Resolution Urging Fed to Allow Existing Hunting Camps in Ottawa National Forest

The state Senate is calling on the federal government to allow for special use permits for existing hunting camps in the Upper Peninsula’s Ottawa National Forest.

Leases for land the hunting camps sit on are about to expire and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) wants that property vacated.

But state Senator Tom Casperson is sponsoring a Senate-passed resolution urging the USFS issue special use permits saying it’s an alternative to booting people off the land.

The forest service has argued the camps prevent access to the forest.

But Casperson says the owners of these camps maintain trails to access the camps and often keep them open for the public.

He says without the camps the public will have a more difficult time accessing the forest.