The rights to drill under a landmark old-growth forest in northern Michigan are off the auction block.
As we hear from The Michigan Public Radio Network’s Rick Pluta, the decision does not mean that any reserves lying beneath the Hartwick Pines state forest are off limits.
That’s because energy exploration can still take place on adjacent private property. If a reserve is tapped, the state could try to recoup some revenue off the drilling.
State Department of Natural Resources Director Keith Creigh says he decided to take leases on the public land off the market after the family that donated most of the property objected.
“It was certainly a very generous gift from the family and, in my opinion, we needed to honor both the spirit and the legal requirements of the deed,” he says.
The land near Grayling was donated in 1927. Some of the white pines in the forest are 400 years ago, and 12 feet in circumference. It’s the largest old growth forest in the Lower Peninsula.