By February 26, 2026, nearly a year had passed since northern Lower Michigan’s great ice storm of 2025 brought an estimated $500 million in damages to communities and forests here. At Treetops Resort in Gaylord, operations were largely back to normal. The parking lot was full for evening skiing. Helmeted teen girls and boys jostled and laughed in line waiting their turns to drop into the terrain park. Blinding lights blasted the hills.
But a closer look at the resort’s woodlots revealed how the ice storm damage endures. With trees delimbed, broken, battered and shrunken, the tree damage at Treetops and along nearby roads was eerily vivid when silhouetted in the evening dusk. That was just an eye-dropper sample of the damage inflicted on 3 million acres of forests across 16 counties.
Watch the Ice Storm People’s Hearing testimony!
The opportunity to discuss the magnitude of that damage is what drew about 50 people to Treetops the evening of February 26. The event, titled “Ice Storm People’s Hearing,” was part of a series of extreme weather events dotted around the nation. The purpose was to help the public understand that increased frequency and magnitude of extreme weather is a result of climate change and to rally in a call for the government to support preparedness efforts. Climate Action Campaign was the lead organizer, and partners in the Gaylord event included Groundwork, Michigan League of Conservation Voters, Mom’s Clean Air Force, and Climate Power.
Gathering in Treetops’ Hunter’s Grille, farmers, foresters, first responders, retirees, and others took turns at the microphone. They shared stories of how the ice storm affected and will continue to affect their lives and communities.
A sampling of testimony:
Ivan Witt, a private forestry consultant, told how in terms of devastation to forests, the 2025 ice storm is second only to the clearcut of the late 1800s. The forests will recover but it will take several decades.
Dr. Perry Samson, a former climate professor at the University of Michigan, explained that weather conditions that create severe ice storms were historically not seen north of Ohio, but now they occur in northern Michigan due to a warmer climate. We’re likely to see such storms more often.
Patrick King, a Gaylord area retiree, told of how he and his wife now live in fear of forest fire due to deadfall in the forests around their home. They have removed many valuables and store them elsewhere.
Captain Kevin Sweeney, the leader of the Michigan State Police’s disaster response, showed a photo of the response room nerve center—dozens of desks with computers, which, during the ice storm, were manned with response coordinators from departments throughout government. They frantically deployed teams to clear roads, lift power lines off the ground, and respond to accidents and health emergencies.
Dana Bensinger, Executive Director of Otsego County Community Foundation, said that with Gaylord’s tornado disaster in 2022, and then the ice storm in 2025, her organization has been on weather disaster response for four years straight.
The clear message: We as a nation need to be much better prepared to help the families and communities that are damaged by the increased severity and frequency of storms to come.
Offering hope for change, the majority of Americans actually are already concerned about increased extreme weather. Despite disinformation campaigns proclaiming widespread denial of climate change in the United States, a poll last year found that 73% of respondents said they are concerned about increases in extreme weather.
But public acceptance of a more damaging climate reality has not yet translated to much direct financial help for the people of northern Michigan hit by the ice storm. The state legislature failed to pass a $100 million financial relief package last year, only providing $14 million in relief. And although President Trump initially approved $50 million for FEMA relief funds, FEMA held up and denied some of the money requested that was meant to address damaged utility infrastructure. In mid-March 2026, a full year after the storm and following a third meeting with Gov. Whitmer, the president approved further FEMA Schedule F funds to cover damage costs for utilities. FEMA funds, however, remain denied for housing and property owned by families and non-utility businesses. In addition, USDA funds were available to clear and re-plant forests for private land owners, though anecdotal reports suggest that many missed the application window due to ongoing recovery efforts and lack of clarity.
Utilities serving the region estimate their damage cost at $300 million, and some officials estimate additional private and regional government damage costs at upwards of $200 million. The response for events of this nature cannot be marshalled by a region like the northern tip of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula, one of the poorest and least populated areas of the state.
Within days of the anniversary of the 2025 ice storm, another ice storm moved through mid–northern Michigan. The storm left 100,000 people without power. And scenes from 2025 replayed. Power lines down. Trees blocking roads. People stranded. Gov. Whitmer declared a state of emergency for the affected area. The March 2026 storm added an exclamation point to the core messages of the ice storm event—in particular the words of Dr. Perry Samson, the climate professor who explained that the warming climate will increase the frequency of weather patterns that bring ice storms to this region.
For the Groundwork team, the testimony affirmed the work we do each day to slow and reverse the impacts of climate change. We fight to shut down the Line 5 pipeline in part because it is a major contributor to our nation’s carbon emissions. We work to expand the siting of clean energy infrastructure on individual homes and at utility scale. We work to elect renewable energy advocates to the boards of electric co-operatives to help them reduce their carbon footprint and be prepared for storms to come. We advocate at the state and national levels to promote climate-smart policies. As the testimony in Gaylord showed, carbon-free energy is what our planet and our people need. Thank you for staying in the fight along with us! 
Jeff Smith is Groundwork’s Communications Director.
jeff.smith@groundworkcenter.org
