Want to help us protect and promote Michigan’s natural and cultural resources? Here are a few ways you can get involved with the DNR in December.
Winter bird counts
You can contribute to science while you’re birding! Winter bird counts help scientists better understand winter bird movements, assess bird population health and guide meaningful conservation action.
Join Audubon’s 123rd Christmas Bird Count, Dec. 14 through Jan. 5, 2023. Data submitted by volunteers helps scientists identify long-term population trends and movements for hundreds of bird species across North America.
You can also count birds at your feeder for efforts like Kalamazoo Nature Center’s Michigan Winter Feeder Count or the national Project FeederWatch.
Be on the lookout for bear dens
If you’re out enjoying the outdoors in the northern Lower Peninsula, let us know if you spot any bear dens. We’re looking for locations of denned bears to grow the surrogate sow program, which places orphaned bear cubs with mother bears.
Learn more about this program and what to do if you find a bear den at https://bit.ly/BearDens (case sensitive).
For more opportunities to volunteer, contribute and provide input, visit Michigan.gov/DNRVolunteers
