As official visits commence this upcoming weekend, let’s take a look at the five most important recruits officially visiting Michigan this summer.
Michigan
Cutting it: Shrinking Michigan market favors big, modern sawmills over small operators
Large modernized sawmills dominate market as small operations close
Large modernized sawmills dominate market as small operations close
Onaway— As general manager of a mid-Michigan sawmill for more than 25 years, Todd Smith has seen the state’s industry shrink, battered by foreign competition, inflation and a shortage of skilled workers.
Now there’s a new worry for him and 110 other employees at Devereaux Sawmill in Ionia County: tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump in an effort to force manufacturing of all kinds back into the United States.
“A lot of lumber gets exported to China and, even though we don’t export a lot to China, all the lumber that was going there has to go somewhere else,” Smith said. “So when trade into China gets cut back or cut off … it can flood the market. My hope is that the tariffs in the end will be more of a benefit than they are of a hardship right now.”
In the meantime, the levies add to the headwinds for Devereaux and other Michigan sawmills that turn lumber into cabinets, furniture and trim pieces as part of the state’s $26.5 billion forest products industry. According to research from Michigan State University’s Department of Forestry, the number of sawmills in Michigan declined to 237 from 257 between 2018 and 2023, while the number of small operators plunged 43% from 1990 to 2023. Overall, the state’s industry lost more than $211 million in output and 1,100 jobs between 2019 and 2023.
That consolidation has ripple effects for local economies. The report cited the closure of two Besse Forest Products Group mills in the Upper Peninsula last year that resulted in more than 100 layoffs as highlighting the fragility of rural communities dependent on mill infrastructure.
“In one area, there is investment happening in the sawmill, which created a job, and another area where the mill is closed, people lose logging as a particular rule of economics,” said Jagdish Poudel, an assistant professor of forest economics and policy at MSU.
To Smith, it’s a simple but challenging calculus: Get bigger or get gone.
“You have to grow in order to stay profitable, and the smaller places seem to be struggling and getting squeezed out, which is too bad in a way, but that’s kind of the way it is,” he said. “Farming seems to be going that way, and some of big-box stores squeeze out the little hardware (stores), and our industry is quite similar. There’s still some operators who can get it done, but if you’re not growing and getting bigger, then it’s harder to keep the doors open.”
Up north in Cheboygan County, Precision Hardwoods is among the Michigan sawmills getting bigger.
This year, the business, which employs more than 80 people, completed a $20 million expansion that includes a new 45,000-square-foot facility that uses artificial intelligence and other technology to cut lumber in seconds — allowing the company to process up to five times the amount of chopped wood for industrialized crates, boxes and pallets as before.
The project, which included the hiring of 18 more employees, was aided by a $130,000 Michigan Business Development Program performance-based grant from the Michigan Strategic Fund.
Owner Mike Sturgill said he’s seen small sawmills close, which is why his facility on M-68 just west of Onaway not only processes lumber but handles logging, too. That, he said, makes Precision less dependent on outside forces than some competitors.
“We can have control of our future and control of what we do; we’re not relying on someone else to help us,” Sturgill said. “(Whereas) they’re at the mercy of competing against everybody else for logs and trucking capacity.”
Sturgill spends his days in a control room overseeing the new AI system that quickly measures hardwood and softwoods like maple, oak, beech, birch, aspen and pine logs, decides how to cut them, and also kicks out logs that have metal inside or are too bulky to cut. It can send more than 5,000 logs per day through the machine compared to less than 750 per day with the old industrial sawmill.
“This mill operation was $20 million,” he said. “It’s a lot of investment. You have to be sure you want to do this … you got to be in it for a long time before you can recoup your investment.”
He went ahead with the expansion despite being in a market he says has been oversupplied since 2022, in expectation that the housing market will rebound. He’s optimistic that Trump’s tariffs will help, too.
“The market’s been pretty saturated and kind of slow for the last few years, but you can’t keep adding more people to the country and not use more houses, supplies,” Sturgill said. “I think the tariffs are helping us. The more we have to buy here and build here, it will help the industry in general. It’ll be some tough times to get there, some inflation, but ultimately it’ll be better.”
Like the owner, employees such as Joe Burrows, a maintenance worker who joined Precision Hardwoods in April as part of the expansion, are keenly aware of the shakeout among Michigan mills with 50 or fewer employees.
“I know there’s some small mills around here that have closed over the years,” said Burrows, who helped set up parts of the new mill and paint its floors.
