Crews are still working to clear Northern Michigan roads in the wake of ice storms a month ago.
Dan Heckman, a forest planning and modeling specialist with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, said Wednesday that there are nearly 700 miles of state forest roads that have been deemed “impassable,” and months of work ahead to clear those roads and the thousands more miles that have yet to be assessed.
“You know, I think the one-word description would be a 'mess,'" he said.
The storms that swept through Northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula in late March, downed trees and knocked out power, prompting Governor Gretchen Whitmer to declare a state of emergency across a wide stretch of the state.
Heckman said the breadth of the damage is hard to grasp. "The big impact that’s hard to wrap your head around is that it’s impacting over 3 million acres of land across all ownerships in the northern Lower Peninsula,” he said. “About a million of that is state forest land that we’re having to deal with.”
Heckman said each debris-clearing crew can clear one to two miles of road per day, but they're also busy this time of year setting up boat docks, containing wildfires, and preparing areas for summer recreation.
“Progress is getting made, but just the volume of debris and the scope at which that ice storm had impact on … it’s caused us to be spread pretty thin.”
Whitmer also recently requested an extension from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to submit a major disaster declaration request. She said the money could give the state access to money that goes towards debris removal and infrastructure repair, but crews haven't finished assessing the damage.
Heckman said in the wake of the storm, amassed debris on the forest floor could lead to more intense wildfires over the next several years. This comes as the state has seen Red Flag warnings and increased fire risks statewide.
Safety concerns are preventing the DNR from organizing local volunteer clean-up events in the forest.
“It’s taking a little time. I encourage everybody to be patient with us,” Heckman said.
