Belle Isle to become state park (Detroit, Benton Harbor: weddings, casino, law)

[animatedmartian]

Originally Posted by beans213

I was just on belle isle a couple hours ago. Someone is very busy over there. There are cutting down huge (and normal sized) trees all over the island. Not sure why they are doing it but they sure are cutting down a lot.

Probably a lot of them are weak and decaying (or already dead), most likely due to tree diseases and wood-eating bugs. It's a liability to the city if trees happen to fall over and injure someone or cause property damage.

Normally, you'd see the city cutting down a few trees every so often here and there, but probably because of Detroit's lack of maintenance, many trees simply were never cut and so now you're seeing a bunch of them being cut down at once.

[detwahDJ]

Originally Posted by beans213

I was just on belle isle a couple hours ago. Someone is very busy over there. There are cutting down huge (and normal sized) trees all over the island. Not sure why they are doing it but they sure are cutting down a lot.

Why not get the local media on that "story", then post the result here. Maybe they have decided that the forest is "useless" or they need a campground.
On the tags: formerly at the toll booth they would spot a sticker on your windshield, each year with a different color and design. Now they can somehow read the tag on your license plate as you are approaching.

[beans213]

Originally Posted by detwahDJ

Why not get the local media on that "story", then post the result here. Maybe they have decided that the forest is "useless" or they need a campground.
On the tags: formerly at the toll booth they would spot a sticker on your windshield, each year with a different color and design. Now they can somehow read the tag on your license plate as you are approaching.

I dont think it is a news worthy story. They have been cutting down trees in certian areas for a few mnths now. Mostly to make trails from nature center to other areas. But today was different. it was random (random to me that is) trees all over the whole island. A week or so ago i started noticing sometrees being marked with teal colored soft plactic rectangles. Those seem to be the trees that were chopped down. Bugs or dead trees or dying trees seems to be a likely explaination. That or it was like they were thinning out the trees. I dunno. It was strange to see so much activity on belle isle today with how chilly the temps are. Unless its a sunday or temps are above 35/40 i hardly will see anyone one belle isle.


I dont know how they would read the tags as someone approached since they are on the lic plate

[detwahDJ]

Originally Posted by beans213

I dont think it is a news worthy story. They have been cutting down trees in certian areas for a few mnths now. Mostly to make trails from nature center to other areas. But today was different. it was random (random to me that is) trees all over the whole island. A week or so ago i started noticing sometrees being marked with teal colored soft plactic rectangles. Those seem to be the trees that were chopped down. Bugs or dead trees or dying trees seems to be a likely explaination. That or it was like they were thinning out the trees. I dunno. It was strange to see so much activity on belle isle today with how chilly the temps are. Unless its a sunday or temps are above 35/40 i hardly will see anyone one belle isle.


I dont know how they would read the tags as someone approached since they are on the lic plate

That is a mystery. I have a tag on my license plate, but they wave me through as I approach.

The trees: okay, they are not clearing out areas, but thinning denser areas. Certain trees have succunbed to disease. This last fall I noticed a lot of cutting here in west Michigan - I mean more than usual over the last 15 years. It was odd enough that I asked other people about it.

Are Michigan's Trees in Trouble?

[jackmichigan]

Originally Posted by beans213

They have been cutting down trees in certian areas for a few mnths now. Mostly to make trails from nature center to other areas.

If that's what they're doing that is absolutely stupid. It is not necessary--or even desirable--to cut down trees in nature areas to make trails. In fact, the most basic concept in making trails is to AVOID cutting down larger trees.

Of course, I've never been under the faulty impression that the state would automatically be a better steward of Belle Isle than the City was. The biggest affront to Belle Isle has been all of the concrete added to the island to accommodate the Grand Prix. But...that's the one thing that state officials have said they're going to keep.

[animatedmartian]

Pretty sure a lot of them were dead trees. If you drove through the forested section of Belle Isle during the summer, you could see a whole bunch of bare and honestly ugly looking trees. http://goo.gl/maps/2QWCN

Most trees had been wiped out due to the Dutch Elm disease that spread throughout the Midwest in the 1960s. And even more recently, Emerald Ash Borer still affects many trees on the island and in the area. Unless it was for specifically expanding the nature zoo, I don't think they'd cut down a massive amount of trees unless they were already dead or infected. Even if it were to put in new trails.

However, it's still nothing compared to Belle Isle in it's prime.


^Same view today.



Belle Isle won't ever see that sort of natural forestry again, at least not for many decades.

[beans213]

sorry let me explain the tree cutting a little better.
yesterday the trees i saw being cut down were sporadically all over the island, In all different areas. Some of these trees were huge and old and some of them were much much smaller. They had a very large pile of wood chips that they were turning all the trees into in a parking lot not too far from where the beach is and really close to the old disc golf course more towrds the center of the island.
The trees that were cut down for what i think was to make trails connecting the nature zoo to other parts of the island or maybe just to create more walking trails in the woods were cut down at least a couple if not few months ago, BEFORE the state took over. The trails and trees that werre cut down run along side a little river. The start of the trail is near the old disk golf course "pro shop" (sorry dont know what else to call the little building) kinda in the center of the island. Alot of the trees along the little river had or have fallen on their own n that area. Its not a wide trail more like a path that 2 people shoulder to shoulder would maybe be able to walk the entire trail like that but some parts might be a little narrow.

[Bydand]

Originally Posted by detwahDJ

On the tags: formerly at the toll booth they would spot a sticker on your windshield, each year with a different color and design. Now they can somehow read the tag on your license plate as you are approaching.

Every State Park I have been to since the State went to the new system just waves you through, with a very few of them asking if you have the pass. What they do is have somebody make a pass through the day use areas and look at the plates to see if the tags have the little "P" on them. Don't really know what they do if somebody doesn't have it, probably give them a ticket, but that is just a guess. I have seen Park Rangers walking around looking at license tags wherever there is parking. Not often, but enough that if you were out hiking or swimming you would probably get caught if you took more than a couple hours.

It has been a LONG time since I have been to Belle Isle (mid 80's I think), I might have to take a trip this summer sometime to see how it is coming along.

[jackmichigan]

Originally Posted by Bydand

What they do is have somebody make a pass through the day use areas and look at the plates to see if the tags have the little "P" on them. Don't really know what they do if somebody doesn't have it, probably give them a ticket, but that is just a guess.

They just put a ticket on your window asking that you pick up an annual sticker at the ranger station at the park entrance. (They don't sell day-passes anymore--at least not at any of the state parks I've been to, so I assume that policy is state-wide.)

I don't know what follow-up they'd do if you left without paying for a pass. I'm sure it would be more expensive if they did go after you for not paying.

[Bimmerfanboy]

I'm glad to see the state already taking action and cleaning things up.

All my memories of Belle Isle are pretty negative. I recall it being filled with hooligans, overgrown trees, and poorly-maintained lawns and facilities. The whole placed sucked and just felt like Detroit without all the abandoned buildings. Pretty much everything within control of the city of Detroit stinks badly. All they do is mismanage and neglect everything they get their hands on. Hopefully Kevyn Orr and Duggan can start changing that. By the way, the yearly fee is a great idea. It'll generate revenue to keep the park clean and safe and keep the thugs away.

I look forward to visiting an improved Belle Isle again.