# dogs to be leashed in Huron-Manistee National Forest



## Hamilton Reef (Jan 20, 2000)

Proposal would require dogs to be leashed in Huron-Manistee National Forest

http://www.mlive.com/outdoors/grpress/index.ssf?/base/sports-0/1141400814318980.xml&coll=6

Friday, March 03, 2006 By Howard Meyerson Press Outdoors Editor

Letting your dog run free at Nordhouse Dunes could become a thing of the past, according to national forest officials. Leash-free pooches are taking too big a bite out of people's enjoyment and are presenting a threat to endangered species there. Huron-Manistee National Forest staffers are proposing that dogs be leashed at all times within the 3,450-acre federal wilderness starting this spring. 

The popular recreation area north of Ludington along Lake Michigan draws more than 10,000 people, many of whom bring dogs, every summer.

"Someone gets bit every year," said John Hojnowski, the assistant ranger for the forest's Manistee district. "We get complaints from visitors who have been attacked by a dog or had one jump up on them. 

"This wouldn't be an issue if this were some isolated wilderness out West, but this is a high-use wilderness." 

Nordhouse rules already require dogs to be leashed in the campground there and along the beach. 

People hiking through the forests have been allowed to let their dogs run. The campground rule dates back to the 1970's. 

The beach rule was put in place in 2003 after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service designated it as "critical habitat" for the federally endangered piping plover. 

"Dogs can be a problem on a beach," said Jack Dingledine, the FWS Great Lakes regional piping plover recovery coordinator. "They will chase the plovers and can potentially kill young chicks. Dogs are an issue for us at a lot of sites." 

Plovers have not nested at Nordhouse so far, but Dingledine said he expects they will in time. Four pair have nested at Ludington State Park to the south.

The beach habitat at Nordhouse offers much of what the bird needs: small cobble pans where their tiny eggs blend in and look like stones, and small puddles and ponds where they can feed on insects. 

"We haven't seen nests but we have observed the birds at Nordhouse," Dingledine said. "It's reasonable to expect that the population will expand and nest in the Nordhouse area." 

Hojnowski said the issues boil down to public safety and protection for an endangered species. Many Nordhouse visitors already comply with the leash rule but others readily ignore the signs posted on the beach.

The new rule is expected to make law enforcement easier by eliminating vagaries in the current rules. For instance, dogs must be on a leash when they are within 500 meters the high-water mark of Lake Michigan, the critical habitat for plovers. But identifying that boundary can be difficult for a family just out walking its dog. 

Ludington State Park also lies adjacent to Nordhouse Dunes southern boundary. The park does not allow dogs on the beach at all. The new rule is expected to prevent a dog from inadvertently running across the park boundary. 

Other species, like the federally threatened pitcher's thistle, are likely to benefit as well. 

"This will keep the dogs from just flying around on the vegetation in the dunes because someone is throwing a Frisbee or a retrieving dummy," Chris Shumacher, the forest's district wildlife biologist, said. 

"There has been a history of dogs and people problems there and we just felt it would be easier to enforce," Shumacher said. 

Fines for not having a dog on a leash are expected to be between $75 and $100. 

That the piping plover is making a slow-but-steady comeback is in large part due to the protection it is being offered, said Dingledine. There were just 32 pair in 2001. That grew to grew to 58 pair in 2005. All but one were found in Michigan. The other was found in Wisconsin. The recovery goal for the plover is 100 nesting pair in Michigan and 150 pair throughout the Great Lakes.

"We had one pair nest and bring off a successful brood at Petoskey State Park for the first time in recent memory last year," said Dingledine. 

To aid the bird in recovery, state and federal wildlife officials employ intensive management tactics. Small wire enclosures are built to protect nests during the breeding season from April 15 to Aug. 15. Beaches are posted to make people aware of the bird and its plight. Active nesting areas are cordoned off. 

Plovers typically migrate north from their wintering grounds and arrive some time in April. Once here, they pair off and nest. They typically lay four eggs each year.

"We had one pair nest and bring off a successful brood at Petoskey State Park for the first time in recent memory last year," said Dingledine. 

To aid the bird in recovery, state and federal wildlife officials employ intensive management tactics. Small wire enclosures are built to protect nests during the breeding season from April 15 to Aug. 15. Beaches are posted to make people aware of the bird and its plight. Active nesting areas are cordoned off. 

