These are some of the endangered or rare species who find homes at DTE Energy facilities.

Peregrine Falcons

Since the mid-1990s, DTE Energy has been supporting peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus) reintroduction and breeding programs in southeastern Michigan with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment.  We provide assistance – via bucket trucks and trained personnel – to biologists monitoring nesting birds in the City of Detroit, as well as peregrines who have created homes near power plants.  Employees assist with banding, tracking, and occasionally rescuing chicks from perilous situations.  When MichCon owned the Guardian Building in Detroit, a Web cam tracked one nest for a year and provided many with a glimpse into the daily life of the world’s fastest animal.  To date, these efforts have successfully fledged over two dozen peregrine chicks in the Detroit metro area.

Peregrines have been recorded showing nesting behavior at Monroe Power Plant since 1994.  Nesting has been continuously successful since 1997 with the hatching of many chicks.  There has been a steady stream of adult breeding peregrines.  The most recent male, Leopold, lived to the ripe old age of 14, and fledged in his lifetime at the Monroe site a total of 22 peregrines (14 female, 8 male).

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Bald Eagles

Our power plants, particularly Monroe and Fermi 2, are home to many bald eagles. The January MDNRE Eagle Count has tallied over 100 eagles, adults and juveniles, congregating near the shoreline at the Monroe Power Plant, and eagles have nested regularly at Fermi 2. 

In another eagle project, Detroit Edison apprentice linemen installed utility poles that were then used as the structure for an eagle habitat at the Lake Erie Metropark.  The Huron Clinton Metropolitan Authority, which operates the Lake Erie Metropark, has received a federal license to house at the park an injured eagle that cannot be released back to the wild. 

Apprentice linemen were similarly employed in installing an eagle nesting on Humbug Island within the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge, and a great blue heron rookery at Lyon Oaks County Park. 

These projects provide tremendous benefits to our feathered friends, while giving the apprentices experience in installing tall poles without energized lines and equipment involved.  Linemen go through a four-year apprenticeship to learn the skills needed for their essential and potentially dangerous jobs.

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American Lotus

Located between the Raisin River and Plum Creek on a 1,000-acre tract, the Monroe Power Plant is home to the American lotus (Nelumbo lutea), listed as threatened in the state of Michigan. This aquatic plant grows in quiet waters in ponds, lakes and the edges of slow moving streams and rivers. It produces a magnificent pale yellow flower held erect above the water that blooms in mid to late summer. Large, circular leaves either float on the water or extend a few feet above the surface. The plant naturally cleans the water in which it lives, which is important for the native fish and wildlife.

In partnership with the Lotus Garden Club of Monroe, the ecology and beauty of the lotus is shared with the local community when DTE Energy opens the Monroe Power Plant property for guided tours of the beds. As a result of this initiative, other nearby industrial sites have opened their doors to the Lotus Garden Club and American lotus conservation efforts.

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Lake Sturgeon

The Lake sturgeon has been called a relic from the age of dinosaurs. The sturgeon has no scales but is covered with five rows of bone-like plates on its back, sides, and stomach. Sturgeon are the longest lived of Michigan's fish species and can reach 100 years old. They can grow to over 8 feet in length and weigh up to 800 pounds.

The lake sturgeon is listed as threatened or endangered by 19 of the 20 states within their original range in the United States. Many federal, state and local agencies have been working to rehabilitate lake sturgeon in the waterways connecting Lakes Huron and Erie.  In 2004, the partners constructed the area’s first artificial spawning reef in the Detroit River.

Three different materials (coal cinders, cobble and broken limestone) were deposited to create spawning beds off the coast of Belle Isle in the Detroit River.  DTE Energy provided 765 tons of coal cinders, also known as “bottom ash.”  Bottom ash is one of the by-products of the coal combustion process used to generate electricity. The material was chosen as one of the substrates because research has shown that sturgeon currently successfully spawn on beds of coal cinders dropped in the lakes by 19th century freighters.

The project partners hope that mating sturgeon will use these spawning beds, which have already proven attractive to a variety of other native fish.  DTE Energy has also supported the creation of other artificial spawning beds in the Detroit River using information gained from the Belle Isle project.  It is hoped that these projects will lead to future successful artificial spawning reefs throughout the Great Lakes system.

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Bats

Michigan is home to nine different species of bats. But bat populations decrease every year because of human disturbance, extermination and loss of habitat.  While most are not on the endangered or threatened species lists, the Indiana bat (Myotis sodalis) is endangered throughout its range, which includes Michigan.  Bats are also at risk due to the spread of certain diseases or funguses, such as the mysterious "white nose syndrome" which is devastating bat populations in the eastern United States.  

A single bat can eat as many as 8,000 mosquitoes in one night. Increasing bat habitats can be a natural and environmentally friendly approach to mosquito management, and lead to a reduction in West Nile virus cases and other diseases transmitted by these insects. 

We can help bats by teaching people about them and by installing bat houses to give them a home. In the last two decades, Detroit Edison has installed dozens of bat houses on community and company-owned property. 

Bat houses should be installed at least 15 feet off the ground on dead trees, non-utility poles* and the side of buildings, facing south or southeast. They should be painted black to retain heat. For more information about bats and bat houses, visit the Organization for Bat Conservation Web site.

*While DTE Energy has installed bat houses on select utility poles, we cannot allow individuals to install bat houses or any other items on our poles. Unauthorized objects on utility poles are dangerous for our linemen and will be removed.

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Common Terns

Common terns actually aren't very common.  Once numbering in the thousands along the Detroit River, the common tern (Sterna hirundo) population has declined dramatically.  Only 250 breeding pairs can be found along the river in remnant gravel beds. DTE Energy partnered with a teacher from Southgate Anderson High School, Friends of the Detroit River, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Grosse Ile Nature and Land Conservancy in hopes of helping the common tern make a comeback.

Based on the knowledge that common terns prefer to nest in riverine gravel beds, project partners created an artificial nesting island around a bridge pylon located near the Trenton Channel Power Plant using crushed limestone.  In 2005, 180 pairs of common terns made the island home.  We have also created a common tern nesting habitat at the River Rouge Power Plant.

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