Northern Michigan ice storm, nearly 1 year later: What DNR is doing to rebuild forests

It’s been almost a year since a massive ice storm hit Northern Michigan, causing huge damage. About a million acres of state forest took a big hit. Trees snapped, branches broken and whole pine forests wrecked. The storm was so severe, it even forced the DNR to delay its statewide forestry plan -- the one that balances logging, wildlife habitat and recreation across Michigan’s forests. Now, they’re having to rework that plan to account for all the lost trees. At last month’s nature center summit, the DNR’s Chief of Finance and Operations said the state is losing about $9 million a year in timber sales, and that could go on for decades until the forests grow back. The DNR’s Chief of Forest Resources and Michigan’s State Forester, Jeff Stampfly, joined Local 4 Live to explain what this means and what the DNR is doing to rebuild our forests.