, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. They were first identified in Michigan in 2022 at a site in Pontiac. Since then, they have been seen in Monroe, Oakland, Wayne, Lenawee and Macomb counties.
Although annoying in high numbers, “they aren’t the end of the world,” Harrison said.
Unlike emerald ash borer and hemlock woolly adelgid, two other invasive insects in Michigan, spotted lanternflies don’t majorly affect the state’s forests or other ecosystems. They can damage vineyards and disturb outdoor gatherings, but they don’t threaten entire species.
“It’s a nuisance that we’re going to have to get used to because no matter what we do, they’re going to spread throughout lower Michigan,” he said.
‘Stinkweed,’ lanternflies’ favorite food
Spotted lanternflies’ spread through the United States depends on two things, Harrison said.
First is shipping. The bugs appear to have arrived on imported material from their native Asia. From there, they spread long distances along highways and railways radiating out from the Philadelphia area.
A spotted laternfly nymph, which is a sexually immature insect, climbs through the Whiteford Union Cemetery in Monroe County. The invasive insect appears to breed more successfully when it lays eggs on the invasive trees known as the trees of heaven compared with others. (Andy Morrison, The Detroit News/The Detroit News/TNS)
Second is the tree of heaven, an invasive tree that was introduced to the U.S. by European colonists in the 1700s and then by immigrants on the West Coast more than a century later. It has since spread widely.
“You’ll never stop seeing it once you know what it looks like,” Harrison said. “Lansing’s loaded with it, Detroit’s loaded with it. Ann Arbor, especially, is particularly bad.”
Spotted lanternflies love the tree of heaven and appear to breed more successfully when they lay eggs on the invasive trees compared with others. Cities that have lots of it “can expect very heavy infestations if treatments aren’t done,” Harrison said.
Removing the tree of heaven is one of the key strategies cities and landowners can use to avoid the incoming deluge of spotted lanternfly, Harrison said.
It won’t be easy, said Deb McCullough, an MSU forest entomology professor. The trees are incredible breeders. She said a single tree of heaven can produce 300,000 seeds, which blow around, float down rivers and plant themselves. The trees also release new shoots when their trunks are cut, making them hard to kill.
“Removing it is a lot of work,” McCullough said. “Somebody has to be motivated.”
Spotted lanternfly larvae are surveyed in Monroe County. The insects love vineyards, but vineyard owners shouldn’t panic when they are spotted there, experts said. The lanternflies can be managed. (Andy Morrison, The Detroit News/The Detroit News/TNS)
Tree of heaven is also challenging to identify, said Fai Foen, green infrastructure director for the nonprofit Greening of Detroit. It looks similar to a black walnut tree or sumac, but its leaves smell like rancid peanut butter when crushed, she said — that’s why some people refer to it as “stinkweed.”
The tree is common in unkempt areas, such as railway corridors.
Foen said the communities first hit by a pest or disease can offer advice to others. Detroit found itself in a similar position with the emerald ash borer, the sparkling green beetles that decimated ash trees in southeast Michigan before spreading throughout the country.
Eastern communities are now in the position to advise Michigan on how to deal with spotted lanternfly. Foen said communities should convene to share education about the pest and to coordinate their response efforts.
“We’re in a position where it’s already here,” Foen said. “We should have that discussion.”
The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development this summer is monitoring sites for spotted lanternfly. The department’s monitoring efforts last year yielded new small populations throughout southeast Michigan. The department asks people to report sightings of the bug to Michigan.gov/eyesinthefield.
Unlike states such as Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, New Jersey and others, Michigan has not imposed a quarantine to help slow spotted lanternflies’ spread.
“As we’ve seen in other states, stopping the movement of spotted lanternfly is extremely challenging,” MDARD spokesperson Lynsey Mukomel said over email. “Our current focus is on raising public awareness. By teaching people how to identify spotted lanternfly and avoid unintentional spread, we can help slow its movement and reduce its impact.”
Quarantines do not stop the bugs from spreading, but they do slow their spread, said Matt Helmus, a Temple University professor who tracks spotted lanternfly movements. Other states’ quarantines typically require commercial shipping companies and landscape industry businesses to inspect vehicles and wares for spotted lanternfly or the egg masses they lay in the fall.
