A private grant has been awarded for a campaign to restore the arctic grayling to northern Michigan waters.
The Henry E. and Consuelo S. Wenger Foundation is giving $180,000 to the initiative. The funding will support studies of how existing populations of brown and brook trout might affect young grayling that would be planted in streams.
The grayling is native to Michigan but the fish disappeared in the last century because of habitat damage during the logging era.
The state Department of Natural Resources and the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians kicked off a partnership last year to restore self-sustaining populations of the fish. More than 40 other organizations are taking part.
The Consumers Energy Foundation and Rotary Charities of Traverse City also have provided grants for the initiative.
