GLFWDA ALERT - URGENT ACTION NEEDED - Savanna Ecosystem Restoration Project EA

[MuddyPaws]

If you do nothing else, download the attached PDF files and fill out the PUBLIC COMMENT SHEET and it to the Baldwin-White Cloud Ranger Districts Huron-Manistee National Forests address provided.

This scoping project requires our immediate attention as the areas affected are areas we currently use, including our trash cleanup area. We need to act quickly as comments need to be submitted by January 11, 2010. Jeff is scheduling a meeting regarding the scoping project for Sunday, December 20th at 10:00 a.m. at Forest Hills Foods, 4668 Cascade Rd Se, Grand Rapids Township, 49546, hope to see you there.
Project Name: Savanna Ecosystem Restoration Project EA

*NEW LISTING*

Project Purpose
- Wildlife, Fish, Rare plants
- Forest products
Planning Status
Developing Proposal
Est. Scoping Start 11/2009
Decision Expected: 06/2010
Expected Implementation 07/2010

Description: Restoration and Creation of savanna by reducing forest canopy to 10-50% canopy closure, burning, seeding of nectar plants, and herbicide treatment of invasive plant species. Treatment area is 3,000 acres.

Location: UNIT - Baldwin/White Cloud Ranger District. STATE - Michigan. COUNTY - Muskegon, Oceana. LEGAL - T13N, R17W, Sec 36, T13N, R16W Sec 1-5, 9-16, 19-36, T13N R15W Sec 2-10, 16-18, 19,20,29,30, T11-12N, R 17 W Sec 1,2, T12N, R16W Sec 4-6. Grant , Otto & Greenwood Townships, Oceana County, Montague-White Hall & Blue LakeTwsp, Muskegon Co.

Forest Service Schedule of Proposed Actions (SOPA) for the Huron-Manistee National Forest http://www.fs.fed.us/sopa/forest-level.php?110904

[phittie1100]

Jarhead and I are heading to Grand Rapids Sunday for the informational meeting that Jeff is putting together - if you recreate (hunt, fish, wheel, mushroom-pick, geocache....) in the MNF, even after the release of the MVUM, please review the scoping letter and take a couple of minutes to complete the public comment form on the last page. I have nothing against the KBB butterflies, but the hair on the back of my neck goes up anytime someone talks about carving out huge hunks of the forest as designated semi-primitive wilderness areas.

[kickstand]

Next we should close detroit to outsider use to preserve the ghetto lifestyle....at least that would be positive for the rest of us.

[FORD FLARESIDE]

Originally Posted by phittie1100

Jarhead and I are heading to Grand Rapids Sunday for the informational meeting that Jeff is putting together - if you recreate (hunt, fish, wheel, mushroom-pick, geocache....) in the MNF, even after the release of the MVUM, please review the scoping letter and take a couple of minutes to complete the public comment form on the last page. I have nothing against the KBB butterflies, but the hair on the back of my neck goes up anytime someone talks about carving out huge hunks of the forest as designated semi-primitive wilderness areas.

I will help where I can. Keep me informed on what you need done.
And thanks for staying on top of this.

[Alter Ego]

Please check out this thread on the Great Lakes Four Wheel Drive Association website. I have provided maps and there is a lot of comments from people on things that bother us with the whole project and it's timing.

[Alter Ego]

Tonight I am still working on a letter to the US Forest Service regarding the Savanna Restortation project which proposes to unnecessarily close around 11-12 miles of road under the guise of protecting the Karner Blue Butterfly. I am doing this on behalf of the GLFWDA Land Use Committee. These roads are on prime recreational land and will severely restrict access to the White Rver in Muskegon County. Please click on the above link to GLFWDA about the project. Please respond with your comments to Chris Frederick this week. If you prefer, you can also send your comments to me tonight or Wednesday and I may include them in our letter. But really, the most impact will occur if you send them directly to Chris Frederick. I need to have our letter in the mail by Thursday.

