LANSING, MI (MPRN)-- Governor Rick Snyder signed new laws Thursday to encourage more private property owners to open their land to logging. They create new incentives for private forest owners who already qualify for tax breaks if they open their land to inspections, professional management, and timber harvesting.
The governor says he wants to create a larger export market for Michigan timber.
“When you have an opportunity to say, let’s grow our economy," he says, "that can be an ‘and’ situation, where you can grow our economy and be environmentally sound and sustainable.”
The program would allow up to 1.4 million acres of private forest to be opened to logging. Managed timber harvesting is already allowed in state forests.