Pigeon River Country Association Newsletter – November 2008

Editor’s Notes

In this edition of our newsletter, after our report on the most recent Advisory Council meeting, we have—thanks to recently retired PRC Forest Manager, Joe Jarecki—some long-awaited news concerning the possible future of the ill-fated Song of the Morning Ranch dam on the Pigeon River after it’s third sudden release of water that inundated the river and wiped out a good part of the fishery for miles downstream.  This report is followed by a letter on the same subject by a very much concerned PRCA member (and author of the principal book on the history of the forest) Dale Franz. We round out this edition with some further thoughts on the topic of horseback riding in the PRCF. But right now, a reminder that the two digit date (e.g. /05) on your mailing label indicates when you last paid  your annual dues. Those whose label says “/04” (or have no date at all) will need to pay up lest they be dropped next from our mailing list.

Advisory Council Report

The fall meeting of the Pigeon River Advisory Council was held on Friday evening October 24 2008 at the forest headquarters beginning at 6:30 PM.  The deputy chairman called for approval of the agenda with an addition of a report  from the DEQ.  The minutes of the July 25, 2008 Advisory Council meeting were then approved. 

During the public comments, your newsletter editor commented on his personal discovery of evidence of deliberate violations of the new restrictions by some horseback riders.  He stressed the need for stepped up law-enforcement.  The rest of the public comment period was taken up by sizable numbers of the horseback riding community objecting to the introduction of the new restrictions, which in turn occasioned an intervention by the DNR Director’s special assistant, Mindy Koch, to explain how involvement of the Federal Pittman-Robins funding in the purchase of over 51% of the PRC forest lands require that the DNR manage the entire forest in a way that does not allow horseback riding and other recreational use to interfere with either hunting or fishing.  Because of this the DNR is currently meeting with three statewide equestrian associations regarding the use of state lands in general. (More on this subject later on in this newsletter.)

Returning to the scheduled agenda, Kerry Weber, of the DNR Forest Land Management division in Lansing, reviewed the DNR plans to acquire the square mile Hackett Lake property which lies just west of Fishermen’s Trail and about 1½ mile south of Web Road in the Cheboygan County.  The advisory council then agreed unanimously with this proposal and then in addition suggested that the forest boundary be expanded northward from the Hackett lake property to include the Greenwood Foundation property which has recently been legally placed within a conservation easement. The issue of how the state might possibly acquire the mineral rights to the Blue Lakes tract was also raised with the DNR Forest Lands Division. 

     Lynne Boyd, Chief of the DNR’s Forestry, Minerals, and Fire Division, then spoke, explaining how responses to various requests coming from the Advisory Council often take longer than the Council might desire because of the need for input from various other DNR divisions.  She gave, by way of example, the problems involved in the management of campgrounds due to the necessity of meeting federal Disability Act requirements.  She also spoke of the DNR’s intention to try to fill the post of the new manager for the PRC Forest Management Unit by the end of October.

The Advisory Council was advised by the DNR Director’s assistant the idea of revising the articles of organization to allow for electronic votes to be taken apart from scheduled meetings (suggested earlier by council chairman Ken Glasser) would be in violation of the State’s present public meeting rules.  Undecided issues have to be postponed till further meetings.

Rick Henderson of the DEQ then announced a new addition (a hydrology expert) to his geology staff and reported that the cleanup operation at the former Charlton 4 gas-processing facility is progressing according to schedule (possibly to be finished by October 2009).  However, he reminded the Council that two more locations within the forest will require similar treatments.

After a short break, time was taken for representatives of the law enforcement division to explain that while they realize the need for more oversight of horseback riding activity in the future, part of the problem seems to have been that the rumor was rampant that the new rules were not going to be enforced very strictly.  However, the present emphasis this fall has been on enforcing the ban on deer-baiting. Unfortunately, due to pressures from various lobbies in Lansing, the sale of such bait or “deer feed” by various public outlets this still not prohibited. They also announced that two new officers are going to be added to their numbers, expressly for Otsego and Cheboygan counties, thus enabling increase surveillance within the Pigeon River Forest.  They reported that overall there seem to be no major violations of the newer fishing regulations regarding the sinkhole lakes and Black River other than the fact that there probably needs to be better education of the public.

Biologist Brian Mastenbrooke, speaking for the DNR Wildlife Division reiterated the Department’s determination to keep the wild deer herd free from chronic wasting disease despite its discovery in a captive deer herd near Grand Rapids and an additional suspected case in another captive deer herd in the Saginaw Bay area.  Feral swine are also a growing worry, but so far none have turned up in the Pigeon River Country Forest.

