The Department of Natural Resources is seeking recommendations of areas with high quality native plant and animal communities, for inclusion in a statewide network of Biodiversity Stewardship Areas (BSA).

Individuals with knowledge of these areas are invited to attend a regional public information gathering workshop to share this information. The first set of workshops have been scheduled for the northern Lower Peninsula, and other regions of the state will follow later in 2009 and 2010.

The workshops will be held:

• Tuesday, March 24, from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Garfield Township Hall, located at 3848 Veterans Dr. in Traverse City.
• Wednesday, March 25, from 6 to 9 p.m. in Conference Room 100 of the Otsego County Building, located at 225 W. Main in Gaylord.
• Thursday, March 26, from 6 to 9 p.m. in Room 114 of the Delta College Planetarium, located at 100 Center Ave. in Bay City.

The BSA network is one of the DNR's primary strategies for conserving the native biodiversity of the state of Michigan. This process is the culmination of several earlier planning efforts that spanned the past two decades. The initial focus of these efforts was conservation of older age class forests, but it evolved into a statewide biodiversity conservation planning process. Biodiversity refers to the full variety of living organisms, the genes they contain, and the communities in which they occur.

A good candidate BSA will have the following characteristics:

• It occurs in an area that includes and is surrounded by lands containing natural habitats instead of developed landscapes.
• It is of a size and condition that will allow natural processes (e.g., flooding, fire, windthrow) to either occur naturally or to be mimicked through restoration activities.
• It is not significantly threatened by development, invasive species or any other threat.
• It does not occur in an area where current or future management activities have been conducted or prescribed that are incompatible with biodiversity conservation.

"Conserving biodiversity is essential for the health of Michigan's native ecosystems," said Lynne Boyd, chief of the DNR Forest, Mineral and Fire Management Division.

The public may submit specific recommendations for candidate BSAs to the DNR by attending a workshop or by using the Conservation Area Recommendation Form, which is available online.

Potential BSAs can be identified on any land ownership or combination of ownerships. The portions of selected BSAs that occur on DNR-administered land will be managed for the primary purpose of biodiversity conservation (other activities that are compatible with this purpose may also be allowed). The DNR will work with partners to identify opportunities for cooperative biodiversity conservation efforts on the portions of BSAs that are not on DNR-administered land.

Recommended areas will be assessed by regional teams of DNR staff and other governmental and public stakeholder representatives. These teams will make a formal recommendation to the DNR for a set of areas that should be included in the BSA network for their region.

Interested persons who may have questions about this process may contact Amy Clark Eagle, leader of the DNR's Biodiversity and Conservation Program at (517) 335-3351 or eaglea@michigan.gov.

Individuals attending the meetings are requested to refrain from using heavily scented personal care products, in order to enhance accessibility for everyone. Persons with disabilities needing accommodations for the workshop should contact Amy Clark Eagle at (517) 335-3351 a minimum of five business days before this event/meeting. Requests made less than five business days before this event may not be accommodated.