Upper Great Lakes Keystone Forest

KEYSTONE FORESTS Maine Woods Keystone Forest Blue Ridge-Appalachia Keystone Forest Florida Panhandle Keystone Forest Upper Great Lakes Keystone Forest Northwest Rockies Keystone Forest Mogollon Keystone Forest Sierra Keystone Forest Klamath-Siskiyou Keystone Forest Pacific Northwest Volcanic Keystone Forest North Cascades Keystone Forest Alaskan Coastal Temperate Keystone Forest

The most dominant feature of the region is water, with hundreds of miles of shoreline on Lake Superior; tens of thousands of lakes, ponds and wetlands; and thousands of miles of rivers and streams. This keystone forest is well-known for its diverse backcountry recreational opportunities, including hiking, camping, canoeing, boating, fishing, hunting, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, nature study and solitude.

Threats
As the U.S. Forest Service has run out of areas to log in other regions, the rate of cutting has skyrocketed in the national forests of the Great Lakes. The state forests in the region have long been grossly mismanaged and continue to suffer major ecological damage from logging, road-building and intensive motorized recreation. A significant threat on both federal and state lands is widespread clearcutting to benefit commonly hunted wildlife, such as deer and ruffed grouse, to the detriment of many sensitive native species. Development on millions of acres of private inholdings and adjacent lands is a significant problem for the public lands of the region, as are expanding road networks and escalating levels of off-road vehicle use. Without new national park or wilderness designations, the situation will certainly deteriorate in the coming years.

Efforts to Increase Protected Areas
Recent management plan revisions in Wisconsin’s Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest (CNNF) claim an increase in protected areas from 71,864 acres to 184,600 acres, with 15,500 acres being proposed for wilderness designation. CNNF currently has 44,000 wilderness acres. In Michigan’s Ottawa National Forest, the Trap Hills Conservation Alliance is proposing a National Recreation Area that includes approximately 18,000 acres of wilderness. This draft proposal will be available to the public soon. Other remote areas in the Ottawa National Forest, as well as lands in the Hiawatha National Forest, Seney National Wildlife Refuge, Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore and Michigan state forests offer excellent opportunities for protected area management.

Written by Michael Kellett
Restore the North Woods and
Doug Cornett
Northwoods Wilderness Recovery
For more information, visit
www.northwoodswild.org and
www.hecenter.org

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