Michigan State University undergraduate technician Madisyn Holman looks for spotted lanternflies on the underside of a tree of heaven, which is the insect’s favorite breeding spot. (Andy Morrison, The Detroit News/The Detroit News/TNS)
“But when you have some type of quarantine and inspection, coupled with public informational campaigns, you definitely see that spread slowing,” Helmus said.
Harrison and MSU undergraduate field technician Madisyn Holman are studying the effectiveness of “lantern traps” for preventing lanternflies from flourishing. The traps are made with grip tape or roofing material, inexpensive supplies that can be purchased at a hardware store. By wrapping one piece of material on a tree and another domed top like a lampshade, they can make an environment female lanternflies find ideal for laying eggs.
The traps appear to lure a lot of egg-laying lanternflies, Harrison said, making them a cheap and effective way to reduce lanternfly breeding. He recommended people install traps in infested trees and squash the egg masses laid there.
Spotted lanternfly researchers have had to race to understand the bugs as they spread through the United States, said Brian Walsh, a Penn State University Extension educator and spotted lanternfly researcher.
Beyond recognizing the bugs’ taste for the tree of heaven, they’ve made some discoveries: The bugs can fly longer distances than people first expected, and they are somehow able to detect their favorite foods, such as grapes. Their populations follow a boom-and-bust cycle, sometimes so abundant they seem to fill the sky, then almost unnoticeable.
Vineyards brace for infestation
But even when they are in the “bust” cycle, spotted lanternflies consistently flock to vineyards, Walsh said.
“Growers shouldn’t panic, but they also need to have a game plan in place for how to deal with it,” he said. “Information is the key. Don’t panic, but being well-informed will help them make decisions that are going to benefit them in the long run.
“We don’t want people thinking this is going to end their vineyards or end their farms. It can be managed.”
Spotted lanternflies will reach Michigan’s vineyards eventually, Helmus said.
“It’s in Detroit, and now it’s in Chicago,” he said. “Think about all the people from Chicago that go up the west side of Michigan on vacation. It will probably spread into western Michigan. Relatively quickly is my guess.
“Once it starts to get into the vineyards, there’s going to be a lot more outcry.”
The first spotted lanternfly Anthony Vietri encountered was sitting alone on the ground near his vineyard in southeast Pennsylvania. It was “bizarre and gorgeous and frightening,” the Pennsylvania vineyard owner said.
By the next year, Vietri would be driving his tractor into clouds of spotted lanternflies, knocking dozens from the top of his fedora as he wound through the vineyard, wearing a cloth over his face to keep them from leaping into his mouth. They would drop from the trees like snow.
He’s learned to manage them at the vineyard, Va La Vineyards. When he prunes his vines, he scrapes off each egg mass he sees. The strategy significantly reduces the number that breed on his farm, which means he mostly just deals with the adults that fly in from elsewhere.
“Then it’s a matter of looking at them and saying ‘Hey, this is not as bad of an infestation as it could have been, and we’ll just ride this out,’” Vietri said.
Spotted lanternflies have not wiped out the Pennsylvania grape industry, he said, but they have taken a toll on certain vineyards that rely on expensive insecticides or host a lot of outdoor events.
“Weddings, outdoor events, they feel completely invited to,” Vietri said. “Unfortunately, the folks that are hosting that event or paying for it are not at all pleased about it, but there’s nothing really that the vineyard can do.”
Grape growers in northwest Michigan are concerned about what spotted lanternflies will do to their vineyards, said Nikki Rothwell, coordinator of Michigan State University Extension’s Northwest Michigan Horticulture Research Center. Growers have seen warnings from Pennsylvania about the bugs’ behavior and potential to swarm outdoor spaces like cities and wineries.
Michigan State Extension workers are experimenting with pesticides to control spotted lanternflies, but the number of bugs that can appear on a farm makes pesticide control difficult, Rothwell said.
“There’s not much you can do about them other than kill them,” she said. “They’re going to get here. I don’t really know why they wouldn’t come this far north.”
Spotted lanternflies grow to be a centimeter in diameter and turn bright red. On the East Coast, where they have caused incredible damage to native plants and crops, authorities have urged people who see one to "squash it." (Kenneth Nelson/Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development)
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The skies over Southeast Michigan have been thick with smoke due to over 200 wildfires burning in Canada. Fire officials have classified roughly half of those as “out of control.”
These fires come with many consequences. They have led to thousands of evacuations, with people leaving their homes under duress. The fires have also released vast plumes of smoke, degrading air quality across the American Midwest.
