[Talk-us] Unfortunate labeling of Au Sable State Forest, MI

[Max Erickson]

I didn't really arrive at what I would call a conclusion, but my
current belief is that Michigan doesn't have named state forests
anymore, instead dividing things up into management areas:

https://www.michigan.gov/dnr/managing-resources/forestry/management/region

The plan for the "Camp Grayling Management Area" is in the Northern
Lower Peninsula plan. A couple of the salient points from the plan

"The Camp Grayling management area management area (MA) is the
Michigan National Guard training grounds used primarily for military
exercises while allowing varying degrees of Department of Natural
Resources (DNR) management on certain portions depending on
classification of ownership. The department will coordinate all
prescribed activities with the National Guard to ensure they are
compatible with military training needs. On these lands military
training has precedence over resource management activities."

"The Camp Grayling Cantonment Area is restricted."

"The Camp Grayling management area includes various military shooting
and artillery ranges and other specialized training areas, where
approximately 20,000 acres are off-limits to most natural resource
management activities."

So it seems reasonable to carve out the "Camp Graying Cantonment Area"
and mark it as restricted, even though much of it is managed as state
forest land.

As the page I link says, the state is working on developing new plans
to release in the next year or two, so I sort of dropped the issue
(though without having looked into it, I would expect the plans to be
structured around the same/very similar management areas).


Max