The Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) announced this week that its 10-year State Forest Management Plan will be delayed by at least a year. This is because of the widespread damage to state forest land caused by a major ice storm.
The storm hit the northern Lower Peninsula in late March, damaging about 900,000 acres of state forest.
Dan Heckman is a Forest Planning and Modeling Specialist with the DNR. He said the ice storm was a three day continuous event.
Heckman said it began with precipitation that began to freeze and build on trees and power lines over the course of 24 hours. As temperatures dropped significantly, the ice stayed in contact with the trees. Increased winds caused more trees and power lines to fall, said Heckman.
Heckman said the region has experienced ice storms in the past, but nothing of this magnitude or severity.
“On the state forest alone, we've got a million acres impacted in some way, shape or form. Some of it's just slight damage, some of it's more moderate, and some of it's quite severe. And we haven't seen anything of that magnitude on the state forest, ever,” he said.
The storm has delayed Michigan’s State Forest Management Plan, which was in the process of being finalized and was set to be approved by the DNR’s director in July. The original plan has to be modified to adapt to the damage left by the storm, said Heckman. This includes adjusting harvest levels, forest cover types, and habitat cultivation.
Salvage operations have been a priority due to the heavy damage the trees sustained, he continued. This work allows the damaged timber to be converted into usable products for consumers.
But he said it's important the DNR always grows more timber than it harvests or removes, so the state’s forests can thrive.
According to a report from the DNR, its team is working toward producing new harvest targets and wildlife habitat outputs as modeling and other information is updated to account for the storm damage.
The report states that Michigan has 19.3 million acres of forestland, and four million of those acres are state forests managed by the DNR for public recreation, wildlife habitat, and forest health.
Heckman said the DNR balances forest management with maintaining biodiversity and preserving threatened wildlife species. Opportunity for forest recreation like hiking or mountain biking is a priority as well. All of these things can happen, Heckman said, just not always at the same place or at the same time.
The DNR’s Management Plan covers around 60 different management priorities and is roughly 1,800 pages. Heckman said the central goal is to retain the things everyone loves about state forests and work toward preserving them for the future.
This includes being aware of how a changing climate impacts management priorities, he said. The DNR uses models to predict what impact projected changes can have on the forests.
For example, more work on erosion control is needed with a projected increase in intense storms, said Heckman. The DNR’s job is to formulate a plan that can address a variety of changes if they do occur.
Heckman said a key component of the DNR's work is cultivating a varied set of forest conditions. This includes a variety of tree species, topography, and soils.
“Maintaining diversity across the forest can help us succeed no matter what happens in the future, within reason,” he said.
