Over the past year and a half the DNR has, at the direction of the
Legislature and the Governor’s office, been working toward Forest
Certification for the State
Forest system.
Certification was demanded by the timber industry that has been concerned that
their ability to sell goods made from wood products from Michigan forests would disappear because
retailers are now requiring the use of only certified woods.
Now, inexplicably, the very legislators who insisted on
certification for Michigan’s
state forests are about to try to pass legislation that would inevitably result
in the state being incapable of meeting certification. This kind of arbitrary
legislative demand that the DNR stop protecting areas that need protection,
that DNR put up more wood than they should, that insists that smaller trees be
cut than are sustainable, all of this flies directly in the face of what the
industry demanded be done.
Nonsensical and counterproductive --
Anne Woiwode, Sierra Club
GOP legislators
want more logging on state land
GOP
legislators want more logging on state land
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11/14/2005, 6:27 p.m.
ET
The
Associated Press
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|
|
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Republican state
legislators are introducing bills aimed at boosting timber harvesting in state
forests, one of which would make it harder for regulators to rule certain areas
off-limits to logging.
Other
proposals include tax incentives that would encourage private owners to allow
timber cutting on their land and the forest products industry to invest and
expand operations in Michigan.
The
lawmakers announced the initiative at several news conferences around the state
Monday and said the package would be introduced in the House and Senate in the
next couple of weeks.
-SNIP-