LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) — A bit of the Michigan state price range handed by Home Republicans would take away limits on improvement alongside the Little Manistee River, doubtlessly reversing years of conservation efforts.
The 2026 price range, authorized by the Home in August, features a fisheries administration provision that may limit the river’s “natural” designation. This standing presently protects the river from improvement, reminiscent of clearing vegetation or constructing roads, utilities and driveways, to protect its pure character.
The supply, discovered on web page 716 of the 808-page price range, would prohibit the Division of Pure Assets from utilizing fisheries administration funds to designate the river, canceling a multi-year effort by the Little Manistee Watershed Council.
Republicans who management the state Home argue that billions in “waste, fraud and abuse” needs to be slashed from the state price range. This contains $53 million from the DNR, virtually 10% of the company’s price range.
The Little Manistee River is a 64-mile cold-water stream in northwestern Michigan. It originates in jap Lake County and flows westward, emptying into Manistee Lake close to Stronach, simply east of Lake Michigan.
Efforts to protect the river have confronted skepticism from locals involved about personal property rights. A 2023 survey by Grand Valley State College discovered that 43.5% of respondents help the pure river designation, whereas 30.2% had been not sure.
“I’ve been a property proprietor for over 45 years,” said one respondent in the study. “I want the DNR would use its sources to deal with different points… Permitting extra fish to go over the weir so property house owners above 9 Mile bridge can see extra fish. We have now stored information because the ‘70s. Possibly not take all the eggs from the fish and permit extra salmon to come back upriver.”
There are 16 different Michigan rivers with “natural” designation by the DNR: Au Sable, Betsie, Boardman, Flat, Fox, Huron, Jordan, Decrease Kalamazoo, Pere Marquette, Pigeon, Pine, Rifle, Rogue, Two Hearted, Higher Manistee and White rivers.
An advisory committee was created in January that may assist Little Manistee administration decide which stretches of the river require extra safety. The DNR fashioned that committee after the GVSU survey to coach folks in regards to the “natural river” designation.
The price range presently sits within the Democratic-controlled Senate the place the deadline is Sept. 30.