[Alter Ego]

The link below lists two letters written to the US Forest Service. Scroll down to posts #26 and #27 by Jarhead and click on the shortcuts there.. Yeah, these are big long elaborite things. Not all letters need to be this comprehensive. We just put everything that we had time to write into them. For future projects, a single page describing how you feel about a project will suffice, The important part is you write something.

The scoping period of this project for this project is over - for now. The scoping period is the time when the FS wants the public's comments. A conversation with the FS reveaded that there are an unusually high amount of diverse public comments on this particular project. Right now, me don't hace a clue how it's going to go.

Please click the link and see what the Great Lakes Four Wheel Drive Association did for you.

LINK to the Great Lakes Four Wheel Drive Association website.

[Alter Ego]

Sunday 4-11-10
Front page of the Grand Rapids Press

Here's the link to the whole article and its text in case the article disappears.

http://www.mlive.com/outdoors/index....est_users.html

HESPERIA -- Alan Deater grew up hunting and fishing near his house in the splendid acres of deep forest that border the White River in a part of the Manistee National Forest that has become like home.

But the 52-year-old Hesperia hobby shop owner is questioning the wisdom of a U.S. Forest Service proposal to close 10 miles of two-track in a special part of the forest to protect butterflies.

The closure is one of several changes forest staffers are recommending over the next 10 years to create additional habitat for the endangered Karner blue butterfly and to finally take care of road closures that were called for in 1986 to ensure a public area for quiet, non-motorized recreation.

Both are parts of a management plan put in place in 2007.

“It’s kind of a bummer that (the road) is going away,” said Deater, one of more than 100 Michigan residents who have commented on the proposal that affects nearly 5,000 acres of national forest in Muskegon and Oceana counties. The forest is a total of 540,187 acres.

“The area pulls people from Whitehall, Montague and Muskegon,” Deater said. “If they close off the extra 10-mile loop, it will totally eliminate access to the river on our side of it with a motorized vehicle. You will have to walk in or out to hunt or fish.”

Deater was referring to the 7,000-acre White River Semi-Primitive Nonmotorized Area that was so designated in 1986. It is a popular part of the forest on the river, where hunters, anglers, hikers and horseback riders regularly come to play.

The proposed changes will disrupt the way things have been. There will be fewer places to car or truck camp and limits on where horses can go. A long-popular access road will be closed.

Federal officials say changes also are needed to restore Karner blue populations where they once were abundant. The butterfly is found at 72 sites in the Manistee forest, totaling 432 acres, forest officials said.

Forest biologists plan to create more suitable acreage. To get there will require cutting, burning and thinning timber to create more savanna landscapes, they say.


The Endangered Species Act calls for the creation of critical habitat as part of species recovery plans. The White River area and an adjacent Otto Township parcel historically contained a mosaic of savannas barrens where wild lupine grew. The flower is essential for Karner blue survival.

But those savannas eventually filled in with trees, pushing out the lupine and butterflies. Recreating those landscapes, forest officials say, also will benefit a variety of flower, bird, plant and animal species, such as Henslow’s sparrow, a state species of special concern; violet wood-sorrel, a state-threatened species; and the eastern box turtle, also a species of special concern.

“What we are doing for the butterfly is hitting the areas where they have the best chance to recover,” said Heather Keough, wildlife biologist for the Baldwin/White Cloud Ranger district, including the White River and Otto populations.

The Karner Blue, placed on the federal endangered list in 1992, is most populous in Michigan and Wisconsin. It also is found in five other states: New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Indiana and Minnesota.

Its recovery is directed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which administers the endangered species law and works closely with land managing agencies such as the Forest Service to develop that habitat.

BUTTERFLY PLAN
Food: The Karner blue butterfly depends on wild lupines, the necessary food for its caterpillars. Female butterflies lay their eggs only on lupine.

Creating habitat: Lupines grow best in savannas and sand prairies. Converting forest land to that habitat will involve cutting, burning, thinning and clearing trees.

Reducing impact:
• Limiting horseback riding to a 16-mile trail shared with hikers and bicyclists.

• Closing 10 miles of two-track to motorized traffic in accord with the 1986 forest plan and non-motorized designation.

