# DNR's Dan Kennedy receives 2014 Huron Pines Award



## Steve (Jan 15, 2000)

*DNR's Dan Kennedy receives 2014 Huron Pines Award*

Contact: Abigail Ertel (Huron Pines), 989-448-2293, ext. 14 or Dan Kennedy (DNR), 517-284-6194
Agency: Natural Resources









Feb. 20, 2014

Huron Pines recently honored Department of Natural Resources (DNR) endangered species coordinator Dan Kennedy with the 2014 Huron Pines Award to recognize his commitment to natural resources conservation in northeast Michigan. [_Pictured, left to right: DNR Director Keith Creagh, Abigail Ertel of Huron Pines and DNR endangered species coordinator Dan Kennedy._]

"Dan's ability to bring new ideas and a fresh perspective to often challenging and difficult discussions has helped to provide clarity for partners as we all enter this transition phase for the Kirtland's warbler conservation together," said Abigail Ertel, Kirtland's warbler coordinator for Huron Pines.

Ertel presented Kennedy with the award at Huron Pines' annual meeting. Kennedy works in the DNR Wildlife Division's Lansing office, where he has run the state endangered species program for the past two years.

"We are at a very exciting time right now for endangered species," said Kennedy. "To have one more species on the path of being delisted in Michigan is a huge success for everyone involved."

The Kirtland's warbler population recovery is a great success story in Michigan. Michigan's northern Lower Peninsula is the nesting nucleus for this species. Small numbers of the birds also nest in the Upper Peninsula, Wisconsin and the province of Ontario. The Kirtland's warbler has very strict nesting habitat requirements, nesting almost exclusively in dense, young jack pine stands. Through intense habitat management, Michigan's forests have been managed to provide just the right-aged jack pine for this special ground-nesting bird.

Huron Pines is a nonprofit conservation organization whose mission is to conserve the forests, lakes and streams of northeast Michigan. Huron Pines, the DNR, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Forest Service are currently working together on the Kirtland's Warbler Initiative - a plan to manage for the Kirtland's warbler with its future removal from the endangered species list.

To learn more about the Kirtland's warbler, visit www.michigan.gov/wildlife.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources is committed to the conservation, protection, management, use and enjoyment of the state's natural and cultural resources for current and future generations. For more information, go to www.michigan.gov/dnr.











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