Cleaning Up Trail by Trail

Volunteers rally after devastating northern Michigan ice storm

By Matt Dursum | April 26, 2025

A historic ice storm ravaged the northern Lower Peninsula from March 28 to March 30. Freezing temperatures, damaging winds, and severe ice accumulation caused widespread damage in several northern Michigan counties. Besides the damaged electrical grid, which left thousands of people without power for over two weeks, the region’s beloved trail systems took the biggest hit.

“The ice storm brought down thousands of acres of trees, from their crowns to uprooting trees from the ground as well,” says Cacia Lesh, Volunteer Coordinator for Little Traverse Conservancy. The conservancy owns and maintains over 110 miles of trails throughout northern Michigan.

“We’re looking at the crowns of lots of hardwoods that have come down, as well as the pine trees, which seem a little weaker when they get loaded with ice because they have needles that hold more ice,” says Lesh.

The heavy ice and strong wind also brought down old-growth hardwood trees throughout the region. All told, nearly three million acres of land were damaged by ice accumulation and high winds.

A Big Lift

After the storm, the conservancy’s team got to work, clearing trails including Boyne City’s Hill Preserve.

“There were sections of the trail that we actually decided to reroute around the trees that had come down; large pine trees, 20 feet high, stacked on top of one another for 100 feet along the trail,” says Lesh. The job took the team of 10 workers and volunteers around 60 hours in one week. “Five hundred feet of a reroute is better than two days of clearing one pile-up.”

Now that the team has cleared most of the large trees on the major trails, much of the remaining work involves moving downed branches and brush blocking the trails. “There will have to be a lot of hand cleanup by volunteers over the next couple of months as spring warms up into the summer and the trails are more accessible,” says Lesh.

As the weather warms, Lesh says that hikers and community members can carefully assist in clearing the small debris. “We’re going to rely on our volunteers and community members who use the trails to help us out with that and start spreading small piles that they see along the trail as‌ spring warms up,” says Lesh.

Crews are concentrating their efforts in parks throughout the hard-hit areas of Charlevoix, Cheboygan, and Emmet counties. The storm hit the trail systems along the Pigeon River, such as the Agnes S. Andreae Nature Preserve and the Boyd B. Banwell Nature Preserve, especially hard. Although much of the trails were covered in large debris, the popular Nature Megaphone in Agnes S. Andreae Nature Preserve was undamaged. “There were trees on it, but we were able to clear those off, so it’s actually accessible,” says Lesh.

Besides its small group of staff, the conservancy relies on community volunteers to maintain the vast network of trails. Since the ice storm, the conservancy has received many calls from people looking to help out.

“We’re hoping that if our staff and a couple key volunteers with chainsaws can get out there and clear the trails during the weekdays, community members can go out with small hand saws or even rakes and loppers and continue to get the smaller stuff that is also very time consuming,” says Lesh.

A Lasting Impact

However, Lesh stressed that people must remain cautious on the trails. High winds can knock down what the crews call “hangers”—snapped branches or tree tops suspended in the canopies.

“When trees break off at the top, sometimes the branches don’t make it to the ground and they get hung up in the upper part of other trees,” says Ron Olson, Chief of the DNR’s Parks and Recreation Division. Because of the risks associated with hangers, hikers and trail workers are advised to stay off the trails during windy days.

May 15 is the opening season for campgrounds in many state and national park sites. Olson points out that some parks may open on time, while others will open as soon as they’re safely cleared. “We certainly want to have everything cleaned up by Memorial weekend.”

“We found that over on the eastern side, over towards Clear Lake State Park, the debris and damage seemed to be worse,” Olson adds. Otsego Lake State Park in Otsego County was also hit hard by the storm. “But then, over at Burt Lake State Park, it wasn’t hit as badly. So, there are spots where things are worse than others.”

Olson says March’s storm was one of the most devastating and costliest storms in recent memory. The last major storm to cause widespread damage in the region was 2022’s EF3 tornado, which killed two people in Gaylord.

“The power outages and the area that was damaged here was far greater, it seems. But as far as a storm like this, I haven’t heard anybody saying that this reminded them of storms of the past. We’ve had some snowstorms and other stuff back in history, but in more recent times, this and the tornado were the two biggest ones in probably a long, long time,” says Olson.

Vacationers and hikers looking to use the trails this spring and summer can check the DNR website for trail and campground reservation updates. ORV riders can message their local clubs for trail information. Volunteers can contact the Little Traverse Conservancy for updates and information on how to help out.

“Whether it’s on your own schedule, whether it’s with a chainsaw or a rake, it’s all going to be helpful,” says Lesh. As Lesh points out, even the smallest acts can make a world of difference. “There are thousands of people who enjoy these trails. So even your one hour of work with a rake is going to impact hundreds of people at one location.”