• Limiting car or truck camping to 11 designated campsites along county roads.

• Hiking, backpacking, mountain biking and walk-in hunting and fishing will be allowed anywhere.
Added habitat in the White River and Otto areas will be created by thinning, burning and clearing timber on 3,200 acres, said Chris Frederick, forest planner for the Baldwin Ranger District.

“The most contentious comments we’ve heard are about the semi-primitive nonmotorized area,” Frederick said. “But the reactions overall run from extremely happy to extremely angry.

“We’ve proposed 4,500 acres of massive treatment for the Karner Blue butterfly, but most comments have nothing to do with it. It’s all about access.”

Frederick said the plan is far from finalized. An environmental assessment with alternative approaches will be released for public comment later this year. Implementation is expected in 2011.

Most of the roads in the White River area already are closed as part of the 1986 non-motorized designation, chosen to provide more of the quiet types of forest recreation. Closing the last 10 miles of two-track is consistent with the plan. It’s just late in coming and people are used to having the road.

That’s how it is for Pat Brower, too, a member of the Great Lakes Four-Wheel Drive Association. His group regularly works with the forest service and helps to clean up trash. But on their off time, they like to cruise the two-tracks.

“Our members worry that this will finalize it and shut us out,” Brower said.

His group also is concerned the road closure will prevent access to popular spots for fishing, picnicking and sightseeing.

Equestrians also have their grievances. Some are unhappy about restrictions in the butterfly zones, and some dislike being limited to a proposed 16-mile perimeter trail rather than choosing a route.

Others complain that having to share the trail with hikers and mountain bikers “is an accident waiting to happen,” said Kyle Johnson of Fremont.

“If a mountain biker comes flying up over a hill and finds a group of horses, someone will get hurt,” Johnson said.

Margot Slater, a 53-year-old equestrian from Holton who rides there a couple times a week, wants more campsites. Public use, she said, should come first on public lands.

“I respect nature and trying to bring back the butterfly,” Slater said. “I am of Native American descent, so I respect the land.

“It’s breathtakingly beautiful out there and you can’t very often find that close to home, but I am not pleased with the idea that the butterfly is pushing so many people out.”

Les Russell, the Baldwin district ranger, said there is no intent to keep people out. Backpacking and walk-in camping still will be allowed in the non-motorized area. Horse riding and motorized camping still will be allowed on the other side of the river and at 11 sites along the county road.

“This is a designated semi-primitive nonmotorized area, a rare feature on the forest,” Russell said, “and a place where people can find a relatively large block of property where they can camp and not see someone a quarter-mile away.”

Russell said keeping equestrians on a designated trail assures they are not out trampling butterfly habitat.

Not everyone is displeased.

Leonard Weber, a retired University of Detroit professor, avid bird watcher and member of Detroit Audubon Society, said “closing the roads up there makes it more attractive.” Being nonmotorized makes it more like wilderness, he said, a favored characteristic with bird-watchers.

Even Deater said a non-motorized area has its benefits.

“The quads and motorcycles destroy the ground,” Deater said. “Now, you’ll be able to walk a half mile and get away from everyone. My hunting has picked up.”

Some, inclusing David Wambold, an avid hunter and angler from Grand Rapids, have offered to help create butterfly habitat. He owns 38 acres within the recovery area.

“I’d just like to establish habitat up there,” Wambold said. “I bought two pounds of lupine seed and will plant it along the edges of my food plots.”

[Evil Queen]

You have my utmost respect, Gary. You have worked so very hard on this issue for GLFWDA.

[Alter Ego]

Just one of many people on this project.

[Trail_Fanatic]

Even more important than this project is to closely monitor where ALL of the future KBB habitat will be created. The best way to affect those locations is to be a part of the volunteer group conducting the KBB population surveys for the NFS. GLFWDA is currently seeking 4x4 oriented volunteers for the KBB count to ensure that we are represented and have the maximum amount of input possible. If you would be willing to assist with this project please call GLFWDA Land Use Committee member Jeff Traynor at (616) 318-6754.