Seney National Wildlife Refuge Comprehensive Conservation Plan

Work on Final CCP Under Way
Next Steps
Highlights of the Proposed Management Action
The Refuge
For More Information

Work on Final CCP Under Way

The Draft Comprehensive Conservation Plan (CCP) for Seney NWR was released for public review and comment in September 2008, and work is under way on the final CCP.

The CCP will guide management policies for the Refuge and will ensure that it fulfills its established purpose and mission.

Next Steps

Refuge staff are reviewing comments received on the Draft CCP and, where appropriate, revising the plan. In addition to inviting written comments on the draft plan, Refuge staff hosted an open house on Wednesday, September 17, 2008, and invited people to stop in and discuss the proposed management direction.

Highlights of the Proposed Management Action

The management course proposed in the CCP segments the Refuge into four general units and applies a management strategy to each unit. As proposed, the units follow a general gradient of management from low intensity (wilderness) to higher manipulation (managed impoundments and visitor use). Some high and low intensity management actions would occur in all units except the designated Wilderness. Wildlife needs always receive priority when in conflict with visitor services.

Unit 1: Conservation

This unit contains 14 managed pools, the Visitor Center/Headquarters compound, the Marshland Wildlife Drive and the Fishing Loop. Habitat management would maintain areas for species that the visiting public enjoys, including Trumpeter Swans, Common Loons, wading birds and game fish. Upland habitats would be managed to provide for a diversity of native cover types.

Unit 2: Conservation and Restoration

This unit contains four managed pools, significant mixed pine uplands, and two large old field openings (Diversion Farm and Chicago Farm). The focus of management on this unit would include maintaining seasonal rotation of water levels in the managed pools, natural regeneration of upland forests, and the gradual restoration of the Chicago Farm field to a forested habitat.

Unit 3: Restoration and Preservation

Unit 3 is the largest of the three non-wilderness units. It contains natural and forested wetlands but only three managed pools. A large opening, the Walsh Farms old field, is found on the north end of this unit. Management efforts on this unit would include allowing a greater percentage of natural processes, such as beaver-constructed wetlands, wildfires, and seasonal floods, to shape the landscape.

Unit 4: Wilderness

The Federally-designated wilderness would be managed to maintain natural habitats and processes according to the existing Wilderness Management Plan. Visitor and Refuge staff entry would be limited to foot traffic only. Active habitat manipulation would only occur in emergency situations and the minimum tools necessary would used to complete tasks.

Whitefish Point Unit

As proposed in the Draft CCP, the Refuge would work with a Joint Committee consisting of the Michigan Audubon Society, the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society and the Service to implement provisions of the Human Use Natural Resource Management Plan for Whitefish Point. Specifically the Refuge would take the following actions on its lands to protect the fragile habitat at the Point for the wildlife that depend upon it.

• Designate trails to allow public access while protecting environmentally sensitive areas. One trail would lead from the parking lot to the tip of the Point. The second would run along an old cobble road in a southeasterly direction.
• Close the southeast beach from April to August to promote nesting of Piping Plovers.
• Work with the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society to route visitors to the beach via their boardwalk and revegetate the cut-through from the parking lot to the beach.
• Hire a Refuge Manager trainee with a major responsibility for on-site work, mitigation approvals and coordination with partners.
• Occupy a portion of a second keeper’s quarters if the building is re-constructed. The building would also be used by other partners to the Whitefish Point Plan (requires Adobe Reader, which is available through Adobe free of charge).

The Refuge

More than 200 species of birds, 26 species of fish, 45 species of mammals, and 420 plant species have been recorded on Seney National Wildlife Refuge. Located in Michigan's Upper Peninsula near the community of Seney, the Refuge provides habitat for northwoods wildlife including ducks, Bald Eagles, Osprey, Common Loons, Trumpeter Swans, river otters, beavers, black bears, moose and gray wolves.

For More Information

For more information on comprehensive conservation planning for Seney NWR or to request a copy of the Draft CCP or the summary of the Draft CCP, please e-mail us, call or write to Seney NWR Manager Tracy Casselman at:
Phone: 906/586-9851
TTY: 1-800-877-8339 (Federal Relay)

Address:
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
Seney National Wildlife Refuge
1674 Refuge Entrance Road
Seney, MI 49883

Last updated: March 17, 2009

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