Forest Service Roadblock

Chris Galvanek and his neighbors moved out to the Lost Pine neighborhood near Harrietta to get away from it all. They knew they'd have longer drives to their jobs in Cadillac, but say it's was worth it. "We're out in the middle of God's Country. We enjoy living here." They live two and a half miles from the nearest paved road. And that hasn't been a problem for them. They even plowed it in the winter themselves. Galvanek says, "This road has always been cared for by the people who live in this subdivision and has been open for years." Except this winter that changed. Galvanek says, "The U.S. Forestry Department has told us it's illegal to drive down it." Assistant Ranger of the Huron Manistee National Forests John Hojnowski says, "That was never authorized and we had difficulty finding out who was actually doing the snowplowing and this year we had several complaints come in about the snowplowing and we were able to contact the people who were doing it and tell them they needed to discontinue that." He says this stretch of road on national forest land is a seasonal road for vehicles. And in the winter it is managed only as a snowmobile trail. So from November 1st to April 1st Galvanek and the two dozen other neighbors have to drive around adding more than a dozen miles each way...read more