Many may recall the debate in 2012 surrounding what was then known as the “Land Cap” bill. Although some improvements to the original bill were secured, PA 240 of 2012 became law and thereby established a 4.6 million acre limit on the amount of land that the State of Michigan could own and manage. One of the key provisions found in the final version of the bill was that the cap would be removed subsequent to the completion of an acceptable strategic plan for public land acquisition and disposal by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. The timeline for the planning process and its approval was to have been two years from the date of the law. Now, nearly three years later, there appears to be little support for revisiting the issue of Land Plan approval and land cap removal.

This is not to suggest that we need more…