The U.S. Forest Service is proposing the Silver Branch Vegetation Management Project on the eastern edge of Michigan’s Ottawa National Forest, a long-running plan that would include clear-cut logging, gravel mining expansion, road construction and habitat work spanning about 40 miles from north to south. The project, which would last around 30 years with periodic reviews, would also involve a wild rice seeding effort and upgrades to campgrounds and lake access. Environmental groups and other opponents say the plan threatens habitat tied to endangered and protected species, including the northern long-eared bat and Kirtland’s warbler.
Opponents raised alarms because the project would be sited along the border with Wisconsin, where they say habitat for the endangered northern long-eared bat is present. The coalition that includes the Environmental Law & Policy Center sent a letter and a 73-page document to the Forest Service outlining their concerns, including worries that logging would spread invasive species, increase water runoff and affect habitat for protected animals that include gray wolves and northern long-eared bats. They also object to the removal of trees that are more than 100 years old, and they have asked for changes to the project boundary to better preserve areas that are currently and proposed as protected wilderness, according to the report.
Thayer argued that the Forest Service’s conclusion that the activity would not cause significant impacts is not credible at the scale involved. “It involves 25,000 acres of national forest clear-cutting and yet the determination has been that there would be no significant impacts from such activities. That’s just not plausible,” Thayer said.
The Forest Service, according to the report, already prepared an environmental assessment and determined there would be “no significant impact” from the project. The opponents’ position is that if the Forest Service proceeds without a fuller review, it would avoid answering a set of difficult questions that could be required under an environmental impact statement process, including consideration of alternatives. The agency, the report says, previously offered a 30-day comment period that began Dec. 23. The Forest Service is planning an additional window for objections in March, though it did not post an exact date, and it is currently anticipating making a decision in March.
The logging approach described in the proposal is not a single uniform practice across the project area. The report says the plan as outlined would include about 1,500 acres of clear-cutting and roughly 24,000 acres of another type of clear-cutting that leaves certain trees, with those areas dispersed throughout the project boundary. The report also says the proposal includes around 57,000 acres of other logging types described as more targeted. When combined, the areas slated for tree removal are about 130 square miles, or roughly 130 square miles of forest treatment footprint, according to the summary in the report.
Forest Service officials described those actions as part of “active management” rather than a logging-first strategy. Trevor Hahka, the district ranger for the Bessemer, Iron River and Watersmeet Ranger Districts of the Ottawa National Forest, told Bridge Michigan by email that it is unclear how much money the project would generate from logging, saying: “Revenue from timber sales depends on market conditions.” He also said that who does the work has not been decided but would be offered to private contractors through a competitive bidding process, with companies paying fees to the federal government for timber harvested and keeping any profits while fees go into federal accounts rather than solely staying within the Ottawa National Forest.
Hahka said the planned logging is not the primary purpose, emphasizing changes to forest composition and health. He said restoring ecological balance is the central aim and that the area has too many hardwoods, with some aspen trees aging beyond desired conditions and some conifers declining. “Active management in overstocked or aging stands prevents decline and promotes long-term forest health,” Hahka said, adding that the Forest Service recognizes concerns raised by the coalition and has included measures intended to address them.
In particular, the report says the Forest Service included protective buffers around known northern long-eared bat roosts and is following best practices intended to reduce water runoff and limit invasive species spread. Hahka also said the project’s habitat and forest tools — including thinning and prescribed burns — would increase resilience to pests, disease and wildfire, factors that he described as amplified by climate change.
Thayer pointed to how invasive spread can happen during logging itself, describing it as an unintended process when plants and seeds get stuck in equipment tread. He also referenced passages from the Forest Service’s own environmental assessment about fire risk after harvest, including language about potential accrual of hazardous surface fuels due to limbs, tops and dead material and how that could heighten wildfire risk in stands affected by spruce budworm and in areas with heavy conifer components.
Hahka said no activities proposed under the project would occur in designated wilderness areas and that the Forest Service does not anticipate producing a full environmental impact statement. In contrast, David Carter, a forestry professor at Michigan State University, said the proposal did not “really raise any red flags,” describing it as a relatively standard Forest Service effort that combines timber harvests, road maintenance and habitat restoration work. Carter also suggested that residents opposing such projects often reflect “not in my back yard” dynamics, while arguing that demand for wood products continues to exist and that failing to harvest in one place shifts demand elsewhere, including potentially to countries where regulatory infrastructure differs from the United States.
If the Forest Service approves the Silver Branch project as proposed, the report says it is expected to begin in June.