LANSING, MI (AP)-- Michigan won't be able to own more than 4.6 million acres until state Natural Resources officials design a comprehensive plan for managing it under a bill signed by Governor Rick Snyder.
Republican Senator Tom Casperson of Escanaba sponsored the legislation. He says local communities and school districts lose tax revenue if the state holds too much land.
Environmental groups say an arbitrary limit could lead to the state being unable to expand state parks and forests.
The Department of Natural Resources can begin buying land again if a strategic plan is adopted by May 1 of 2015. But it can't acquire land north of a line running roughly through Clare if the total would go above 3.9 million acres unless the legislature includes the area in the strategic plan later on.
