Mason Tract - Michigan's South Branch of the Au Sable - we need your help

Please take the time to email Mr. Sterritt at the address shown below and tell him the Mason Tract must be included in the BSA areas. The following is from the Anglers of the Au Sable website.

ACT NOW!!

Mason Tract Not To Be Protected?

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment (MDNRE) has embarked on a visionary program to conserve Biological Diversity. In this program, areas of the state with the highest conservation values are designated as ?Biodiversity Stewardship Areas? (BSAs), and will be managed in the future primarily for biodiversity values over all else.

The first set of these areas is in the Northern Lower Peninsula (NLP). The MDNRE gathered a group of DNRE staff and stakeholders, including the timber industry, tribes, and conservation groups, called the Core Design Team (CDT). Anglers of the Au Sable were represented by Bruce Johnson, and Sierra Club by Marvin Roberson.

The CDT spend over a dozen full-day meetings recommending the best places in the NLP for biodiversity conservation. All recommendations were by consensus, that is, all members had to agree before an area was included in the final recommendation>

Not surprisingly, the Mason Tract and some surrounding lands were recommended unanimously. RIVERWATCH readers know the special values of this place, and have seen in recent years some of the management abuses which unrestricted management has led to (can anyone say disastrous oak clearcut?)

Unfortunately, for unspecified ?social concerns?, it appears that the Mason Tract will not be making the final cut for recommendation from the Department. This despite the fact that the Mason Tract is one of the highest-value, most diverse forested areas in the state.

However - it?s not too late - the MDNRE is taking public input on these decisions. Please contact the MDNRE at the information below and tell them to include ?the Core Design Team recommendation for the Mason tract parcel in their final package?.

Contact: Bill Sterrett, Section Leader, MDNRE Forest Management, Minerals and Fire Division: STERRETTW@michigan.gov

ACT NOW!!