--> Abstract: Integrating Oil and Gas with Other Resources, by L. R. Lindwall; #90984 (1994).

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Abstract: Integrating Oil and Gas with Other Resources

Lance R. Lindwall

The 2-million-ac Huron-Manistee National Forests (HMNFs) are located within the productive Michigan basin. Within the boundaries, 965,400 ac of surface rights are administered by the United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. Approximately 50% of the oil and gas rights to these lands are federally owned and administered with the United States Department of Interior, Bureau of Land Management. The remaining 50% of the rights are in state of Michigan or private ownership.

The HMNFs are many things to many people with diverse interests and demands. To provide for a range of management intensities from rural to semiprimitive nonmotorized, the forests are divided into management areas. Following ecosystem management principles, management areas approximate land type association boundaries. Included in these management areas are habitat for endangered, threatened, and sensitive species; a designated wilderness; three rivers with designations under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act; research natural areas; experimental forests; etc.

On a landscape basis, crossing over and between management areas is approximately 170,000 ac of potential old growth. Considering little old growth exists today, the potential old growth will be managed to provide that resource for future generations.

The challenge is to provide opportunities for and reasonable access to the oil and gas resource without over compromising other resources and their values. What density of development is appropriate on the various management areas of the HMNFs?

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90984©1994 AAPG Annual Convention, East Lansing, Michigan, September 18-20, 1994