Starting this month, Michiganders will have a new custom license plate option to choose from, but it’s an effort to bring awareness to conservation.
The new plate features the Kirtland’s Warbler.
The bird was endangered for half a century until 2019, when the species made a comeback.
Holly Vaughn is the public outreach and engagement unit manager at the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
"By 1974, there were only 176 nesting pairs in Michigan. Today we have 2,245 pairs in Michigan, it is a conservation success story.”
Vaughn attributes their flourishing to prescribed fire burns and elimination of competition in the Jack Pine forests the birds nest in.