Health experts warn that wildfire smoke poses risks not just to vulnerable groups, but to everyone. Fine particulate matter in the smoke can enter the lungs and bloodstream, leading to serious health issues.
To discuss the health impacts of wildfire smoke and the broader implications for public health, Dr. Omer Awan joined The Metro.
Use the media player above to hear the full conversation.
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President Trump’s latest travel ban targeting 12 countries—many of them Muslim-majority or located in South America and Africa—went into effect today. The proclamation blocks travel to the U.S. for individuals without a valid visa from: Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen.
Seven additional countries also face restrictions: Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela.
Last week, the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR Michigan) issued a community alert urging individuals from the affected countries to return to the U.S. by today if possible.
CAIR Michigan staff attorney Amy Doukoure says the new restrictions could have immediate consequences.
“We might also see people who have a valid visa who don’t quite make it into the United States by June 9, unable to actually enter on the visa that they’re issued. And we will definitely see people who are here on a current valid visa, being unable to travel outside of the United States and then reenter once the travel ban takes effect.”
Doukoure says the policy mirrors previous bans issued during Trump’s first term. She warns it will likely separate families and increase anxiety among communities from the affected countries.
Local ICE protests
About 50 protesters gathered near an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Detroit on Sunday, voicing opposition to the Trump administration’s mass deportation raids.
Russ McNamara reports from the protest.
Leah Checchini of Hazel Park attended the rally. She says her father immigrated from Argentina and believes everyone deserves the same opportunity.
“Just seeing everything that’s going on around me—I have a lot of friends who are in the process of getting their papers taken care of—so watching what’s happening to people like them is enraging, to say the least.”
More protests are planned in cities across the country.
Free clinic offers help with license restoration
The Michigan Department of State is hosting a free clinic to help residents restore their driver’s licenses. The Road to Restoration clinic will take place Tuesday, June 24 at the La SED Senior and Youth Center, located at 7150 Vernor Highway in Detroit. Department staff and pro bono attorneys will be on-site to assist with the process. The clinic runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with walk-ins welcome between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m.
New guidelines added to Michigan’s Eat Safe Fish Guide
About 300 new recommendations have been added to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services’ Eat Safe Fish Guide, with a renewed focus on reducing exposure to PFAS—commonly known as “forever chemicals.”
Officials say the chemicals are more harmful than previously thought. The updated guidelines outline which waterways are safe for fishing and how much of each species is safe to consume. For example, it’s considered safe to eat up to four servings of Bluegill per month from the Detroit River, but Bluegill from Belleville Lake should be completely avoided due to elevated PFAS levels.
Because PFAS are found in the fish fillet, simply trimming fat won’t reduce exposure. However, poking holes in the skin and grilling or broiling the fish can help lower the risk.
You can find the full Eat Safe Fish Guide at michigan.gov.
Reporting by Emma George-Griffin
Fall prevention resources available for Michigan seniors
Several groups are coming together to offer fall prevention resources for seniors. Each year, about 30 percent of Michiganders 65 and older report falling in their homes.
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services’ Bureau of Aging, Community Living and Supports Health Services, the Michigan Falls Prevention Coalition, and Oakland University have partnered to connect people with health care providers, community organizations, and fall prevention resources.
People can explore safety planning tools, physical wellness services, and daily life support online at mi211.org. You can also call 211 for help finding resources.
The website was made possible by a $408,000 grant from the Michigan Health Endowment Fund Healthy Aging initiative.
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.
The two-year search is almost over for participants of the Big Tree Hunt.
The contest, held by environmental nonprofit ReLeaf, challenges everyday citizens to try and find the biggest trees in Michigan.
There are five prize-winning categories, including:
Largest tree submitted by someone under 15
Largest tree submitted by someone 16 and up
Largest tree by county
Largest white pine (Michigan’s state tree)
Any tree that is equal to or greater than the current state champion of a species
“We wanted to get people outside and looking up and being aware of trees and their benefits,” said ReLeaf Executive Director Melinda Jones. She hopes that the friendly competition better connects people with nature and tree conservation.
Looking for trees is one way ReLeaf engages families with young kids, but contestants span all ages.
“It also appeals to a lot of retirees,” said Jones. “They get just as big of a kick.”
