Agreement Narrative: Big Wild Habitat Improvement Project
Primary Funder: Michigan Wildlife Habitat Grant Program (WH23-160)
Location: Pigeon River Country State Forest, Michigan
Innovation: As a continuation in a long-standing partnership between RGS & AWS and the Pigeon River Country State Forest (PRCSF) working together to directly affect habitat within the forest, this project aims to improve multiple cover-types and access issues with a variety of different strategies. By improving and maintaining forest openings and trails, introducing wildlife forage with the planting of soft-mass trees, creating early successional habitat, and working with the PRCSF to aid their prescribed burn program in a large complect of contiguous dry forest openings, we are addressing multiple levels of wildlife use/habitat concerns while also working towards making these areas more easily accessible for outdoor recreationists.
Impact: This project directly impacts 160 acres of habitat and aligns with the PRCSF’s overall land management strategy and goals as outlined in the official “Concept of Management” document that defines goals and objectives for the 109,000 acre property and the largest block undeveloped land in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula
- 26 acres of upland forest opening mowing/maintenance
- 2 acres of forest/hunter trail mowing/maintenance/re-seeding
- 125 mature soft-mass trees planted in conjunction with opening/trail maintenance
- 20 acres of upland wildlife opening creation
- 14 acres of early successional aspen stand creation – non-commercial harvesting
- 100 acre prescribed burn to maintain complex of large, upland, dry-forest openings
Partners: This project was initiated by the Roger Moore Chapter of RGS. Development of the project and implementation of the work is done in coordination with the forest and wildlife management team at the PRCSF.
