The Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) will host two open houses Monday, December 5, and Tuesday, December 6, to provide information and receive public comment on forest management treatments proposed for 2007 in the Escanaba management unit.

The December 5 open house will be held from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. (Central Time) at the Menominee County Annex Building on US Highway 41 in Stephenson. On December 6, the DNR will host an open house from 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. (Eastern Time) at the Escanaba Forest Unit Management Office at 6833 Highways US-2, 41, and M-35 in Gladstone.

Each year DNR personnel inventory and evaluate one-tenth of the state forest. The information gathered includes the health, quality, and quantity of all vegetation; wildlife and fisheries habitat and needs; archaeological sites; mineral, oil and gas activities; recreational use; wildfire potential and social factors, including proximity to roads and neighborhoods; and use on adjacent lands, public or private. Proposed treatments are then designed to insure the sustainability and diversity of the resources and ecosystems.

The open house is an opportunity for the public to review proposed treatments and provide input toward final decisions on those treatments. It also provides the public an opportunity to talk with foresters and biologists about issues of interest. Maps and information regarding the proposed treatments will be available at the open house and can be accessed at www.michigan.gov/dnr, or by contacting Eric Thompson, Escanaba unit manager, at (906) 786-2354, extension 142.

Each management unit is divided into smaller units or compartments to facilitate better administration of the resources. The Escanaba unit open house and compartment review will focus on compartments in Menominee and Delta counties. Townships with compartments in Menominee County include Faithorn, Lake, Daggett, Nadeau, Holmes, Gourley, Ingallston, Harris, and Cedarville. In Delta County, compartments under review are in Baldwin, Cornell, and Maple Ridge townships.

The formal compartment review to finalize prescriptions for these areas is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. (Eastern Time) Monday, December 19, at the Joseph Heirman University Center of Bay College in Escanaba. Persons with disabilities needing accommodations for these meetings should contact Eric Thompson.