PRC to see restrictions on horses, bikes
The 118,000-acre forest is different from the other 3.8 million acres in the state forest system. Unlike the other state forests - which came into state ownership through foreclosure for back taxes - Pigeon River Country was largely purchased with the use of Game and Fish funds, which are generated through hunting and fishing license sales and excise taxes.
“We have restrictions on what we can do on Game and Fish purchased lands,” Humphries said, adding that the state has been found out of compliance by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service audits in the past for inappropriately using the funds. By using sportsmen's license money for purposes other than fish and wildlife projects, the state was jeopardizing federal funds for fish and wildlife projects.
“What we risk is the loss of all our federal dollars if we do not accept the restrictions,” Humphries said. “Because of the funding, the DNR is legally required to manage the forest primarily for hunting and fishing. That is the law and we have been in violation of it.”
Humphries said the DNR plans to enhance equestrian opportunities on other properties.
The vision of managing the Pigeon River Country as “The Big Wild” dates to 1919. During the 1970s, the state was involved in lengthy litigation over oil and gas development in the area. The ensuing settlement resulted in founding the Natural Resources Trust Fund, which uses revenue from minerals on state land to purchase and develop additional recreational opportunities in Michigan.
Pigeon River Country has been managed under a plan that was adopted in 1973. In recent years, however, the exponential growth in recreational usage of the area has led to conflicts among user groups, and many conservationists complained the increased traffic has impacted wildlife. Pigeon River Country is supposed to serve as the primary range for the state's elk herd, and the herd has been moving into other areas, in part because of traffic in the state forest, officials say.
Jim Maturen, the founder of the Michigan Wild Turkey Hunters Association, said he wrote the DNR in 2004 about the incompatible uses of the forest. Maturen heralded Humphries' decision.
“The present land-use rules, really, I think, give the horses a place in the Pigeon, give the bicycles a place in the Pigeon; it doesn't exclude them,” Maturen said. “The DNR has acknowledged you can only have so much recreation before it starts impacting wildlife. I think that's a given.”
Maturen added that there was a million acres of Huron-Manistee National Forest “within striking distance,” of Pigeon River Country.
Maturen was not the only conservationist who was pleased by the decision. Bob Jacobson, of the Michigan Conservation Foundation, said his members “enthusiastically applaud and support the land-use orders,” calling Humphries' action “a simple decision of right over wrong.
“The Pigeon has been waiting 40 years for protection from abusive behavior,” he said. “This decision is to protect the last large stretch of wilderness in the Lower Peninsula.”
Mindy Koch, the DNR deputy director who oversaw the formulation of the new land-use orders, said other groups - ORVers, snowmobilers, and mountain bikers - all agreed to the new rules, but the horse enthusiasts were not pleased. And though equestrians have long been restricted at Pigeon River, the DNR had been lax in enforcing those rules.