ReLeaf reports that they’ve gotten submissions from 70 counties in Michigan so far. They hope to see submissions from the remaining 13 counties: Baraga, Branch, Hillsdale, Lake, Luce, Menominee, Montcalm, Newaygo, Ontonagon, Osceola, Otsego, Schoolcraft and Tuscola.
Crowning new champion trees
ReLeaf also wants Michiganders to work together to find new state and national champion trees.
Big Tree Hunt entries are sent to the Michigan Big Tree Register. Specialists then add additional information such as the height of the tree and its overall health before the tree is added to the national register.
All you need to enter the Big Tree Hunt is a tree’s circumference at “chest height” — that’s 4.5 feet above the ground — and the tree’s location. All entered trees have to be alive, accessible, and new additions to the Michigan Big Tree Register in order to win prizes.
After submissions close, the biggest trees entered into the contest are verified by volunteers, who verify the circumference and species of the nomination.
The last day to enter online or through mail is August 22, 2025.
A photo submission from the 2023-2025 Big Tree Hunt, provided by ReLeaf Michigan
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Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline has been fueling debate for decades.
It carries millions of gallons of crude oil and natural gas liquids each day from Superior, Wisconsin to Sarnia, Ontario. A critical segment of this pipeline lies exposed on the lakebed of the Straits of Mackinac.
It’s a location University of Michigan scientists call the “worst possible place” for an oil spill. That’s because of strong currents that could rapidly spread contaminants across the Great Lakes.
Now, Enbridge wants to build a $500 million dollar tunnel deep under the lakebed to shield the pipeline, prevent an oil spill, and repair aging infrastructure. A new environmental report from the Army Corps of Engineers says it will likely accomplish these things.
But that would come at a cost. Habitats could be destroyed, wildlife disrupted, and tribal rights threatened.
Meanwhile, legal fights continue. Michigan’s governor and Indigenous communities want Line 5 shut down, citing environmental and treaty violations.
Enbridge insists federal law protects the pipeline.
The Army Corps of Engineers is asking people to weigh in on its new report about the tunnel project through the end of the month.
So, it’s a good time to ask: is this tunnel a safe solution or a continuation of something that violates indigenous rights and threatens the environment?
Andrew Buchsbaum, an expert on environmental law at the University of Michigan, has been part of the movement to stop Line 5. He joined The Metro to discuss the new report.
The Metro invited an Enbridge spokesperson to discuss Line 5 and its proposed oil tunnel, but didn’t hear back before the show’s air date.
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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Local nonprofit Sidewalk Detroit has been supporting the community through artistic initiatives for more than a decade.
The organization’s 10th annual Sidewalk Festival is taking place Aug. 1-2, at Eliza Howell Park. The biannual arts and culture celebration features a mixture of music, dance, performance art, interactive installations, and community-driven workshops deeply rooted in social justice.
Sidewalk Detroit also offers an “Earth Futures Fellowship” as part of the festival, which supports local artists who are focused on environmental justice and community action initiatives.
This year, Earth Futures is introducing a storm water education campaign, including multiple hands-on learning opportunities about rainwater collection and remediation, access to clean water in urban environments and more.
To talk more about this year’s festival and fellowship, Sidewalk Detroit’s 2025 Artist in Residence, Maya Davis, and Program Director Augusta Morrison joined The Metro.
–WDET’s Jenny Sherman contributed to this report.
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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This coverage is made possible through a partnership between IPR and Grist, a nonprofit environmental media organization.
Canadian wildfire smoke that blew into the Great Lakes region is expected to clear from northern Michigan this weekend — at least for now.
The Michigan Air Quality Division said Thursday morning that the heavy smoke across the Upper Peninsula was already clearing out. Earlier in the week, there were unhealthy levels of fine particulate matter in the air across parts of the Upper Peninsula and northern Michigan, with smoke settling here for days before moving further south.
While division forecasters expect Friday to be the last day for advisories from this round of smoke, they said it was too early to put out a firm forecast much beyond that: “There is still a considerable amount of smoke in Canada and the models are indicating a late weekend frontal system could draw down more smoke, next week.”
The state has been issuing air quality alerts for much of the region. As of Thursday, there were still advisories across the Lower Peninsula for sensitive groups, including people with health issues like asthma.
People can take measures to protect their health, such as limiting outdoor activities, closing windows, and running air conditioners with high-quality filters.
This is the latest in a series of intense wildfire seasons fueled by dry conditions in Canada, resulting in smoky springs and summers in the Midwest.
