JACKSON, Mich., March 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Consumers Energy has
received the Michigan Audubon Society's 2007 Environmental Business Award.
The state-wide award recognizes "outstanding contributions by groups,
businesses and individuals who preserve and improve the environment," said
the Audubon Society in a letter to the utility.
Specifically, the Audubon Society award recognized the Consumers Energy
Hydro Generation Department's successful reintroduction of native trumpeter
swans near its hydroelectric generating dams along the Au Sable River.
"Your stewardship program of Michigan's natural resources has benefited all
of our citizens," said Michigan Audubon Society President Jack Lapinski.
Consumers Energy Director of Environmental Services Dr. Gary Dawson and
Hydro Generation Senior Natural Resource Manager James R. Bernier accepted
the Award on behalf of the utility. Dawson initiated the plan to restore
trumpeter swans to the Au Sable River and worked with officials from the
Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Michigan State University and the
U.S. Forest Service to develop the project.
During 1997-98 the utility introduced 14 trumpeter swans raised at the
Michigan State University Kellogg Bird Sanctuary on the reservoirs behind
Alcona, Loud, Cooke and Foote Dams. A self sustaining trumpeter swan
population has been established as a result, with breeding pairs of swans
located not only on the reservoirs but also on small lakes, ponds and
beaver flowages throughout the surrounding Huron-Manistee National Forest.
In its most recent census, AuSable Valley Audubon counted 138 trumpeter
swans wintering in the area.
Consumers Energy was also recognized by the Michigan Audubon Society
for producing a pamphlet, "Trumpeter Swans of the Au Sable River," to help
educate the public on the beautiful, endangered birds. Hydro Generation's
Bernier worked with AuSable Valley Audubon to develop the brochure and
Consumers Energy funded its production.
In addition to the trumpeter swan project, long standing bald eagle
management efforts, a large eastern bluebird and wood duck nest box program
and peregrine falcon projects at the utility's Cobb and Campbell Plants
help make Consumers Energy a very bird friendly business. At the utility's
Whiting generating plant near Luna Pier Consumers is helping to manage
migratory bird habitat as a partner in The Nature Conservancy's western
Lake Erie stop-over initiative.
Consumers Energy's 13 hydroelectric dams have the capacity to generate
132 megawatts of renewable electricity at facilities on the Au Sable,
Manistee, Muskegon, Grand and Kalamazoo rivers. Reservoirs created by the
dams provide recreational opportunities; nearly 30,000 acres of Consumers
Energy land adjacent to the dams are open to the public.
Consumers Energy, the principal subsidiary of CMS Energy, provides
natural gas and electricity to nearly 6.5 million of Michigan's 10 million
residents in all 68 Lower Peninsula counties.
For more information about Consumers Energy, visit our Website at
http://www.consumersenergy.com
SOURCE Consumers Energy
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CONTACT:
Kelly Farr of Consumers Energy Hydro Dams,
+1-989-891-3451
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