Huron Pines

09/04/2026

Join a Community Resilience Roundtable with Hannah Mico Oct. 1 at ONE WATER GATHERING in Alpena

Whether we’re tackling climate, coastal or general community resilience, the best solutions are often already in our communities. Local leaders, lived experience and place-based knowledge are the keys to understanding and solving resilience challenges.

Hannah Mico of River Network will lead a discussion on strategies to enable meaningful community-led planning and actions. Participants will be led through activities helping them adapt tools and frameworks to work for their specific communities.

As Resilient Communities Manager at River Network, Mico assists organizations across the Great Lakes and beyond with building capacity in themselves and their communities.

Learn more and get tickets at lakehuronforever.org/onewater. Block-rate rooms at Holiday Inn Express in Alpena are available until Sept. 7.

09/01/2026

It's been a pleasure working hand in hand with the community of Au Gres on these gardens. Be sure to check them out!

The City of Au Gres Au Gres-Sims School District

08/31/2026

We're getting ready to swap an undersized culvert with a timber bridge at the very start of the Main Branch Thunder Bay River. Once complete, the project will mark the last in a series of eight such projects representing nearly $4 million in new road infrastructure in Montmorency County.

The perched and undersized culvert at Lutz Road will be replaced with a timber bridge to restore natural river conditions and virtually eliminate the risk of a road washout at the spot where the Main Branch Thunder Bay River begins its 75-mile journey to Lake Huron.

This project marks the 140th road crossing Huron Pines has improved in the last 20 years. All told, our work has reconnected more than 700 miles of rivers and streams for trout and wildlife across Northeast Michigan.

08/28/2026

Just as each Great Lake is connected to the next, so are the communities working to protect them 💙

All across the Great Lakes, our Canadian partners are preserving natural shorelines, restoring habitat, improving water quality, engaging communities in conservation and inspiring the next generation of freshwater stewards. While the projects may look different from one shore to the next, we share the common goals of healthy communities, resilient habitats and clean water throughout the Great Lakes Basin.

Stewarding a natural resource as vast and interconnected as the Great Lakes requires collaboration across borders. Through these binational partnerships we share knowledge, learn from one another and work together to address challenges that no single organization, community or nation can tackle alone.

Huron Pines is grateful for the dedication, expertise and creativity brought to this mission by our Canadian partners and are proud to work alongside them to care for the waters that connect us all. We're turning collaboration into action through the Lake Huron Forever initiative, bringing American and Canadian colleagues together to protect our shared waters and strengthen our coastal communities. In October we'll welcome the initiative to Alpena for our annual One Water Gathering to celebrate another year of progress and plan what's next for our Great Lakes. Learn more at lakehuronforever.org.

08/28/2026

Our campaign to protect Potters Point got a big boost this week with a $10,000 donation from Alpena Alcona Area Credit Union to help secure this Great Lakes legacy for northeast Michigan.

With their donation, AAACU shows their deep support for the communities they serve by helping protect 41 acres of forests, rare coastal wetlands and 8,000 feet of undeveloped Lake Huron shoreline for generations to explore and enjoy.

Thank you to our friends at AAACU and to everyone who supported our Potters Point campaign. We’re eager to welcome you all when the preserve opens in early Summer 2027.

08/27/2026

The bioswale is in bloom at Au Gres Riverside Park, where native wildflowers are filtering pollutants out of stormwater before they reach the river.

Designed and installed in 2020 by students of Au Gres Sims High School, the garden uses well-draining soil and deep roots to help stormwater filter into the ground. Water and nutrients are then taken up by plants, producing an abundance of native wildflowers that attract a host of beneficial insects and birds.

This project is one of several in the community that reflect our longstanding partnership with Au Gres-Sims Schools and strong local support of water quality in Michigan's first Lake Huron Forever community.

08/25/2026

Huron Pines' stewardship staff paddled Shupac Lake near Lovells earlier this month in search of purple loosestrife, an invasive species.

Working on behalf of the Huron Heartland Invasive Species Network, our team pulled these invasive plants from the public shoreline to compliment removals being done by private residents on their properties.

By managing invasive species, we ensure healthy habitats for native plants and wildlife including pink water lilies, northern water snakes and fishing spiders, all of which we encountered throughout the day.

08/20/2026

Thanks to a grant from the Great Lakes Energy People Fund, Huron Pines is now equipped with an Automated External Defibrillator (AED), a life-saving device in cardiac emergencies.

An AED works by delivering an electric shock to a person suffering cardiac arrest or arrhythmia. We work and hold volunteer events in remote areas of Northern Michigan, so having this portable device on hand can provide critical life-saving support in a medical emergency until first responders arrive.

The Great Lakes Energy People Fund is supported by utility customers who voluntarily round up their bills to the next dollar. These rounded funds are distributed to nonprofits and charitable activities that benefit people in communities served by the cooperative utility.

08/18/2026

Huron Pines achieved a restoration milestone in July with the removal of Sanback Dam in Rose City. Read some of the dam's history and learn what's next for the community as we work to restore Beechwood Creek and Metcalf Park:

For seven decades, Sanback Dam powered machines that built, fed and electrified Rose City. But since operations ceased in 1955, the dam stood as a 20-foot wall of crumbling concrete. Now the dam is gone and the community is writing the next chapter for its public park.

08/17/2026

We're teaming up with HeadWaters Land Conservancy and Otsego Conservation District for Conservation Con: A Post-Storms Community Workshop, happening Sept. 26 at Treetops Resort.

This event brings conservation groups, emergency resources and the public together to share information about environmental disaster mitigation and preparation. Attendees will hear from speakers across forestry, utilities, water quality, environmental services and emergency management, and will leave better prepared to deal with the aftermath of recent storms as well as future disasters.

Conservation Con is free and open to the public. For more info, visit headwatersconservancy.org/conservation-con

Join us at the Conservation Convention on September 26, 2026, to learn disaster preparedness and connect with local resources.