Public Access to Michigan's Upper Peninsula Forests Threatened

Conservation groups and university researchers released a report Wednesday describing how access to Michigan's Upper Peninsula could be changing as commercial forests change hands. The region has historically had responsibly managed forests and spaces open to the public, but incentives to encourage those practices in the future are lacking.

The majority of upper peninsula land in Michigan has been owned by timber companies and forest product firms for over a century. Such companies took an active interest in managing the land and participated in programs that gave tax incentives for providing public access to the forests and waters.

However, timber investment management organizations and real estate trusts have become major purchases of tracts of land in the region. The report warns that these owners have different goals that will lead to changes in those traditions in the coming decades. Such companies have a larger interest in investment returns than in recurring resources or timber. Although timber will continue to be a source of income, the sales of land for development will also be a goal of these companies.

States where similar shifts from small scale to large scale ownership have occurred have already seen restrictions on public access, reduction in wildlife habitat, and loss of access to highly valued natural features such as lake shores and streams. The landscape becomes fractured with buildings, roads, power lines, and other types of development.

"Our research shows that the sprawling forest tracts that have long been part of the UP's allure are already getting smaller and more fragmented," said Robert Froese, of the School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science at Michigan Technological University. "Lands along Great Lakes shoreline and along streams and rivers are increasingly owned by small private interests and therefore less accessible to the public."

The report also concludes that tourism and forest related products, a significant part of the economy of Michigan's upper peninsula, is threatened by the changing landscape.