Hunting / Outdoor News

Dear Partner in Conservation,

You may already have heard of a move afoot to ban firearm hunting and snowmobiling in certain areas of the Huron-Manistee National Forest. Very sadly, this news is true. As a result of a lawsuit seeking to eliminate hunting and snowmobiling in the Forest, the U.S. Forest Service is currently in the process of revisiting its 2006 Land and Resource Management Plan in compliance with a decision handed down by the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. The court's decision sided with Plaintiff Kurt Meister, a Michigan attorney who sued the Forest Service in order to eliminate firearm hunting and snowmobiling in nearly 70,000 acres of the Forest.

While the court decision itself does ban firearm hunting or snowmobiling, it does require the Forest Service to revisit the Forest's management plan in order to take a second look at the preferred option of Meister, which would eliminate gun hunting and snowmobiling from "Primative Areas" (Nordhouse Dunes Wilderness) and "Semiprimitive Non-motorized" Management Areas (see list below). It is critical for sportsmen and women to TAKE ACTION - Not only could this development impact your ability to hunt in the Huron-Manistee National Forest, but will likely set a dangerous precedent limiting your right to hunt on other public lands!

Semiprimitive Nonmotorized Areas that may be closed to hunting without your action

Manistee National Forest:
- Manistee River Semiprimitive Management Area (7,900 acres)
- Briar Hills Semiprimitive Management Area (3,400 acres)
- Bowman Lake Semiprimitive Management Area (1,100 acres)
- Whalen Lake Semiprimitive Management Area (2,800 acres)
- Condon Lakes West Semiprimitive Management Area (3,300 acres)
- White River Semiprimitive Management Area (6,900 acres)
Huron National Forest:
- Wakeley Lake Semiprimitive Management Area (2,100 acres)
- South Branch of the Au Sable River Semiprimitive Management Area (4,000 acres)
- Whitewater Creek Semiprimitive Management Area (7,200 acres)
- Hoist Lakes Semiprimitive Management Area (9,700 acres)
- Reid Lake Semiprimitive Management Area (3,200 acres)
- Au Sable River Semiprimitive Management Area (10,400 acres)
- Cooke Semiprimitive Management Area (2,400 acres)

The point of this Action Alert is that YOU have a voice in this matter. The U.S. Forest Service has planned a series of 8 public meetings from January 31 through February 3
on the proposed alternative to ban firearm hunting and snowmobiling. While public testimony is a great opportunity for sportsmen to band together to defend their rights, it's inevitable that some of you will be unable to make one of the 8 public meetings in person. In the event that you cannot attend, written comments are also being accepted.

TAKE ACTION

1.) Attend one of 8 public meetings and submit written comments

1/31/11 - Birch Run 4-8 p.m.
- Hilton Inn Express of Birch Run, 12150 Dixie Hwy.
1/31/11 - Oscoda 4-7 p.m.
- Huron Shores Ranger Station, 5761 North Skeel Rd.
2/1/11 - Southfield 4-8 p.m.
- Hilton Garden Inn, 26000 American Drive
2/1/11 - Mio 4-7 p.m.
- Mio Ranger Station, 107 McKinley Road
2/2/11 - Lansing 4-8 p.m.
- Causeway Bay Hotel (Will be changing to Best Western), 6820 South Cedar
2/2/11 - Manistee 4-7 p.m.
- Days Inn of Manistee, 1462 US 31 South
2/3/11 - Grand Rapids 4-8 p.m.
- Crowne Plaza, 57000 East 28th St.
2/3/11 - Baldwin 4-7 p.m.
- Pleasant Plains Township Hall, 885 Eighth St.

2.) Submit written comments

U.S. Mail - Send written comments to Lee Evison, Forest Planner, Huron-Manistee National Forests, 1755 S. Mitchell Street, Cadillac, MI 49601
Fax - 231-775-5551
Electronic - comments-eastern-huron-manistee@fs.fed.us (Comments sent via email should contain the subject line "Forest Plan SEIS"

MUCC staff have reviewed the court's opinion along with pertinent portions of the 2006 Forest Plan and have come up with the following conclusions, which you may choose to use with your own personal experiences hunting and hunting on public land when submitting your public comment.

It is important to note that hunters who access the Huron-Manistee National Forest, especially the areas above, are especially encouraged to submit public comment - it is your right to hunt that is being challenged! However, all hunters - even those who do not use the Huron-Manistee Forest - are also encouraged to take action. We must band together against this attack on our rights and heritage.