Plovers typically migrate north from their wintering grounds and arrive some time in April. Once here, they pair off and nest. They typically lay four eggs each year. 

If the bird is lucky, all will hatch and fledge, a process that takes from 28 to 30 days. Plover survival runs about 1.6 fledglings per breeding pair. The young birds die from all the usual causes. Eggs and chicks in the wild get preyed upon by raccoons and gulls or other predators. Nesting at water's edge they are vulnerable to severe weather and storms. 

The enclosures help to keep the predators out, but always have not been effective at limiting human disturbance. 

"We have had people come and vandalize the enclosures and nests," said Dingledine. "We've had people ride all around them on their ORV's; had people throw rocks at them and the bids and ride drunk on their motorcycle around the nests." 

Lisa Gamero, the volunteer coordinator with the Department of Natural Resource's state park stewardship program, said the state will be recruiting volunteers to work a piping-plover patrol this spring at Wilderness State Park, just west of the Mackinac Bridge. The program offers a free night camping in exchange for eight hours on patrol. 

Seasonal staff are hired to be stewards on the ground at other state parks such as Ludington, where four pair nested last year. 

"We had three pair the year before and four last year," said Gamero. "We expect to see them again. There were two nests by the lighthouse, one by the Nordhouse Dunes and one right at the beach house near the volleyball courts." 

Nordhouse Dunes, federal officials say, is just a short flight away.


----------



## Hamilton Reef (Jan 20, 2000)

Nordhouse Dunes rule: Dogs can't run, leash 'em

http://www.ludingtondailynews.com/news.php?story_id=30548

3-14-2006 By BRIAN MULHERIN Daily News Staff Writer
[email protected] 843-1122, ext. 348

Although it was considered by Manistee National Forest officials, there will be no new rule prohibiting dogs from being off their leashes in the 3,450-acre Nordhouse Dunes Wilderness.

Instead, the statutes already on the books for the forest will be enforced to prohibit dogs off leashes within the wilderness, with a focus on beach areas, Ramona DeGeorgio-Venegas, Manistee National Forest outdoor recreation planner, announced Thursday. 

The change in enforcement is significant because the area is popular with backpackers and dayhikers who like to let their dogs run free. The concern over free-roaming dogs is for endangered piping plovers and endangered Pitchers thistle plants, among other species. 

The dunes were designated as critical habitat for the birds about four years ago. 

Venegas said the concern isnt so much that the dogs will chase and catch the plover chicks, but that they may inadvertently trample a nest or a Pitchers thistle plant. Pitchers thistle is a plant that will thrive in lightly disturbed sand, but can be killed by too much disturbance. Venegas said the plant takes five to eight years to mature and is just one of a handful of species that could be damaged by dogs running free near the beach. 

In addition, she said there have been several incidents of dogs attacking other dogs or jumping on people. 

Sometimes dogs are defensive, Venegas said. Weve had dogs biting other dogs or just being overly exuberant because theyre dogs. 

The Code of Federal Regulations states that possessing a dog not on a leash or otherwise confined is a violation of CFR 261.8 (d). Section 261.9 (c) reads damaging any plant that is classified as threatened, endangered, sensitive, rare or unique is prohibited.

Venegas pointed out that its really in peoples best interest to keep their dogs under control. She said while she was on foot patrols in the wilderness area in the past, it wasnt uncommon to run into dogs with porcupine quills in their snouts. 

Venegas said hunting dogs used for that purpose in the fall in the wilderness area wouldnt likely disturb nesting birds, but said they still would need to be under control. 

The area of focus for the enforcement will be within 500 meters of shore, or roughly the boundary of the critical habitat for the plovers. 

Fines, payable to federal court in Grand Rapids, would be $50 for possessing a dog not on a leash or otherwise confined and $500 for damaging any plant that is classified as a threatened, endangered, sensitive, rare or unique species. Both fines are subject to an additional $25 administrative fee. 

Venegas said the leash order doesnt necessarily stop people from throwing sticks for their dogs in Lake Michigan. She said the boundary of the Wilderness is the high-water mark on the lake, so dog owners can still play with their dogs in the water, as long as the dogs arrive at the waters edge on a leash. 

Its not going to limit people that like to bring their dogs fetching or swimming in the water, she said. 

WATER AT BIG M  Venegas said a hand-pumped well will be installed at Big M recreation area near the warming shelter. She said the Marzinski Horse Trail area would also receive a water well, but the exact location has not yet been determined.


----------

