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Rivers at Risk
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The Betsie River
In Benzie and Manistee counties
The Betsie River, which winds for nearly 40 miles from Grass Lake to Betsie Bay in Frankfort, was
designated a state Natural River in 1973.
In 1995, the DNR leased the mineral rights for 13,370 acres of prime woodland and meadow along the
Betsie River for oil and gas development. The leased land -- in Joyfield, Weldon, and Colfax townships
-- encompasses the wildest reaches of the river.
The energy industry now is exploring for Antrim gas in this watershed. Four unsuccessful test wells were
drilled in Joyfield Township in 1996 by Terra Energy. Northwestern Natural Gas has received state permits to
drill 18 more wells in Colfax Township. Oilfield Investments Ltd. drilled two wells along the river in
Springdale Township in northern Manistee County.
The Betsie River watershed provides a prime location for adopting a new energy management plan. To
date, oil and gas development in the watershed has not been extensive, although the industry's activity in the
region raises concern. Thus, an opportunity now is available to put into place land use measures that protect
the river and its watershed, and still allow energy companies to tap oil and gas reserves.
The Black River,The Pigeon River,The Sturgeon River
In Otsego and Montmorency counties
These rivers, which form the southern part of the Cheboygan River Watershed, drain portions of two
counties that have been heavily drilled for more than a quarter century.
The Pigeon was designated a state Natural River in 1982. The Pigeon River Hydrocarbon Development
Plan minimized damage along the Pigeon and much of the Black from energy development within the
boundaries of the state forest. However, the Sturgeon River, and the watersheds of the Pigeon and the Black
outside the state forest, are not covered by the plan.
Also, the Pigeon River Country State Forest, which now is spread across almost 99,000 acres, is
significantly larger than it was when the 1980 plan was adopted. Much of the new land acquired for the forest
is not covered by the protections of the Pigeon River plan.
Some 29 Antrim gas wells already have been drilled on state forest land that is outside the protected zone.
Terra Energy has applied for permission to drill on the recently-acquired 2,608-acre Blue Lakes Ranch, which
is unprotected by the plan. The Blue Lakes Ranch is drained by the Black River, which is considered among
the finest brook trout fisheries in the state.
Additional drilling applications are anticipated for other unprotected parts of the state forest, and for land
outside the forest boundaries.
Moreover, the northern two-thirds of the forest, which has been off-limits to drilling, could be at risk from
oil and gas development in the future. The leases to the minerals there now are controlled by the industry: in
June 2001, control of the minerals reverts back to the state.
The question is, What will the state do then? Currently the DNR has classified these minerals as
"non-development," or "non-leasable," meaning that it does not intend to open the northern two-thirds of the
forest. Moreover, the language of the Pigeon River plan clearly states that as long as energy is still being
produced in the southern third of the forest, no energy exploration or development can occur in the northern
two-thirds.
Yet in spite of these seemingly iron-clad provisions, the political dynamic in the 1990s clearly shows that
they can be changed by a stroke of a pen from the Governor's Office or a shift in control in the House of
Representatives or the Senate.
State officials and members of the Pigeon River Country Advisory Council are concerned that when oil
and gas drilling in the southern third of the forest plays out early in the 21st century and the Pigeon River Plan
ceases to be in effect, energy companies will begin putting pressure on state government to lease minerals in
the northern two-thirds.
This report calls for:
•The state to act immediately and decisively to establish a new policy to permanently ban oil and gas
drilling in the northern two-thirds of the Pigeon River Country State Forest.
• Banning oil and gas development in the southern third of the Pigeon River Country State Forest once the
wells already installed there cease production.
• Establishing a hydrocarbon development plan for the Sturgeon River watershed.
• Extending the safeguards of the existing hydrocarbon development plan to current and future unprotected
regions of the Pigeon and Black river watersheds.
The Boardman River
In Kalkaska and Grand Traverse counties
The Boardman River drains a 182,800-acre watershed that empties into West Grand Traverse Bay in
Traverse City.The Boardman was designated a state Natural River in 1976.
The Boardman watershed was heavily affected by the Niagaran development of the 1970s and early 1980s.
Hundreds of wells were drilled along the river and its tributaries.
Antrim drilling in the watershed has occurred throughout the eastern and southwestern reaches near
Brown, Kingsley, and on state land around the Muncie Lakes. The upper Boardman also has been affected by
the installation of major gas pipelines that have harmed wetlands, and by the opening of wooded areas to
access by off-road vehicles. More industrial construction is expected as gas production from the Antrim
formation increases.
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