Fluctuations in timber prices and increased operational costs contribute to the closures. Larger sawmills benefit from advanced machinery and automation, which enhance productivity and reduce labor costs. Small mills frequently lack access to such technologies, making it difficult to compete.
Smith, the Devereaux general manager, said other challenges include finding qualified loggers and handling customer orders that have grown more specialized over the past two decades.
“The logging profession seems to be dwindling. Finding good quality loggers that still harvest the way that we do … with a chainsaw, it is becoming kind of a dying profession,” he said. “Finding loggers has become a bit of a concern in our industry in Michigan.”
On the customer side, Smith said, “Orders have become a lot more technical. Twenty years ago, we could sell full loads of one common hard maple. Now it’s like 1,000 feet of this, 2,000 feet of that, sprinkle on a little bit of this … everybody wants just enough,” he said. “The markets are unpredictable (and) nobody has a real positive long-term outlook. It’s not like doom and gloom either, but nobody wants to get too carried away. Everybody’s operating with caution.”
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As temperatures rise in Michigan each summer, so to do the chances of harmful algal blooms (HABs) developing in our lakes, causing a risk to both ecosystems and public health.
HABs are formed wherever there is rapid growth of cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, which are naturally found in lakes, rivers and ponds. Some cyanobacteria found in blooms contain toxins that can be harmful to people and animals, and often present as blue-green, yellow or brown streaks, foam, or thick paint-like scums on the water surface, according to the Michigan Departments of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE)
To help keep track of these harmful algal blooms across the state, EGLE has teamed up with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) to update its online reporting form to include harmful algal blooms. Now the public can easily report suspected HABs to the state by filling out the form at Michigan.gov/HABs. Individuals can also make a report by calling EGLE’s Environmental Assistance Center at 800-662-9278.
“This new online form is an easy and efficient way for Michiganders to help monitor and safeguard our water resources,” said Jerrod Sanders, director of Water Resources Division at EGLE, in a news release. “This tool improves efficiency and helps us respond to potential risks more effectively.”
It will also allow EGLE and MDHHS staff to better understand how HABs develop, and creates the potential to send out public notifications about what areas to avoid as a way of keeping people and pets safe when they’re detected.
Breathing in or swallowing water with HAB toxins can cause asthma-like symptoms, difficulty breathing, stomach pain, vomiting, diarrhea, runny eyes and nose, weakness, headaches or dizziness. Skin contact can also cause rashes, blisters or hives.
“If you had contact with or swallowed water with a suspected HAB and feel sick, call your health care provider or seek medical attention as soon as possible,” said Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, chief medical executive.
Locations of HAB reports verified by EGLE and results of cyanotoxin testing will be displayed on the Michigan Harmful Algal Bloom Reports Map for the public to review.
For more information on health effects, causes and reports on the occurrence of HABs in Michigan lakes, visit Michigan.gov/HABs.
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KALAMAZOO, Mich. — Beach season is here, and Lake Michigan is the most popular of the Great Lakes for swimming. However, it can also be the most dangerous.
According to the Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project, 81 people drowned in the Great Lakes in 2025. 36 of those drownings, or almost half, happened in Lake Michigan.
“Even an Olympic swimmer is not going to swim against the rip current,” Pat Whelan, Plainwell district supervisor for the Michigan DNR Parks and Recreation Division, said.
What makes a rip current so dangerous is the natural instinct to try and swim back to shore. However, it is not the way to escape.
“It’s a term called ‘flip, float, and follow,’ where you flip on your back so you can breathe,” Whelan said. “Follow that, float on the top of that current and follow it out into the lake until you can feel it release you. Then you’re going to swim parallel to the shore, and then the waves themselves will help push you back into the shore.”
It’s been more than 20 years since Andy Fox, 17, drowned in a rip current at Grand Haven State Park, but the pain is still fresh for his mother, Vicki Cech, who rarely goes to the beach.
“When I have company in, sometimes I’ll walk out on the pier, but as a rule I just don’t go there anymore,” Cech said. “Not that beach, because that one does have a lot of sad memories for me.”
Pictured is Andy Fox, 17, in this undated photo. Fox drowned in a rip current at Grand Haven State Park in 2006. (Cech/WWMT)
Compared to other Lake Michigan beaches, Grand Haven State Park has added safety features as conditions are known to change rapidly.
Grand Haven uses the color warning system, but at other beaches, they have flags.
At Grand Haven State Park, however, there is an electronic lighting system on an orange tower. When the life ring on that tower is pulled, Ottawa County dispatch is alerted right away.
