From 3,000 feet in the sky, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources pilot cruises over farmland and endless forest, watching for hazards that could endanger northern Michiganders and the land they love.

During fire season, like the one currently reaching its tail end, some people notice the work of DNR fire spotters as they buzz above not-yet-green fields and woodlands, looking for signs of trouble.

Lesser known is the work the pilots do the rest of the year to protect and enrich the state’s natural resources.

Though few people notice him buzzing overhead, he’d recommend the job to anyone, Dusendang said.

News Photo by Julie Riddle The initial fire location for May’s Blue Lakes Fire in Montmorency County, along east-west and north-south stretches of Blue Lakes Club Road in Montmorency County, appears from the air on Wednesday.

“Basically, it’s awesome,” the pilot said.

On high fire danger days, fire spotters circle the skies looking for smoke, Dusendang said, piloting his aircraft west from Alpena on Wednesday morning.

In the far distance, a pillar of white pinpointed where DNR firefighters conducted a controlled burn near Gaylord.

Smoke could mean a farmer burning logs in a field. Or, it could mean a wildfire, like the recent Blue Lakes Fire that burned 2,500 acres of woodland in Montmorency and Cheboygan counties.

Another pilot was the first to report the fire, along with a caller to 911 who saw the fire from the ground on May 13.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Furrows dug by firefighters to create a boundary around May’s Blue Lakes Fire in Montmorency County appear from the air on Wednesday.

After reporting a wildfire, DNR pilots stick close, serving as the eyes in the sky for those fighting the blaze on the ground, Dusendang said.

When he first arrives at a fire, Dusendang starts taking pictures, hundreds of which will be stitched together digitally to help those on the ground understand the fire.

Pilots can steer firefighters toward paths through the woods not visible from the ground or guide them away from hot spots as the wind shifts and sends flames in a new direction.

In most wildfires, as with the Blue Lakes fire, flames start at a single origin point — in the recent case, from a tree struck by lightning — and spread in a V-shape, driven by the wind.

From the air, pilots can guide firefighters to that starting point, from which on-the-ground workers can use heavy equipment to dig trenches along the sides of the V to contain the fire, Dusendang explained, flying over the remains of the Blue Lake Fire on Wednesday.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Ben Dusendang, pilot for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, points to fire damage in Montmorency County on Wednesday.

When fires crown, flames engulf entire trees and then rush across treetops, leaving swaths of blackness behind them.

“There’s still trees there,” said Dusendang, pointing to a large, dark patch. “They’re just a bunch of sticks.”

Though fire season can last several months, DNR pilots wing their way around northern Michigan the rest of the year, as well.

A DNR pilot’s work year starts in the first days of January with a waterfowl survey.

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News Photo by Julie Riddle A portion of Montmorency County forest burned in May’s Blue Lakes Fire appears from the air on Wednesday.

With a biologist in his passenger seat, Dusendang skims over rivers and bays, looking for dark blobs made up of thousands of ducks or geese that the biologist counts.

That count contributes to better animal management practices by the state, Dusendang said.

Shortly thereafter, he flies a three-week elk survey, crisscrossing northern Michigan’s elk ranges with a camera and a companion, counting elk and documenting habitat conditions for better habitat management.

Such surveys can mean flying 5,000 miles a day without ever leaving northern Michigan, Dusendang said.

Fire season typically keeps pilots busy much of the spring, depending on the weather.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Burned trees line Blue Lakes Club Road in Montmorency County, as seen from the air on Wednesday.

After a lull in June, pilots get busy again in July, toting forest health specialists to look for and record areas infested by invasive species, their harmful impact on trees visible from the air.

October marks a swing into fall hunting season, when pilots work with DNR’s law division to spot people trying to sidestep the state’s hunting regulations.

With a conservation officer in his passenger seat as a witness, Dusendang scans for feed piles or makes night flights, looking for the spotlights of people poaching in the darkness.

Such work keeps pilots busy through the end of the year, when they take a break for a week, and then, “We’re right back at it,” Dusendang said.

The job keeps him busy, but flying for the DNR might just be the best gig in the world, he said, enthusing about bald eagle surveys that let him peek into 300 known eagle nests in the state and bear tracking flights that let him play a hand in uniting orphaned cubs with sows that will take them in.

A one-time Black Hawk helicopter pilot in Afghanistan, Dusendang now operates drones that drop “dragon eggs” — devices carrying chemicals that ignite small fires — over controlled burn areas to make the job safer for firefighters on the ground.

While below him the people for whom he works rarely notice his presence, the pilot keeps flying, trying to make Michigan’s outdoors better and safer.

“You don’t get much praise,” Dusendang said. “But, when you help conservation officers on the ground, evacuate a house and keep a family safe, you can go home knowing you helped somebody.”

Julie Riddle can be reached at 989-358-5693 or jriddle@thealpenanews.com. Follow her on Twitter @jriddleX.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Ben Dusendang, fire spotter pilot for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, takes off in a Cessna 182 from the Alpena County Regional Airport on Wednesday.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Ben Dusendang, pilot for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, prepares his Cessna 182 aircraft for a passenger at the Great Lakes Air hangar at the Alpena County Regional Airport on Wednesday.

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