Major Issues/Talking Points

1.) The court opinion, which requires the Forest Service to re-investigate whether to ban firearm hunting and snowmobiling in the Huron-Manistee National Forest, states that the Service failed to identify the various recreation preferences of user groups. Specifically, just because the Forest Plan may allow a variety of "activities" (i.e., snowshoeing, snowmobiling, hunting, cross-country skiing, bird watching) does not mean that the Plan is adequate. Rather, the Service should focus on the "quality" of those recreational opportunities and the recreational preferences for the users. In other words, just because a hunter, snowmobiler and cross-country skier can all access the same land in Hoist Lakes, if the cross-country skier's "preference" is to access the land without hunters around, that preference should have been considered in the Plan.

Response: Hunters use the woods for the purpose of their sport, but also for the purpose of enjoying nature and solitary recreation, just like other recreational users may. "Quality" recreation may be subjective, however, one persons' preference to exclude others should not give rise to excluding those "others" from PUBLIC land.
Response: Hunting does not and should not interfere with the "quality" experience of other users. Users of public land must have a mutual respect for each other and avoid user conflicts wherever necessary.
Response: The Federal Land Policy and Management Act allows the Forest Service to designate areas of public land where no hunting may be permitted for reasons of public safety, administration or in compliance with other provisions of law. This authority should still be left to the Forest Service, not one's own political bias or desire to not share public land with hunters.
Response: State wildlife managers are also local experts on where hunting should and should not occur, depending on ecological sensitivity or high density use. The lands where Mr. Meister wishes to ban hunting are primitive areas that are not high-density use. In its 2006 Plan, the Forest Service properly left the issue of banning certain uses in the Forest such as hunting to the wildlife managers and experts.

2.) In its opinion, the Court states that the Service violated the National Environmental Policy Act by failing to consider Mr. Meister's proposed alternative to the 2006 Plan that would have banned firearm hunting and snowmobiling from Primitive and Semiprimitive Nonmotorized areas. Specifically, the Court suggests that the Service may have "favor[ed]" hunters by not eliminating their opportunity to hunt on these areas and, for example, should be required "to consider whether ... birdwatchers in fall should be able to enjoy their pastime ... without ducking for the occasional gunshot." (Essentially, the Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement and ensuing public comment period on this topic is exactly what the Service is doing to comply with this portion of the court's holding)

Response: Those who recreate on public land should understand and respect that a variety of different uses exist. "Occasional gunshots" are simply not whizzing throughout the National Forest on a regular basis, especially in semiprimitive nonmotorized areas. One user's ignorance of the safe practices and respect exercised by most hunters should not preclude hunters from accessing public land.
Response: Extensive public comment was given on the 2006 Plan by a variety of interest. The Forest Service should give diligence to the comments of public users, however, elimination of hunters' access to 70,000 acres of public land based on one person's public comment should not be given credence.
Response: Many hunters join snowshoers and cross-country skiers like Mr. Meister in our enjoyment of solitary, quiet recreation in primitive and semiprimitive areas of the Forest. The Forest Service should continue to allow hunters their preferred "quality" method of quiet recreation in these areas in addition irrespective of the fact that "quality" recreation to others includes using an area where hunters are banned.

3.) Eliminating hunter access to areas of the Huron-Manistee National Forest will have a harmful economic effect on the state and local economies

Hunting is big business in Michigan - Our state has the 3rd most paid hunting license holders in the nation, who collectively spend $1.3 billion each year in retail spending alone for their recreational pursuits.
The Huron-Manistee National Forest is a significant "home-based" recreational backdrop for Northern Michigan residents, but is also a destination for out-of-state hunters and those who reside in the southern Lower Peninsula. Michigan hunters make roughly $262.3 million on trip-related expenditures alone in a year. By banning hunting in the Huron-Manistee National Forest, local economies in Northern Michigan will have less of an opportunity to reap economic support generated by hunters.
Many sportsmen and women use the Huron-Manistee National Forest for both its hunting AND fishing recreational opportunities. By banning hunting on 70,000 acres of the Forest, a chilling effect may also occur on fishing activities. Combined together, sportsmen and women spend $3.4 billion annually in Michigan, which has an additional $5.9 billion economic ripple effect on the state's economy. Michigan cannot afford to alienate this important economic and cultural activity on public land.

4.) Hunters pay for conservation on our state and federal public lands

The State of Michigan generates about $28 million in revenue each year from in-state and out-of-state hunters. Eliminating hunting opportunities in the Huron-Manistee National Forest will further reduce revenue for our already cash-strapped wildlife managers, which will harm wildlife conservation and control efforts.
Under the Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration Act all hunters pay excise taxes on their hunting equipment, which gets dispersed to state wildlife agencies for conservation efforts. Unlike most recreational users in the Huron-Manistee National Forest, hunters are directly responsible for the roughly $25 million Michigan receives each year in wildlife conservation funding.