Public comment on proposed forest management treatments in the Sault Ste. Marie management unit for 2011 can be made at Department of Natural Resources open houses Tuesday, September 15, and Thursday, September 17.

The September 15 open house will be from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Kinross Township Hall, 4884 West Curtis, in Kincheloe and is for Chippewa County and east Mackinac County. The September 17 open house will be from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the DNR Naubinway Field Office on US-2 in Naubinway. This meeting will focus on west Mackinac County.

Each year, DNR personnel inventory and evaluate approximately one-tenth of the state forest for health, quality, and quantity of vegetation, wildlife and fisheries habitat and needs, archeological sites, minerals, recreational use, wildfire potential and social factors, including proximity to roads and neighborhoods, and use on adjacent lands. Proposed treatments, which may include timber harvesting and replanting are designed to ensure the sustainability of the resources and ecosystems.

The open houses allow the public to review proposed treatments and to 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, click on Forests, Land and Water, and then on the map of the Sault Ste. Marie Forest Management Unit.

Each management unit is divided into smaller units or compartments. Compartments under review this year are in Garfield, Hudson, Hendricks, Newton, and Moran townships in west Mackinac County, Clark and Marquette townships in east Mackinac County, and Raber, Dafter, Kinross, Superior, Trout Lake, and Drummond townships in Chippewa County. The formal compartment review to decide on prescriptions for these areas is scheduled for 9 a.m. Tuesday, October 6, at the Quality Inn, 913 Boulevard Drive, St. Ignace.