Alpena Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office

05/26/2026

Safety is key! Here, our Alpena divers run through their safety checks prior to starting the survey dive. This is to ensure we minimize risk and maximize safety!

Photo by Jocelynne Samu-Pittard/USFWS

05/19/2026

It’s hard to beat that office view 😍 Our mussel surveying team sets up shop on the river so they can collect data, sometimes including genetics.

Photo by Jocelynne Samu-Pittard/USFWS

05/12/2026

The Alpena Dive Team took a Scientific River Dive training at the National Conservation Training Center last year. Professionals from the public and private sector came together to gain skills and share knowledge. Now they’re ready to take on SCUBA diving mussel surveys in rivers across the state!

05/05/2026

We love our partners 🥰 Last year during a mussel survey, we had partners join us from a multitude of agencies and organizations (federal, state, and local). We couldn’t have done it without them!

Here we have staff from Alpena FWCO, Green Bay FWCO, and the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge sorting through substrate and mussels collected during a quadrat survey.

Photo by Jocelynne Samu-Pittard/USFWS

04/30/2026

The sora is a small (about the size of a robin), secretive marsh bird you can find in wetlands around the Great Lakes. It has a short yellow bill and loves to walk across floating plants like American lotus. Soras are more often heard than seen, making whinnying and clucking calls from the reeds. During migration, they stop in Great Lakes marshes to rest and feed on seeds and insects. Healthy wetlands are important for Soras and many other animals—so protecting these habitats helps keep their hidden world alive.

Photo by Jess Bowser/USFWS

04/29/2026

Our crews are all back out on the water! The AIS crew spent their first week in Marblehead and the Portage River in Ohio. Here are some of the species they recorded.

Photos by Janine Lajavic/USFWS

04/28/2026

5 years ago on Lake St. Clair.

04/28/2026

Diving for mussels isn’t always glamourous – the water isn’t always warm or clear. But it’s important work, and our team loves it! Here, one diver submerges for the survey while his buddy holds his tether line and some of the gear he’ll need for digging. Dive buddies are always at the ready to make sure the diver is safe and fully-equipped.

Video by Jocelynne Samu-Pittard/USFWS

04/27/2026

When you realize tomorrow is Monday…

Spotted on the campus of National Conservation Training Center.

Photo by Michael Schindler/USFWS

04/24/2026