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To conserve, protect and restore coldwater fisheries  |
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Public gains access to forest land, fisheries benefit November 6, 1999 By Helen
Lounsbury TAWAS CITY - Six thousand acres of prime northern Michigan forest land - once threatened by the prospect of development - now lies in public ownership. The U.S. Forest Service paid about $4.7 million for the remote land, much of it bordering the Au Sable and Manistee rivers. Conservation groups applaud the recent purchase because it protects critical wildlife habitat and ensures public access. "It's always been a big question in Michigan. What would happen if this land didn't come back to the public domain?" said Jack Bails, manager of the Great Lakes Fishery Trust. "Now, it's settled. This land will be generally open to people whether they want to pick mushrooms, fish, hunt, hike or camp." The 6,000 acres, once owned by Consumers Energy, is on land in seven counties, including Alcona, Crawford and Oscoda. The Huron National Forest spans almost 400,000 acres in Northeast Michigan. Consumers Energy acquired the land when it was building dams early in the century. In 1996, Consumers was forced to give 15,600 acres to the state as compensation for fish kills at the company's Ludington hydroelectric facility on Lake Michigan. About 11,000 acres of the land went to the Great Lakes Fishery Trust, Bails said. State and private conservation groups created the private trust specifically to manage resources generated by the 1996 Consumers lawsuit settlement. The trust's mandate, in return, was to sell the Consumers land and use the proceeds for fishery restoration projects. "So the sale really has a double value," said Brandon Schroeder, fishery resource specialist for the Michigan United Conservation Clubs. "It puts undeveloped land in national forest protection, and it puts money in the fishery trust for fisheries growth." Since 1996, the fishery trust has awarded $10 million in grants to universities, government and conservation groups for research, habitat protection and fishing access, Bails said. Much of that money came from the trust's sale of about 3,500 acres of Consumers land to private developers. In late October, the U.S. Forest Service announced that it had a $4.7 million federal appropriation to buy most of the remaining Consumers Energy settlement land. "It certainly wasn't a given that this money would be available," said Pat Powell, lands program manager for the Huron-Manistee National Forests. "It took years of work by a lot of people." Had the federal government not bought the land, it would have sold to private prospectors for development, Powell added. "The likelihood of ever being able to acquire it then would have been nil," she said. As it is, the 6,000 acres of new national forest land contains about 2,500 acres of Kirtland's warbler management area. It's home to a two other endangered species, the bald eagle and Karner blue butterfly, forest managers say. The land is a mixture of wetlands, old growth forest and about 6 miles of river frontage. "It fits into national forest ownership like pieces of puzzle," Powell said. "The purchase eliminates a lot of potential conflict and pressure on other public lands. Now, these lands will be open and available for generations to come." |