U.S. wilderness areas study includes 16 in Michigan

By ERIC FREEDMAN
Capital News Service
LANSING – The federal government has launched a five-year study of the National Wilderness Preservation System, but public land agencies say they have no plans for major changes in Michigan’s 16 designated wilderness areas. The project involves five public agencies. Three of them – the National Park Service, Fish & Wildlife Service and Forest Service – manage land in Michigan. The best known Michigan sites are Sleeping Bear Dunes Wilderness – the state’s newest – and Nordhouse Dunes Wilderness in the Lower Peninsula. In the Upper Peninsula, Isle Royale Wilderness, the largest in the state, is part of Isle Royale National Park.