Michigan's latest 10-year State Forest Management Plan was almost complete when a massive ice storm happened in March 2025, snapping trees and downing limbs across the northern Lower Peninsula.
The resulting devastation sent foresters back to the woods to reevaluate the plan and account for damaged timber, new tree-planting needs and other issues.
After in-person assessments of the damage and computer modeling, amendments are now complete and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources is accepting public comment on plan changes made in response to the ice storm.
"This was a once-in-a-century storm, and it has had a significant impact on the northern Lower Peninsula," said Dan Heckman, DNR forest planning and modeling specialist. "It also had a significant impact on parts of our plan."
The State Forest Management Plan outlines how Michigan's publicly owned state forests will be managed for the next 10 years. It emphasizes the importance of forestry practices to achieve abundant habitat for wildlife, provide quality forest products and cope with a changing climate, all to ensure long-term sustainability of our natural resources in a delicate balancing act.
The plan first went out for public review in late 2024, and in response the DNR received a variety of comments from Tribal governments, organizations and residents. The current version includes revisions based on those comments in addition to those made in response to ice storm impacts.
The current plan review period runs Sept. 14 through Oct. 12. Use this survey to submit feedback on the updated State Forest Management Plan. Comments are welcome on any part of the plan, but further changes will only be made to ice storm-related content.
This management plan continues the 120-plus-year story of Michigan's state forest, established in 1903 by the Michigan Forestry Commission. Since much of the state was deforested in the late 1800s and early 1900s, it was crucial to create a long-term plan to meet forest products needs while maintaining healthy forests and providing habitat for wildlife.