Update on Protecting the Trap Hills
Thank you to everyone who took action in recent days to help protect the rugged and untamed Trap Hills, the largest of the areas Keep the U.P. Wild supports for Wilderness designation in the Ottawa National Forest (ONF). Here’s an update on our shared fight to preserve the wildlands of the Western Upper Peninsula.
On Monday, seven coalition-member businesses and organizations – the Michigan Environmental Council, Michigan League of Conservation Voters, Upper Peninsula Environmental Coalition, Chicken Tramper Ultralight Gear, Environmental Law & Policy Center, Keweenaw Charter Fishing Co., and Keweenaw Youth for Climate Action – filed an objection with the Ottawa National Forest to its Draft Decision to proceed with logging 6,137 acres of the Trap Hills as part of its North Victoria Vegetation Management Project.
Nearly 70% of the tree-stand acreage to be logged in the Trap Hills has a year or origin that is 75 to 125 years old, indicating the presence of mature forest and likely some old growth trees, too, as the objection explains using maps and tables.
The objection filed by the seven coalition members emphasizes Keep the U.P. Wild’s long-standing goal that the Trap Hills be removed from the logging project. If the Ottawa National Forest, nonetheless, grants final approval to the logging project as proposed, the objection requests that the ONF use its authority to delay implementation of selection-cut and clear-cut logging of the Trap Hills for at least 10 years to preserve the opportunity for future Wilderness designation of the area by Congress. The co-objectors also submitted a letter of support for the objection signed by 32 organizations and businesses from across the U.P. and lower Michigan.
Hiker in Trap Hills
The objection makes clear that the mature trees of the Trap Hills provide valuable ecosystem services in the national forest, such as water filtration and storage, carbon sequestration, and food and habitat for native plant and wildlife species. The northern hardwood forest also provides some natural resistance to wildfire, disease, and pests.
Stay tuned as the co-objectors await a formal response from the Ottawa National Forest to the objection and the public expression of support for protecting the Trap Hills so that current and future generations may one day enjoy the majestic area as permanently protected federal Wilderness.
Please read on to learn more about the Trap Hills, its flora and fauna, and the array of recreational opportunities it offers – including tips on where to hike this summer in the Trap Hills.
The Trap Hills Is a Gem Worth Protecting
Since mid-2021, Keep the U.P. Wild has grown to more than 350 members advocating to protect the Trap Hills and three additional areas covering more than 50,000 acres of the Ottawa National Forest as Wilderness. (View the coalition’s interactive map of the areas).
Residents of Michigan’s Western Upper Peninsula and visitors alike highly value the 25,000-acre Trap Hills for its scenic beauty, spectacular views from Michigan’s highest sheer cliff, vast conifer and hardwood forest, abundant hunting and fishing opportunities, and popular hiking access along 17 miles of the North Country National Scenic Trail. The U.S. Forest Service heralds the area’s “large tracts of undisturbed forest, rugged slopes and ridges, streams, waterfalls and ponds [offering] solitude and [a] sense of remoteness that is unique in the Great Lakes area.”
The Trap Hills is known for its rare and endangered species like gray wolves, moose, peregrine falcons, northern goshawks, and wood turtles. The area also features a diverse array of flora, including species like Braun’s holly fern and fairy bells (Prosartes hookeri), which Michigan lists as “threatened” and, east of the Rocky Mountains, is found only in Gogebic and Ontonagon Counties in the Western Upper Peninsula.
A future Wilderness designation of the Trap Hills will help bolster the Western U.P.’s multimillion-dollar outdoor recreation and tourism economy by enshrining special forms of recreation like hiking, camping, rock climbing, hunting, fishing, birding, kayaking, and snowshoeing – and prohibit logging and motorized vehicles.
See for yourself: Consider a hiking trip this summer to the Trap Hills. To get you started, here are snapshots of four suggested hikes of varying length and difficulty in the Trap Hills and in the Ottawa National Forest’s Sturgeon River Gorge, which Keep the U.P. Wild is seeking to expand. We also have included some tips for staying safe on the trail.
Enjoy!
Kelly Thayer, Keep the U.P. Wild Campaign (kthayer@elpc.org)