Hello my friends, is it August already? The saying is that time flies when your having fun, so I must be living at party central as fast as time goes by.
In July there was a group of runners that came through our area. From what I could find out it was part of the “Run Across Michigan group” that does runs to raise money for charities. I personally saw a large group on Galloway Road and then on Mapes Road by the power lines. They were on the side of the road and busy attending to the runners needs but not stopping my travel.
I say this because I saw on Facebook several comments by ATV and UTV users about the runners being on “Our Roads.”
Its always been my understanding that the roads belong to all of us. One argument was that because they pay a fee for the use of ATV trails then no one else can use them. I called the forest service and the DNR and the understanding is that you may walk on the ATV trails but you should be careful because motorized travel is there also.
It bothers me to see a group set itself apart, any group. It is by setting ourselves apart that makes us easy to control. An example of this is deer season. Personally I would prefer deer season to be just that, a season to hunt deer however you wish be it bow, rifle, black powder, etc. We are all “hunters.”
I think you can understand the analogies here. By breaking ourselves up into ATV, UTV or pedestrian groups we lesson the power of each group. If we could all learn to get along and share the resources then we would be much stronger.
It used to be that all were welcome on the roads and at that time I trapped coyote and fox using a 1973 Buick LeSabre. I traveled the dirt trails with no trouble and then the trail closures started and the groups decided to make trails exclusive. Until this exclusivity I had not noticed any conflict between users. Afterward when a fee had been added that seems to be brought up a lot.
My point with all of the aforementioned is that it is my wish that we all try to understand what the other person is trying to do and give them the respect that you wish to receive in return. When mushroom picking, if I happen across a Turkey hunter I will then try to quietly exit the area leaving them to their chosen hobby.
Now on to a lighter subject: My birds. The swallows have abandoned me once again in pursuit of their long flight south. The blue birds have been eating as many gypsy moths as possible but there are just so many moths. The starlings have been helping with the moths on the ground and the chickadees and nuthatches have been grooming the trees for egg masses but again there are just so many.
At least my trees are recovering well from the deforestation brought about by those voracious leaf eating machines.
That’s all for this month may we all enjoy the wonderful “winter water wonderland” that we all call Michigan.
Please help to keep our woods and waters clean.
Warren “Toad” Stutesman
