Author: Peter Petainen

This author has written 114 articles

Sault Ste. Marie Bridge Authority elects new officers

Fast facts:

– The Sault Ste. Marie Bridge Authority (SSMBA) board of directors named Natalie Kinloch as its chair and Linda Hoath vice chair for 2019.
– The board consists of eight members: four Michigan members appointed by Gov. Snyder and four Canadian members appointed by The Federal Bridge Corporation Limited (FBCL).
– The board heard reports on the bridge’s recent fracture critical inspection and an annual inspection.

At today’s Sault Ste. Marie Bridge Authority (SSMBA) board meeting, the bi-national body that supervises operations of the International Bridge elected officers for 2019.

Natalie Kinloch of Apple Hill, Ontario, was elected as the 2019 chair of the SSMBA board of directors. A member of the SSMBA board since 2015, Kinloch is the chief operating officer of The Federal Bridge Corporation Limited (FBCL), (more…)

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Getting set to leave the nest: Falcons banded at two U.P bridges

Fast facts:

– A pair of peregrine falcons successfully nested on the Sault Ste. Marie International Bridge, where the birds have been returning for years, raising one chick.
– In honor of the 350th anniversary of Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., the hatchling was named after Susan Johnston (Ozhaguscodaywayquay in Ojibwe), a prominent Sault resident in the early 1800s.
– Another pair of the endangered birds has successfully nested on the Portage Lake Lift Bridge again this year.

July 2, 2018 — It’s been a productive summer for Upper Peninsula bridges and their resident raptors, with peregrine falcons at the Sault Ste. Marie International Bridge successfully raising a chick and the Portage Lake Lift Bridge between Houghton and Hancock seeing three hatchlings this spring.

Caption info: Members of a Michigan DNR team put identifying bands on this peregrine falcon chick that successfully hatched at the Sault Ste. Marie International Bridge this year. (IBA photo)
Caption info: Members of a Michigan DNR team put identifying bands on this peregrine falcon chick that successfully hatched at the Sault Ste. Marie International Bridge this year. (IBA photo)

On the eastern end of the U.P., Karl Hansen, bridge engineer for the International Bridge Administration (IBA), reported that a pair of peregrine falcons successfully nested atop the bridge between the U.S. and Canada this spring, hatching two chicks – one of which died after hatching. (more…)

Continue ReadingGetting set to leave the nest: Falcons banded at two U.P bridges