Advisory Council meetings for 2009 are planned for the evening of the 3rd Friday of the months of January, April, July, and October, beginning, as usual at 6:30 pm at the PRC Forest Headquarters Building.

PS: At this point we want recognize the important role played over the past few years by Eugene Horan, the PRCA’s official representative on the Advisory Council. His place on the Council will be taken by Mike Brown, although Eugene plans to continue his participation in several of the Advisory Council’s special committees.

Song of the Morning Ranch Dam

The Huron Pines Resource Conservation and Development Area Council is a non-profit organization whose purpose is to advance the stewardship and sustainability of natural resources in its service area, which is an 11 county area in northeast Michigan and includes Otsego County where the Song of the Morning Ranch dam is located.  On June 22 and 23, 2008, there was a sediment release from the dam that resulted in a significant fish kill in the Pigeon River. 

Huron Pines has a history of bringing together diverse groups to form partnerships to solve a variety of conservation problems.  Huron Pines typically coordinates and acts as the financial agent for the partnership.  Examples of past partnership projects in the Pigeon River Country State Forest that Huron Pines coordinated include: new bridges across the Black River on Tin Shanty Road, across McMasters Creek on Clute Road and across the Pigeon River on Tin Bridge Road; and a new culvert across Hardwood Creek on Blue Lakes/Meridian Line Road.

Huron Pines was asked by the Board of Directors of Golden Lotus, Inc., who own and operate the Song of the Morning Ranch dam, to assist them with a review of the issues associated with decommissioning the dam.  As a member of the Huron Pines Board of Directors, I

was invited to participate in a meeting on October 31, 2008, to discuss the issues that need to be addressed to move forward with successfully decommissioning the dam and restoring the Pigeon River to a free flowing condition.  Meeting participants included representatives from Golden Lotus, Inc., Trout Unlimited, the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Huron Pines.  Personnel from DNR and DEQ were not involved due to legal complications, but I am optimistic that they will be involved in the future.

Andrea Ania and Heather Rawlings from the Fish & Wildlife Service have been involved with several dam removals in Michigan.  Bryan Burroughs, Michigan Trout Unlimited Council Executive Director, holds a PhD and his dissertation was on dam removals on trout streams.  Andrea, Heather and Brian discussed many of the social, biological, infrastructure and economic issues that must be dealt with when decommissioning a dam.  Golden Lotus representatives asked many questions and expressed appreciation for the opportunity to better understand what will be involved as they move forward to decommission the dam.

There was discussion about partners that might be involved as the project develops.  Golden Lotus representatives said they were interested in having the DNR, the DEQ, the PRC Association, the PRC Advisory Council and others involved.

Based on what I heard at the meeting, I am optimistic that a partnership agreement will soon be developed which will ultimately lead to the removal of the operating dam and the impoundment. (Joe Jarecki, Huron Pines Board of Directors and PRCA member)

Franz Letter regarding Song of the Morning Ranch and its Dam:

I appreciate your considerable efforts providing information in the newsletter about the dam spill and regret I was unable to attend the 2008 annual meeting.

I urge an even deeper assessment of the situation. Some of the initial responses do not hold up well in guiding us forward. For example, there is a more fundamental issue overlooked when seeing the 1984 spill as being caused by rapidly draining the pond. It is unclear that a slow drawdown would have prevented the pond sediment from spilling downstream either. The more fundamental issue is whether a dam can be safely repaired without releasing sediment. That in turn raises the question whether such a dam can be compatible with a premier trout stream.

And that raises another troubling issue, what should be done about the yoga retreat itself. There is obvious public sentiment to punish Song of the Morning Ranch, even force it off the property. On reflection, this possibly ill-considered approach is flawed for several reasons. In the first place, it is unfair when it comes before virtually any information has been provided about how this spill occurred. More troubling, a rush to force the owners off the property could lead to a much worse situation.

Song of the Morning Ranch is a relatively small footprint on this acreage in the middle of the Pigeon River Country. Only four houses have been built despite approval for some 150 structures. Nothing in the zoning ordinance prevents developing land in some way. It is time we recognized the huge hole in our land regulations. People can build in forestry zones and agricultural zones and every other zone. In any case, such an acreage in the middle of the forest next to the Pigeon could be quite appealing to a commercial developer. Allowable density on the 595 developable acres of Song of the Morning Ranch was 2,382 units at the time it got approval in 1993 for 150 units. Even in a slow housing market, the opportunity to build 2,382 houses along the Pigeon River in the middle of the state forest would surely be a tempting prospect for somebody if Song of the Morning Ranch departed!

