LANSING -- After a rash of complaints, an Upper Peninsula lawmaker wants the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to declare war on poison ivy, poison oak and poison sumac in Michigan's state parks.

"For the tourism business that Michigan promotes so much, we should be eradicating these harmful plants, at least within the confines of the campgrounds," said Rep. Douglas Bovin, D-Gladstone.

"I consider myself an environmentalist of sorts but people are visiting state parks and we're charging fees," Bovin said. "Poison ivy, poison oak and poison sumac are not making a good, safe vacation for families."

But DNR counters that wholesale eradication efforts would conflict with a key mission of the park system -- and would be futile.

"State parks are wilderness and natural settings. One reason for our existing policies is to maintain those natural settings," said Brad Wurfel, the agency's press officer. All three plants are native to Michigan.

Beyond that, he said, "Poison ivy is in every one of the 83 counties in Michigan. It exists in just about all of the state parks." There are 96 state parks and recreation areas, plus three scenic sites and three Mackinac state parks.

DNR has no official position on Bovin's bill but its present policy allows eradication from established campgrounds and mowed areas. Poison ivy in particular "is a tenacious plant. You can treat an area for it and it will still come back," Wurfel said. "What we do instead of seeking to eradicate them is to help our campers and visitors identify them. We have a lot of signs and encourage people to read them. Campers who are forewarned are forearmed."

For example, Ludington State Park conducts educational "poison ivy hikes" for visitors, supervisor Mike Mullen said. "We take people out in the woods or along the trails or along the sandy beach Ð sometimes you get it in the dune area."

Mullen is among the park managers who say they don't see a need to worry. His park doesn't eradicate native species but "obviously we will try to tell people to shy away from them because some people are sensitive and get an outbreak.Do people occasionally get poison ivy who come to Ludington State Park? Yes, but we don't see it as a big problem. I see it as part of the ecosystem."

And at Mitchell State Park in Cadillac, supervisor Larry Solce emphasized that poison ivy "exists naturally," adding that he's heard no complaints.

The proposal would not apply to federal land.

The Upper Peninsula's two sprawling national forests have poison ivy but not poison oak or sumac. The Hiawatha National Forest hires professionals to "do a spot herbicide application" in campgrounds and other places with heavy recreational use, forest plant ecologist Jan Schultz said.

But she added, "There are a lot of creatures that use the berries," including robins and downy woodpeckers, so "you hate to think of it being completely, serially eliminated. "I've had poison ivy more times than I'd like to remember. It's not nice but the idea of across-the-board annihilation of that species would be silly," Schultz said.

In the Ottawa National Forest, botanist Sue Trull said her agency's policy is to try getting rid of poison ivy only if there's a complaint. "Not everybody gets it, not everybody is touching the vegetation and it's not much of an issue here."

The Huron-Manistee National Forest, which stretches across the northern part of the Lower Peninsula between lakes Michigan and Huron, has no official policy on elimination of the plants, according to plant ecologist Alix Cleveland. However, Cleveland said she's never heard of a complaint. "I'm guessing people take personal responsibility."

Rep. Bovin, the legislative sponsor, said constituents who encountered problems in state parks had contacted him. In one case, "two members of the family contracted poison ivy. They said they'll never be back."

His proposal would require DNR to "eradicate all such plants" if the department learns of them, either on its own initiative or from a "state park guest."

Mike Bryan, the state Agriculture Department's expert on noxious plants, said no existing laws require the state to eradicate the plants from public lands.

The bill is pending in the House Conservation and Outdoor Recreation Committee.

© 2001, Capital News Service, Michigan State University School of Journalism