“For the last few years, you’ve combined what has been somewhat persistent wildfire problems in Canada with an air flow that is moving some of that air from Canada down into the United States,” said Jim Keysor, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Gaylord.
It can be difficult to predict how far-away wildfires will affect air quality in different regions, since smoke is influenced by factors like wind, pressure systems, weather fronts and geography.
“Wherever the wind blows, the smoke is going to go,” said Alec Kownacki, a meteorologist with Michigan’s Air Quality Division. “And at different levels of the atmosphere you can have differing wind directions.”
Over the past week, low pressure systems funneled smoke from fires in the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba toward the upper Midwest.
“Along with that wind shift, a cold front came through. And what happens on the back end of a cold front — you have a lot of air sinking,” Kownacki said.
Local weather patterns also have an influence. While rain can help improve air quality, the rain that swept across parts of the region earlier this week actually pushed smoke down toward the earth, Keysor said, making exposure more likely.
Smoke from Canadian wildfires was visible from Traverse City drifting across Grand Traverse Bay in May 2024.
“It’s actually helping to bring down some of that smoke that’s higher up into the atmosphere, which normally would have been way up there,” he said. “That wouldn’t have bothered us a whole lot.”
One positive, Keysor added, was that modeling for smoke forecasts has become more accessible in the National Weather Service offices in recent years. Their smoke forecasts are informed by state data.
“The programmers that were putting some of those models together began to look at that [smoke] parameter a little bit more and to make it a product that we could view more readily,” he said. The weather models they use are improving. “We’re able to see more of it than we used to.”
The heavy smoke that was hanging across the Upper Peninsula and northern Michigan has now moved further south, including around Lansing.
“It’s wreaking havoc for us down here right now,” said Kownacki, who is based there.
Conditions are expected to improve across much of the state over the next few days, but there may be more smoke from the fires in the near future.
Timothy Hawkins, Dearborn’s public works director, says the city has kept the title for 38 years.
“We continually make the investment to be a Tree City, and we continually plant more than we remove to maintain our tree city status,” Hawkins said.
He says the city planted 1,200 trees in 2024 and removed about a 1,000 due to disease or construction.
To qualify for Tree City USA status, cities must adhere to the standards laid out by the Arbor Day Foundation, including maintaining a dedicated department for tree management, passing a tree care ordinance, and spending a minimum of $2 per capita annually on its forestry program.
“We’re proud of this designation and plan on keeping our status as a Tree City USA community for many years to come,” said Dearborn Mayor Abdullah H. Hammoud in a news release. “We understand the importance of trees not just to our neighborhoods, but to public health and air quality, which is why we’re intentional in our tree planting efforts.”
Other headlines for Thursday, June 5, 2025:
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) says there’s an increase in recreational nitrous oxide use, or laughing gas, leading to more emergency room visits.
Smoke from Canadian wildfires will linger over metro Detroit through the first half of the day on Friday. The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) has issued air quality alerts for the entire Lower Peninsula and the eastern Upper Peninsula.
Outlier Media is hosting an audio recording training with Detroit Documenter and assistant producer for WDET’s The Metro, Jack Filbrandt. The training will take place from 5 to 7:30 p.m. June 12 at Tech Town.
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.
Michigan State University researchers have launched a decades-long effort to understand how certain conifer species might adapt to future climate stressors.
That includes extreme heat and cold, changing soil conditions, invasive pests, disease, and more.
The project, backed by a $500,000 grant from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, will study three native tree species: jack pine, red pine and eastern white pine, alongside three southern pine species to see how they may adapt to Michigan’s changing environment.
Jeremy Johnson, assistant professor of forest genetics at MSU, says it’s the kind of forward-looking research needed to maintain tree health in the coming century.
“We have to be looking 50 years in the future,” Johnson says. “So much of the research I’ve seen is focused on short-lived species where you can quickly get results but it’s so much harder in [these kinds] trees.”
The research will focus on six test sites statewide and will track progress for 20 years.
Johnson says the study aims to identify trees that are genetically better suited to Michigan’s future climate, and then breed them for stronger growth and resilience.
“We’re dealing with organisms that have very long lives,” explains Johnson “We have to start now, otherwise it’s just going to be too late.”
WDET’s Detroit Tree Canopy Project is an ongoing reporting series that explores the health of Michigan’s trees, forests and urban canopies.
