State Forest Management Plan

Michigan has 19.3 million acres of public and private forestland, and 4 million of those acres are state forests managed by the DNR for public use and enjoyment, wildlife habitat, forest health and forest products. State management plans that guide forest management activities are created for 10-year periods as required by the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act. The DNR is also required to maintain third-party certification that forests are managed using sustainable practices. 

The state forest management plan is part of an overall strategy outlined in the Statewide Forest Action Plan, a federally-required document with strategies for managing all 19.3 million acres of Michigan's public and private forests. 

 Early Release for Tribal Review

We collectively acknowledge that the area now known as Michigan, occupies the ancestral, traditional, and contemporary Lands of the Anishinaabeg – Three Fires Confederacy of Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi peoples. We recognize, support, and advocate for the sovereignty of Michigan’s twelve federally-recognized Indian nations, for historic Indigenous communities in Michigan, for Indigenous individuals and communities who live here now, and for those who were forcibly removed from their Homelands. By offering this Land Acknowledgement, we affirm Indigenous sovereignty and will work to hold the capital city to the needs of American Indian and Indigenous peoples.

2024 State Forest Management Plan - Early Release for Tribal Review

• Introduction
• State Forest History
• Statewide and Regional Planning
• Management Area Planning
• Special Analysis Units
• Implementation
• Monitoring, Review and Revision
• Glossary
• References
• Appendices

Comments or questions may be sent to ForestPlanComments@Michigan.gov. 

The most recent version of the 2024 SFMP draft and a link to the online webinar recording detailing the plan can be found here.

 2024 State Forest Management Plan features

1. An updated planning framework that organizes resources into categories aligning with forest sustainability standards. 
   
   
2. A new planning process that focuses on:
   
   • Establishing current conditions and trends.
   • Identifying desired future conditions.
   • Linking management actions that will achieve desired future conditions.
     
     
3. Use of a sophisticated modeling platform, providing a long-term look at important measures of forest sustainability including forest composition and structure, timber harvest area and volume, and habitat abundance for featured wildlife species.
   
   
4. Integrated management strategies to address forest pests, diseases and changes in climate causing forest health and productivity issues.