Timberland Investment

The Michigan Senate voted Tuesday to curtail state regulators' consideration of biological diversity when designating sections of state forest land, over the objections of environmentalists who said the "anti-science" bill would gut a practice in place for nearly 100 years.

The measure was approved 26-11 along party lines in the Republican-led chamber. It is sponsored by an Upper Peninsula lawmaker and backed by the timber industry. They contend the legislation is needed to prevent large areas of state-owned land from being declared off-limits to logging and motorized recreation, although officials say that is not their intention.

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The measure would order the state to balance its forest management activities with economic concerns. It also would delete "biological diversity" from the DNR's list of forest management duties, eliminate a requirement that the DNR promote restoration in managing forests and erase a prior legislative finding that most losses of biological diversity are the result of human activity.

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The state spent years looking for tracts suitable for the "biodiversity stewardship area" designation, beginning in the northern Lower Peninsula. After consulting with interest groups including the forest products industry and environmentalists, the DNR put together a draft plan identifying 678,000 acres that might be suitable.

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But the draft drew opposition from the timber industry. And now Casperson's bill is sparking outrage in the environmental community, which says its scope would affect much more than the Living Legacies Initiative.

"This is terrible legislation. It undercuts one of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources' chief missions — to protect and enhance the diversity and splendor of Michigan's woodlands and forests," Brad Garmon, director of conservation and emerging issues for the Michigan Environmental Council, said in a statement.