|
The Sault Ste. Marie Management Unit manages 322,500 acres, out of two offices, Sault Ste. Marie and Naubinway. These two portions of the Unit, or "Areas" are separated geograhically by the Hiawatha National Forest.
2010 YOE State Forest Compartment Reviews Schedule
2010 YOE State Forest Open House Schedule
The Sault Ste. Marie and Naubinway Units schedule for 2010 Year Of Entry (YOE) will be:
Sault Ste. Marie
Open House will be held on September 18, 2008, with the Compartment Review on October 10, 2008.
Sault Ste. Marie - Naubinway
Open House will be held on September 16, 200, with the Compartment Review held on October 10, 2008.
Compartments with treatment decisions now approved for 2009 are shown on the Sault Ste. Marie Locator Map.
For more information you can reach the Unit Manager, Pat Hallfrisch at 906-635-6161.
The Sault Area is responsible for approximately 125,000 acres in Chippewa County and Eastern Mackinac County, including ownership on numerous islands in the St. Mary's River and Lake Huron. Most notable are over 47,000 acres on Drummond Island. Besides the main office located in Sault Ste. Marie there is the DeTour Office, a one-person station. Recreational opportunities managed out of the Sault Area include Lime Island rental cabins and campground, two additional campgrounds, ski trails, one of which is lit for evening use, over sixty miles of designated ORV trails, and countless miles of snowmobile trails. Lime Island's attractions include a boat harbor and restoration of a historic town site.
The Naubinway Area, in Western Mackinac County, consists of approximately 197,500 acres. Naubinway Area has many miles of Lake Michigan shoreline, with much of the 19 miles of contiguous, undeveloped shoreline under natural area or proposed old growth management to preserve the integrity of the shoreline flora and fauna. Only one mile of private shoreline separates two large contiguous shoreline parcels.
 There are seven campgrounds managed out of the Naubinway Area: two on Lake Michigan, four on inland lakes, and one on a trout stream. Other managed recreational opportunities include: a ski trail that is maintained by volunteers and located near Naubinway, hiking trails adjacent to three campgrounds, numerous designated ORV trails and snowmobile trails.
While the Sault Area has more widely scattered ownership, Naubinway's forest has more contiguous land holdings. The Unit contains a wide variety of upland and lowland cover types consisting of pine, northern hardwoods, aspen mixes and lowland conifers including cedar. The Sault land types are on areas varying from clay to rock; Naubinway's land types range from sands to muck. We are truly home to the "Mackinac Mix".
Our area has many pine plantations planted by the Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) in the 1930's and early 1940's which are being actively managed to increase age class diversity, and to develop products such as utility poles and cabin logs.
 We have an active prescribed burn program to assist with slash reduction prior to planting. We also prescribe fire for wildlife opening maintenance, to help reduce competition and prepare seed beds for natural regeneration, and for blueberry production.
One such blueberry area is located in Western Mackinac County. A large bog area (1,100 acres) was once home to a commercial blueberry picking operation. Camps were erected; blueberries picked and shipped out by nearby rail. The area had been burned in the past (1966) to help perpetuate the blueberry plants. Ongoing plans to burn the area are in place. One-third of the bog was burned in 2000, with a nice crop of blueberries resulting.
Our Unit is home to several deer yards, mainly along the Lake Michigan and Lake Huron shorelines and US-2 corridor. The cedar stands offer yarding deer protection from harsh winter weather. Moose and wolves are also known to inhabit the entire Unit.
Wildlife Bureau is in the process of assisting in wetland restorations in and around Munuscong Bay in eastern Chippewa County for use as a waterfowl management area. They have also assisted in actively managing aspen areas for grouse habitat across the entire Unit.
Increasingly, we must keep an eye out for exotic and invasive species that pose a real threat to the health of our forests. Among other invasives, garlic mustard has been found in our area. This species will readily reproduce and out-compete native flowers in our forested areas. We have been working with MDOT to curb the spread from high use areas.
 Our hardwood stands are undergoing changes from exotic species including garlic mustard, as mentioned above, and now we are also seeing Beech Bark Disease within our area.
This is all the more devastating since beech is a mast, or nut, producer and is often an important home for many cavity dwelling birds and mammals. Our challenge will be to identify resistant beech trees and promote other mast producing species to help offset the potential loss of these trees.
The Sault Unit is the only Unit in the state that boasts ownership on, and watersheds flowing to, three of the Great Lakes.
Back to Top of Page
|
Printer Friendly
Text Version 
Email Page
