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Traverse Area Paddle Club

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Trip Reports

July 30, 2015 - Upper Platte River Revisited

Published on 7/30/2015
 
July 30,  2015 - Upper Platte River Revisited
 
 Today three of us, Paul, Harold and I went back to the Upper Platte River
to pick up 11 pieces of debris that had been found and dismantled
earlier in the month but which were not able to be removed to a dumpster.
 
 To shorten the project we put in at the Pioneer Rd bridge.
 
 
 This is what it looked like when Mike Jones pulled it out.

 
  
  This is what it looked like after we cut it up into 9 small pieces.
  
 
We found the pile of debris easily and got it in our canoes fast.
 
 
 After only one hour on the river we got to our takeout at Jim Keglovitz's house
only to find an interesting visitor.
 
Does any one know what kind he is?
 
PS.  John Heiam reports this:
 

I think the snake is an Eastern Hognose snake – see below:

 

 
  
Tom Auer reports this:
 
That is a northern Watersnake, and is almost always the one you see near the water and
found in Michigan.

It is not friendly in my value and may bite your hand if you try to pick it up. 

It is a good thing when you see one of those. And a sense it's a cheap test of water quality and reflects the absence of the environmental pollutants and invasive species.

That is indicated because the primary food of that snake his frogs and occasional minnows.
which suggests that nearby landowners are not using insecticides 
which would limit insects which of course are the food of frogs and hence bigger frog populations.

The snake is a fast swimmer and like all snakes is declining in population since snakes
get killed commonly AND some say that Wetlands have decreased 73% in
Michigan the last hundred years AND in some places still water quality is poor.

This is a website you could use to match a picture to things you see occasionally,
 and then therefore identify snake,  turtles and amphibians.

 
 Then Jim and Claudia Keglovitz made us lunch.  What sweet people!!!!!
 
 
 
Do we look tired?
 

 
 Then Paul and I took the pieces to the dump at the GT DNR Field office.
 
 
 It is great to have this project done!!!!
 
The UPR never looked better. 
 
Our thanks go out to the Keglovitzs not only for their hospitality but also for
their dedication to the UPR and to the betterment of the environment.
 
And to Ada Takacs of the DNR for letting us use the DNR scrap pile.
That made the project so much simpler for us.
 
Also many thanks go out to Adams Chapter Trout Unlimited for having the
faith in us to help fund this and so many other river cleanup projects over the years.
 

Submitted by Norm Fred