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June 15, 2003Sleds, horses bannedNoise, erosion spurred move; other areas openByRecord-Eagle staff writer KALKASKA - The state has closed almost 5,000 acres of state land in Antrim, Crawford, Kalkaska and Otsego counties to snowmobiles because of erosion, noise and conflicts between users. Horses also no longer will be allowed on 10-mile Cadillac Pathway, the state Natural Resources Commission decided last week. The state tried for 12 years to give snowmobiles unrestricted access to state land in an area known as the DeWard Tract, said David Spalding, a land use official for the Department of Natural Resources. The recent decision prohibits snowmobiles except on roads posted as open throughout the tract, which covers 4,721 acres. The tract is a north-south rectangle of about seven miles by 1.5 miles that includes the headwaters of the Manistee down to Cameron Bridge Road in Crawford County. Signs are posted at entrance points and throughout the tract, said Susan Thiel, a DNR forest manager in Grayling. She said snowmobilers have traveled along a natural gas pipeline, often skimming across the Manistee and contributing to riverbank erosion, she said. Motorized vehicles with wheels have been prohibited in the area for 20 years, but snowmobiles have been allowed since 1991. "The experiment didn't work out real well," Spalding said. There are several opportunities for snowmobiling on designated trails and roads nearby, he said. The Cadillac Pathway northeast of the city was closed to horses for similar reasons. Use of horses on the trail had contributed to erosion, particularly on hillsides. and also generated complaints from hikers and runners. "The trail was not developed with horses in mind," Spalding said. "They can still ride on 3.8 million acres of state forest land," he said. The Shore-to-Shore Riding and Hiking Trail between lakes Michigan and Huron was developed in the 1960s primarily with horses in mind, Spalding said.
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