There are many subtleties about this situation that need careful attention. Many are mentioned in the “Dam” chapter of the revised edition of Pigeon River Country. I know that the association continues to have the best interests of the forest at heart, and hope all parties proceed with the best wisdom they can bring to this difficult situation. (Dale Franz, author of The Pigeon River Country)

More on Horses, their Riders, & the PRCF

The situation described in previous issue of the PRCA Newsletter  makes it obvious that the horseback riding community remains very unhappy with the current regulations regarding their use of the PRCF. So finding a workable solution remains a major challenge.  Reopening of few of the some 15 trail camp sites that were established years ago in an attempt to disperse some of the over-concentration of horseback activity in the center of the forest remains an option, yet remains problematic, since the creation of those campsites, while well-intentioned, seems to have mostly had the effect of further increasing the amount of horseback activity and thus spreading the all-ready existing problems over an even wider area of the forest.

Another suggested remedy, one raised at the special meetings held last winter regarding recreational use of the PRCF, would be, especially in light of the conflict between horseback riding on the one hand vs. the federally-mandated priority of hunting and fishing use (by reason of the use of Pittman-Robinson Act funding for the acquisition of much of the PRCA) would be to restrict or even to ban horseback riding altogether during those seasons when the conflict between these different activities most likely to occur.  However, because one of the major attractions drawing riders to the PRCF is to view elk during fall rutting and “bugling” season, which also happens to be the season which most hunting activity occurs, such a policy would no doubt lead to even greater discontent.

Given the problems inherent in either of the two “solutions” mentioned above, it seems to me that a better approach might be to focus on finding remedies to two of the major complaints—even by those who have reluctantly agreed to the necessity of the new regulations—by horseback riders themselves.  One is the need for specially designated “loop” type trails reserved exclusively for horseback riding in a way that would eliminate the need to ride on the county roads in order to return to their campsite.  Horses and motor vehicles do not make the pleasant or even safe mix. In fact, the same might be said regarding the mix of bicycles and motor vehicles, especially after horses have churned up the soft sand of the roads in a way that makes them almost impassable, even for “mountain bikes.” So what the Pigeon Country River Forest needs are more specially designated trails keep these various types of activity safely separated—a solution that is been increasingly used on Federal recreational lands, in national monuments, and in national parks. In tandem with such a policy, a purchased trail use permit might be considered, both to control the amount of trail use as well as to pay for trail upkeep—a policy that is being increasingly used in other states.

The other major complaint by the law-abiding riders is their inability to be able to be able to count on the availability of a place to camp with their rigs and their horses after they arrive in the forest—a complaint that we often heard (due to ever-increasing horseback riding activity) even after the 15 “trail camps” were created. Obviously, the only solution to this particular problem, no matter what camping and riding facilities are provided, is to ration or restrict the number of horses and riders allowed at any given time. This can only be accomplished by means of a campsite reservation system, not unlike that has used for some time for campsites in many of Michigan’s most popular State Parks.

            However, we have to recognize two other factors that will be necessary for success. The first is that none of these measures can be affectively implemented unless the state is able to provide the personnel to administer and enforce the policies. The recently announced addition of two more DNR law-enforcement officers, one to assist in Otsego County and another in Cheboygan County, should at least help in the enforcement of the regulations that already exist.

            The second major factor is the education of the public—which still remains a challenge, even despite all the publicity that the Pigeon River Country has received, especially during and even after the big battle to control the expansion of the oil and gas industry into the forest that began in the early 1970s. Perhaps a more recent example of public ignorance happened some years ago when the travel and recreation writer for a newspaper in a nearby Michigan city wrote a glowing piece describing the PRCF as the perfect place to tool around in an ATV—this despite a major court battle had been fought (and won) to keep ATVs off PRCA lands, and had already been banned by Otsego Country on County roads!

            So too the ban on snowmobile use on the PRCF land, which although it was implicit in the original 1973 Concept of Management for the Forest, has become much more explicit in the 2007 update. Repeated efforts by snowmobile organizations to push for the creation of a special high-speed snowmobile corridor through the PRCF have been repeatedly (and successfully) blocked by the Advisory Council (with the full support of our PRCA Association) over and over again. The reason? It is simply because the Pigeon River Country was not set aside to become the preserve of any particular industry (whether it be forest products or oil & gas interests) or the playground of any special interest group. Instead, the Pigeon River Country Forest was created as a special management unit to preserve (and to restore where necessary) what P. S. Lovejoy, Michigan’s pioneer conservationist saw as being the lower peninsula’s remaining “Big Wild.”  It is to this purpose that the Pigeon River Country Association is committed and we will continue to defend this forest as a truly “special place.” 

                                                                                                (R. W. Kropf — editor)

“Bull Elk in Profile” — eventually to be available in color as part of a “Pigeon River Country Slideshow”  screensaver CD.