DNR to Memorial Day travelers: Be prepared for a shock Up North

If you’re headed Up North for the holiday weekend, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources is warning that you may be in for an unpleasant surprise; the tree damage from a deadly spring ice storm may be unsettling.

It’s so bad, the agency charged with maintaining state parks, forests and recreation areas sent an email to Michiganders on Wednesday that cautioned the lush-green landscape that you are used to, “may look different.”

To put the storm damage in context, the state DNR said, it covers more than 3 million acres.

That, according to the state, is an even larger area than was destroyed in the Great Michigan Fire of 1871, which every Michigan third-grader learns swept across the state and burned down about 2.5 million acres of forests.

The DNR still trying to clear debris, but it also is now fighting tree-killing pests, such as native pine bark beetles that thrive in areas with stressed, damaged pine trees and fresh pine debris.

The ice storm hit the Midwest in late March, bringing freezing rain and sleet to northern Lower Michigan. Icicles weighing down limbs and snapped the trunks of trees — many pine — like twigs. It also wreaked havoc in other parts of the state. In Kalamazoo County, a tree struck a vehicle, killing three children, ages 11, 4 and 2.

The state’s new warning calls for ongoing vigilance.

It urges vacationers to look up for weakened and dangling limbs that could fall, and look down to avoid tripping on branches that are now on the ground, and could create hazards underfoot, especially in wooded areas.

It asks hikers and ATV riders to “respect all nonmotorized and motorized trail closures,” and to stay on reopened trails and not venture off the paths to avoid potential dangers, including “numerous leaning trees and hanging tree limbs.”

It says those planning to be on the water, who may be fishing or paddling, to be aware that the waterways are filled with downed trees and branches, too, and to be cognizant that some boat launches may be closed.

And it reminds visitors that while most state park campgrounds and lodging areas have reopened, some of the state forest campgrounds, state forest roads, trails and bathrooms and showers still may be temporarily unavailable.

Contact Frank Witsil: 313-222-5022 or [email protected].

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: DNR to Memorial Day travelers: Be prepared for a shock Up North

Reporting by Frank Witsil, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press

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