In this episode of The Detroit Evening Report, we cover Detroit parks national ranking, Sister Pie temporarily closing, community milestones, and hepatitis screening and vaccines.
Detroit climbs to 58th in national park ranking, praised for access and equity
Detroit parks ranked 58 on the Trust for Public Land’s 2025 Parkscore Index. That’s up from the 65 spot the city held last year. The ranking is based on five categories: acreage, access, amenities, investment, and equity. Detroit received high marks for park access, with 84 percent of Detroiters living within a 10-minute walking distance of a park. The city also scored well in equity and park amenities. Detroit has more than 300 parks, with 14 regional parks of at least 50 acres, including Belle Isle and Palmer Park.
Sister Pie to temporarily close as owner plans a period of rest and reinvention
Detroit Baker Sister Pie is temporarily closing after experiencing some financial struggles. Owner Lisa Ludwinski announced on the company’s Instagram the business will close and “enter a period of rest and radical reconfiguration, of exploration and experimentation.” Sister Pie will still host occasional pop-up events and continue with special orders and classes. Sister Pie opened in 2015 in West Village. Ludwinski released a cookbook in 2018 that topped the New York Times best baking books of the year.
Windsor park honors Mary E. Bibb with new gateway arch
The Mary E. Bibb Park in Windsor, Ontario unveiled a gateway arch honoring the journalist. She and her husband, Henry, launched the first black newspaper in Canada called the Voice of the Fugitive in 1851. The publication was the first antislavery newspaper published in Canada by people of African descent. Bibb was also an abolitionist, educator, artist, and seamstress. A request was made in 2020 by the Friends of the Court-Mackenzie Hall which is adjacent to the park to rename it in Bibb’s honor. The Friends of the Court commissioned the design, fabrication and installation of the gateway arch, with financial support from the Gordie Howe International Bridge’s community organization investment fund.
Feast of Resistance celebrates Asian comfort food and community milestones this Saturday
The nonprofit, Rising Voices, is hosting their annual Feast of Resistance this Saturday at the ACA Community Center in Madison Heights. The community potluck is a tribute to Asian and Asian American comfort foods. This year is the 50th anniversary of Southeast Asian American refugees immigrating to Michigan, the 20th anniversary of the ACA Community Center, and the fifth anniversary of Rising Voices. The event is free to attend. Potluck dishes are encouraged but not required. It starts at 5:30 p.m. at 32585 Concord Drive in Madison Heights.
Michigan health officials urge testing and vaccination during Hepatitis Awareness Month
May is Hepatitis Awareness Month and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services is urging residents to get tested and vaccinated. Viral hepatitis can cause inflammation to the liver and liver cancer. People who have the virus can go many years without feeling sick, and wont be alerted until advance stages of the disease. Getting tested is the only way to know if you have the virus. The health department recommends vaccination against hepatitis for people of all ages, including children and infants.
Enbridge’s Line 5 oil pipeline cuts beneath the Great Lakes, stretching over 600 miles and crossing beneath the Straits of Mackinac. For decades, the pipeline has raised concerns because of its potential to spill oil and contaminate water for millions of Americans. This water is also a source of sustenance, culture and sovereignty for tribal communities.
Now, Enbridge has a proposal on the table to build a new oil tunnel to replace a section of Line 5. The Canadian oil and gas company says this will address aging infrastructure.
In a statement emailed to WDET, Enbridge spokesperson Ryan Duffy said, in part, that “Enbridge is working with state and federal agencies to study and develop plans that will minimize and mitigate impacts to the natural environment, natural resources, cultural heritage and community priorities.”
Duffy said Enbridge “will build the Great Lakes Tunnel safely, in conformity with thorough safety and environmental reviews by permitting agencies.”
An executive order from the Trump administration could expedite the construction of this project.
But advocates argue that the construction of this new oil tunnel and potential leaks from it pose numerous threats, especially to tribal fishing rights and livelihoods.
Andrea Pierce, a member of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians and the policy director at Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition, is among the tribal activists speaking out against this project. She sat down with The Metro’s Robyn Vincent on the shores of Mackinac Island ahead of a rally protesting the proposed oil tunnel.
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.
This story has been updated with a statement from Enbridge.
Enbridge is a financial supporter of WDET. Our newsroom observes a clear boundary between funders and editorial content, and we do not serve the agendas of those who support us.
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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.
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)
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