Groups fight to keep 16,000 acres of national forest in Michigan road-free

The US Forest Service is planning to rescind the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule that protects nearly 45 million acres of National Forest System lands
About 16,000 acres of Michigan land could lose federal roadless protections if the rule change goes through
Michigan groups are holding an event Saturday and urging residents to comment before the Oct. 6 deadline

Conservation groups are on a quest to keep thousands of acres of national forest land in Michigan free from permanent roads and logging.

The US Forest Service is planning to rescind the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule that protects nearly 45 million acres of National Forest System lands across the US — and about 16,000 acres in Michigan — from such development, with some exceptions.

The agency says decisions about how to manage wildfires and whether to harvest timber are not “one-size-fits-all” and should be made by local Forest Service officials. Some logging companies and offroad vehicle groups support the change, but not all.

A coalition of Midwest groups is trying to get people to tell the Forest Service they want the state’s roadless forest land to stay that way — and to do so before a public comment period ends early next month.

“These areas are incredibly unique,” said Emma Shedd, a forest ecologist with the Michigan Chapter of the Sierra Club. “It’s one of the only kinds of protections that we have like this at the federal level that prevents habitat fragmentation.”

Groups that favor keeping the roadless rule in place — among them the Sierra Club Michigan Chapter, Copper Country Trout Unlimited and Keweenaw Youth for Climate Action — are holding a public meeting Saturday to discuss the issue and to encourage people to file public comments before an Oct. 6 deadline. The deadline was recently pushed back from Sept. 21.

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In Michigan, the Roadless Rule protects 7,846 acres in the Hiawatha National Forest with the Delirium, Fibre, Government Island and Round Island roadless areas; 3,915 acres in the Huron-Manistee National Forest with the Bear Swamp roadless area, and 4,360 acres with the Norwich Plains roadless area in the Ottawa National Forest.

‘Quiet and solitude’

John Rebers, a volunteer with the Sierra Club Michigan Chapter, has spent time in the Norwich Plains roadless area in the Western Upper Peninsula. He hiked parts of the North Country Trail and saw older forest, steep rocky areas and wildflowers.

Being in a roadless area “gives you a chance to get in touch with the roots of the country and get a feeling for what it was like,” he said. “It just allows more quiet and solitude.”

Michigan’s roadless areas can be viewed on a map here. In total, the protected areas are relatively small, making up just 0.5% of Forest Service land in the state.

The roadless area map. — This map marks the roughly 16,000 acres of roadless areas in three Michigan national forests. (Source: Outdoor Alliance)

“It’s an infinitesimally small part of Michigan’s forests,” said Bill Cook, editor of Michigan Forests magazine. “Chances are forest managers wouldn’t find a lot of reason to manage those areas anyways.”

But Shedd, with the Michigan Chapter of the Sierra Club, said that doesn’t make the land any less significant. Federally endangered species like the gray wolf, Northern long-eared bat and showy lady’s slipper, a type of orchid, are found in the state’s roadless areas, along with black bear, moose, the American martin and Canada lynx.

“The fragmented landscapes that happen when we have all these roads kind of crisscrossing through really degrades the habitat for those animal species, and is part of what makes having these larger intact areas so important,” Shedd said.

A creek in a forest. — A creek John Rebers passed while hiking in the Norwich Plains and Trap Hills area of the Ottawa National Forest. Norwich Plains is a roadless area that could be subject to roads and logging if a federal rule changes. (Courtesy of John Rebers)

The argument to rescind the rule

The national Blue Ribbon Coalition, which advocates for recreation access on public land, says on its website that rescinding the Roadless Rule would not result in a “private free-for-all” of paved roads, pointing out that new roads would be Forest Service roads which “are closer to the trails our community already loves to recreate on”. The coalition wants the rule rescinded, in part, to open up opportunities for the all terrain vehicle and snowmobile riders it lobbies for.

Rescinding the roadless rule wouldn’t have a huge impact on off-road vehicle access in Michigan though, according to Rich Rottier, the vice president of the Michigan Snowmobile & ORV Association.

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“There’s plenty to ride in Michigan without it. It’s just it would be a new area to go ride, is all,” he said. “If they opened it, it’d be great. If they don’t, as far as the ORV is concerned, it’s not that big of a deal.”

One of the reasons the Trump Administration wants to rescind the Roadless Rule is to open up more opportunities for timber harvesting. But Justin Knepper, the executive director of the Michigan Association of Timbermen, said the state’s forest industry is struggling to find markets for the wood that’s currently available. He said our increasingly digital world means there’s less demand for paper, and faux wood products like vinyl flooring are becoming popular alternatives for hardwood floors.

“Our industry is kind of on the rocks,” he said. “So from my perspective, it doesn’t matter how many new acres come online if we don’t have a market to sell the wood.”

Wildfire impact

Where there is the most disagreement surrounding the Roadless Rule, is how rescinding it would impact the ability to mitigate wildfires. Proponents say that allowing roads would make it easier to fight them. Opponents say fires can be fought from the air, that forest management tools like prescribed burns and some tree removal are typically allowed under the Roadless Rule and they point to studies that show fires are more likely to start near roads.

While the new deadline to comment on the proposed Roadless Rule change and affiliated documents is Oct. 6, a coalition of Midwest groups wants to see the 45-day comment period extended to 120 days.

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