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Dear County Administrator/Board Member:
In compliance with Public Act 288, Section 72118 (2)(c), the Department of Natural Resources is notifying you of the intent to open or close specific forest roads on State of Michigan-owned lands to conventional and/or off-road vehicles. The specific proposed changes and road locations will be available for viewing and comment in detail beginning Nov. 2 at Michigan.gov/ForestRoads. Some of these proposed changes may be on lands located within your jurisdiction.
The need for the proposed changes in forest road status has been determined based on DNR staff site reviews and comments received from the public. A regional summary of the changes is at the bottom of this email. Additional detail can be found by visiting the website.
Comments may be submitted through Dec. 1 by using the interactive online map or via email to DNR-RoadInventoryProject@Michigan.gov. The formal information memo to the DNR director will be submitted at the scheduled January 2021 Natural Resources Commission meeting. Following that, the final Land Use Order of the Director will be submitted for action by the director at the February 2021 NRC meeting. Comments also will be received at each of the NRC meetings.
Please contact DNR forester Scott Lakosky at 906-630-0518 if you have questions.
Summary of proposed changes
When incorporating DNR staff adjustments, as well as proposals initiated both by DNR staff and by comments submitted from the public, the overall mileage of state forest roads by region is as follows:
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Upper Peninsula:
- Total miles of state forest roads: 6,542.6 miles
- Total miles of state forest roads open to ORVs: 6,361.9 miles
- Total miles of state forest roads closed or seasonally closed to ORVs: 7 miles
- Total percentage of roads open to ORV use: 2% (a decrease of 2.2% from 2020)
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Northern Lower Peninsula:
- Total miles of state forest roads: 7,361.3 miles
- Total miles of state forest roads open to ORVs: 6,141.0 miles
- Total miles of state forest roads closed or seasonally closed to ORVs: 1,220.3 miles
- Total percentage of roads open to ORV use: 4% (a decrease of 0.6% from 2020)
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Southern Lower Peninsula:
- Total miles of state forest roads: 9 miles
- Total miles of state forest roads open to ORVs: 4 miles
- Total miles of state forest roads closed or seasonally closed to ORVs: 5 miles
- Total percentage of roads open to ORV use: 2.4% (an increase of 0.1% from 2020)
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