Michigan’s Budget Includes $2 Million to Conserve Wetlands, Critical for Vulnerable Birds, Communities

Michigan (July 3, 2026) – Michigan’s FY27 Price range consists of $2 million for the Michigan Division of Pure Assets to purchase and preserve wetlands all through the state, a essential funding within the well being of birds and communities throughout Michigan, and a $1 million improve from the earlier yr.

“For birds just like the Black Tern—a species that builds its floating nests on wetlands—there’s nowhere else to go when wetlands are misplaced. This funding in wetlands conservation is an funding within the long-term survival of birds that want them,” stated Brian Vigue, Coverage Director of Freshwater for Audubon Nice Lakes. “Whereas funding fell wanting the historic $3 million budgeted in fiscal yr 2025, we’re happy to see that wetlands conservation continued to stay a precedence for lawmakers, and doubled from the earlier yr.”

The 2025 State of the Birds report, printed by a coalition of science and conservation teams, reveals that U.S. birds are declining sharply throughout a variety of habitats. Michigan has misplaced 50 % of its historic wetlands, and the Black Tern—a species that is determined by wetland habitat—has misplaced almost 99 % of its state inhabitants since 1966 and was added to the state threatened and endangered species record in 2024.

Wetland conservation can be a chance to deal with the rising challenge of flooding. This spring, March and April marked the wettest two-month interval on report throughout a lot of the state. With precipitation occasions on the rise, wetlands can present a pure protection. Wetlands take up and maintain onto floodwater, releasing it slowly again into the atmosphere when circumstances enhance. One acre of wetland, one foot deep, can retailer as much as 1.5 million gallons of water.

Throughout Michigan, Audubon Nice Lakes is working to instantly restore 12,500 acres of high-priority wetlands in areas similar to Japanese Lake Michigan, St. Mary’s River and the Straits of Mackinac, Saginaw Bay, and Detroit River and the St. Clair Flats areas. Over the following decade, Audubon goals to positively impression 142,000 acres throughout the state in partnership with varied stakeholders.   

“We thank Governor Whitmer and the Michigan Legislature for recognizing the unbelievable worth that wetlands present to birds and individuals, and passing a state finances that may assist preserve these necessary pure assets throughout the state,” stated Vigue.

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