My neighbors and I know exactly how letter writer Jon Matteson [Letters, November 19] feels regarding what the Forest Service has done to our land that we have enjoyed for so many years.

I’m writing in regard to road closures around Six Lakes, off M-123, about one mile west of I-75. It has been a popular spot for years, for hiking, mushroom picking, berry picking, fishing, and hunting. Area people enjoyed bringing their little ones out to fish and would bring a picnic for a day of family fun. In these hard times, there isn’t much left for some of them to do.

It was brought to my attention by my neighbors, when I recently returned from a hunting trip, that the Forest Service has been busy. They came in from the Castle Rock Road, cut ditches, closing the private property owners’ road access. They also pushed trees onto roads and tore up the roads. This made them impassable for anyone to walk or use any kind of ORV access.

What if there is a fire back there? We now have to worry about our homes. Did the Forest Service give that a thought? We live with it. And I have put innocent campfires out through the years.

These roads have been here for at least 50 years. It was where they hauled dirt out for the building of I-75 and M-123. It has been basically limited access for all this time. People have to cross private land from the north end of Six Lakes to get there in the first place. The only time they would use the access from Castle Rock Road was if it was a dry year.

The reason that the Forest Service did this, it reported, was people have been tearing up the area with their ORVs and trucks. These roads and trails were in as good of condition as they have been for over 50 years.

The trees that they chose to push down were live trees. If my neighbors or I would have done that to build a deer blind or shooting lane, how much of a fine or restitution would we be looking at?

There are other places in the area that could have used some work. So please stop tearing up the land we enjoyed so much. Start doing projects that would really make a difference. It would have been nice to get a letter or phone call from the Forest Service before all of the damage was done. Just maybe a better solution could have been worked out.
John Gold
St. Ignace Township