Blue towers on the beach are equipped with cameras, providing a video feed of what is happening where the life ring was pulled.
Electric lights instead of flags are used to alert people of swimming conditions at Grand Haven State Park.
“They can push the bottom and actually talk back and forth with central dispatch,” Whelan said.
Alongside these additions, Cech would like to see lifeguards on Grand Haven’s beaches.
“I know there’s all kinds of different things we have down there. Life rings closer to the water and everything like that,” Cech said. “But I’d say the only thing which I see South Haven has finally gotten lifeguards, the ultimate would be lifeguards.”
Michigan got rid of lifeguards at state parks in the 1990’s. The DNR said it was a combination of cost and liability concerns.
South Haven, however, welcomed lifeguards back to the city’s beaches for the first time in 25 years on Monday.
Those lifeguards do not yet have chairs and towers yet, but they will be posted between each flag section, with green, yellow and red colors marking that day’s swimming conditions.
More information about the Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project can be found online.
Five-star CB Joshua Dobson, June 12
247Sports “only” has Dobson ranked 43rd nationally. Meanwhile, their composite says he is the 11th-best player in the entire class. Regardless of what the analysts think of the versatile Dobson, he would be a fantastic get for the Wolverines.
Four-stars Tavares Harrington and Darius Johnson, along with three-star Charles Woodson Jr. and three-star Maxwell Miles form an excellent foundation for the class’s secondary. Dobson would not only be the cherry on top, but the hot fudge, sprinkles and peanuts, too.
Here is what he said about Michigan, according to Rivals’ Keegan Pope ($):
“Man, they’re definitely up there. Not a lot of people talk about them in my recruitment, which I don’t know why, but Michigan is strong.”
Four-star WR Dakota Guerrant, June 19
We all know about Guerrant and the Wolverines’ interest in the Harper Woods, Michigan, product. Landing four-star Quentin Burrell does ease some of the pressure of adding a potentially elite playmaker on the perimeter, especially with Oregon playing a significant role in Guerrant’s recruitment, too.
Those Ducks appear to be a serious obstacle. Rivals’ Steve Wiltfong recently talked about Guerrant’s potential pairing with Oregon on “The Wiltfong Whiparound” and how he loves their offense.
Perhaps that marriage is set in stone and Michigan is simply entertaining him on the visit. Perhaps Whittingham and Ron Bellamy can sway the in-stater to stay home.
Three-star edge rusher Ifeanyi Emedobi, June 19
The Wolverines are trending up for the Fort Wayne, Indiana edge rusher. Emedobi may seem a bit redundant with Recarder Kitchen and Jayce Brewer already preparing to don the maize and blue. However, perhaps there are plans for either of the 6-foot-6 Kitchen or 6-foot-5 Brewer to play a more complete defensive lineman role, rather than pure edge work, which feels more likely for someone of Emedobi’s stature (6-foot-1.5, 215 pounds).
Emedobi also only recently started playing football, so who knows where he ends up at the collegiate level. Considering his final four includes Penn State, Indiana and Minnesota, let’s hope Michigan — not the conference foes — gets to solve that question.
Three-star WR Charles Britton III, June 19
Another in-state wide receiver, Britton III, aka “Tre,” hails from Belleville but is drawing heavy interest from Missouri, according to Rivals.
Here is what he had to say about Michigan, via Rivals’ Allen Trieu ($):
“Really, just like being so close to home,” Britton said. “I get to visit them whenever I want really, so I can just get to see how things are going with them. They could take up with me whenever they want too. They’re in my face more, I’d say, because they’re right down the street, so I get to go to them, they get to go to me as many times as possible. So I’m just putting in new relationships and building them fast. It really is — they’re Michigan.”
The official visit should help determine if this is simply love for the hometown school or a legitimate interest in being a Wolverine.
Four-star IOL Lincoln Mageo, June 5
Mageo, from Oceanside, California, may not be regarded as a blue chip prospect, but this is a program that does not necessarily need the most highly touted trenchmen to develop stars. Mageo recently talked to Maize n Brew and praised offensive line coach Jim Harding.
“I loved watching coach Harding break down technique during indy period so that everyone could understand,” Mageo said. “That is the type of coaching that I’m looking for. A coach who takes time to break down technique and focuses on development.
Four-star Jakari Lipsey, and three-stars Sidney Rouleau and Louis Esposito make up the offensive line group in this cycle so far.
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