On the morning of November 2, Hiawatha Forest Ranger Stevan Christiansen sent a crew to close down the trails off from Schaeffer and Worth roads without any notice given to the people who use them, mainly Schaeffer Road residents. I called Stevan while the bulldozer was tearing up the trails, and the reason he gave me for closing them down was that the four wheelers were tearing things up and doing too much damage to the forest. I would submit to you that in the 50-plus years off-road vehicles have used these trails, they did far less damage to the forest in that time span than the forest service and their bulldozer did in a few hours.

The forest services motto is to "tread lightly." That must be for everyone else but them! If you want to see someone threatening the environmental integrity of the forest come and see what the forest service is doing! When you see what the forest service did to the forest by Schaeffer Road, you will see that they are more of a threat to the forest than off-road vehicles.

Also Mr. Christiansen said that they were unmarked trails. If you will look back at the records and maps, part of what they shut down was the old Schaeffer Road before they put in the current paved road.

We would respectfully ask that Mr. Christiansen and the forest service would allow us to at least open up the trail that parallels Rogers Road, Forest Lane, and Schaeffer Road so we could have safe passage to Worth Road. It would cost the forest service nothing as we would be happy to open them up, mark them, and maintain them. They have been used for over 50 years for hiking, biking, snow shoeing, skiing, four wheeling, and snowmobiling. The use they have gotten in that time hasnt harmed anything or anyone. Now even hiking, skiing, and snowshoeing will be difficult at best with all the trash they put on the trails.

I fear if they dont allow us to open up the trails and we have to mix with road traffic, we could have possible accidents, and if there is a fire in the forest there is no access to fight the fire. Our goal would be to keep the forest in pristine condition while allowing minimum mixing of road traffic with pedestrian and off-road vehicles. After all, arent these forests our forest, as citizens of these United States?

If you are concerned about the bulldozer paying you a visit, tearing up the forest, and shutting down more trails, make your voice heard and call and or write to Mr. Stevan Christiansen, Hiawatha National Forest at (906) 643-7900, W1900 West US. 2 St. Ignace, MI 49781.
Jon Matteson
and 48 other Schaeffer Road area residents

Editor's Note: An article published November 12 in The St. Ignace News about the trail closures pointed out that the Hiawatha National Forest is implementing a directive handed down from the federal level to develop a plan of where ORVs may be used for recreation. The forest service publishes a mixed vehicle use map, first published in 2007, to identify what trails are available for ORV use.