Despite a year passing since the ice storm, damages are still visible in Northern Michigan forests with trees broken in half, uprooted, and debris crowding forests. 

Cody Stevens, the DNR’s Northeast Lower Peninsula District Manager, says they’re still working to clean up and restore damaged forests. 

Damaged trees

Red pine and Jack pine trees experienced the worst of the damage, so they were the DNR’s top priority for clean-up.

Stevens describes, “the Red pine and Jack pine trees [were] totally snapped off. Those trees were just dead; there was no recovering for them. That’s why you see a lot more harvests in the Red pine right away.”

As the DNR has made progress with cleaning up these forests, Stevens says they’re switching gears to focus on hardwood forests, which contain species such as Maple, Oak, and Aspen trees.

Many hardwood trees were able to grow through the damages of the storm. However, Stevens explains that despite their growth, there’s likely pockets of rotting wood in the trees, and they’re unable to grow at their typical rate. 

Once forests are cleared of damaged trees, the DNR’s next step is to replant trees. 

Restoring damaged environments

Because so much timber was being harvested and sold after the storm, the market became oversaturated, and the value of timber dropped.

Stevens says this affected the DNR’s budget for restoration, as they rely on timber sales to fund forest development. 

Stevens explains, “Our intent is to spend some of the work project money that we receive to reforest all of those stands. So, we’ll be replanting Red pine on the majority of those sites back to ensure that there’s a forest for the future.”

The restoration process is far from over, as Stevens expects it to take them at least 5 years to recover. 

Of the 3,000 miles of state forest roads that were blocked by the storm, Stevens says the DNR has roughly 250 miles left to clear. 

“There is active timber harvesting going on at a little bit higher rate than what there typically would be, trying to salvage all this timber,” he says. “So, when folks do go into the woods, just have their eyes out looking for timber producers, making sure there’s no conflict on their roads.” 

This story is a part of WDET’s ongoing series, the Detroit Tree Canopy Project.