JACKSON, Mich., March 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Consumers Energy has received the Michigan Audubon Society's 2007 Environmental Business Award. The state-wide award recognizes "outstanding contributions by groups, businesses and individuals who preserve and improve the environment," said the Audubon Society in a letter to the utility. Specifically, the Audubon Society award recognized the Consumers Energy Hydro Generation Department's successful reintroduction of native trumpeter swans near its hydroelectric generating dams along the Au Sable River. "Your stewardship program of Michigan's natural resources has benefited all of our citizens," said Michigan Audubon Society President Jack Lapinski. Consumers Energy Director of Environmental Services Dr. Gary Dawson and Hydro Generation Senior Natural Resource Manager James R. Bernier accepted the Award on behalf of the utility. Dawson initiated the plan to restore trumpeter swans to the Au Sable River and worked with officials from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Michigan State University and the U.S. Forest Service to develop the project. During 1997-98 the utility introduced 14 trumpeter swans raised at the Michigan State University Kellogg Bird Sanctuary on the reservoirs behind Alcona, Loud, Cooke and Foote Dams. A self sustaining trumpeter swan population has been established as a result, with breeding pairs of swans located not only on the reservoirs but also on small lakes, ponds and beaver flowages throughout the surrounding Huron-Manistee National Forest. In its most recent census, AuSable Valley Audubon counted 138 trumpeter swans wintering in the area. Consumers Energy was also recognized by the Michigan Audubon Society for producing a pamphlet, "Trumpeter Swans of the Au Sable River," to help educate the public on the beautiful, endangered birds. Hydro Generation's Bernier worked with AuSable Valley Audubon to develop the brochure and Consumers Energy funded its production. In addition to the trumpeter swan project, long standing bald eagle management efforts, a large eastern bluebird and wood duck nest box program and peregrine falcon projects at the utility's Cobb and Campbell Plants help make Consumers Energy a very bird friendly business. At the utility's Whiting generating plant near Luna Pier Consumers is helping to manage migratory bird habitat as a partner in The Nature Conservancy's western Lake Erie stop-over initiative. Consumers Energy's 13 hydroelectric dams have the capacity to generate 132 megawatts of renewable electricity at facilities on the Au Sable, Manistee, Muskegon, Grand and Kalamazoo rivers. Reservoirs created by the dams provide recreational opportunities; nearly 30,000 acres of Consumers Energy land adjacent to the dams are open to the public. Consumers Energy, the principal subsidiary of CMS Energy, provides natural gas and electricity to nearly 6.5 million of Michigan's 10 million residents in all 68 Lower Peninsula counties. For more information about Consumers Energy, visit our Website at http://www.consumersenergy.com/ DATASOURCE: Consumers Energy CONTACT: Kelly Farr of Consumers Energy Hydro Dams, +1-989-891-3451 Web site: http://www.consumersenergy.com/ Company News On-Call: http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/203850.html

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