A great way to help fight climate change by engaging in deforestation.

A 420-acre swath of state forestland will be cleared for a solar farm near Gaylord under a lease agreement with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, confirmed a top state official.

Officials with the DNR recently assessed 1,200 acres of public trust land in Otsego County near a major power transmission line to decide whether it was suitable for solar arrays. Agency leaders ultimately decided to lease 35% of that land to accompany other adjacent solar projects already in the works.

This comes as the DNR faces dwindling revenues from hunting and fishing licenses, and Michigan falls behind building enough renewable energy fast enough to risk not meeting a key state climate goal – 100% clean energy by 2040.

Not surprisingly, public reaction to this proposal has not been positive.

Germany is doing the same thing to the forests that inspired Grimm’s Fairy Tales.

Pffft! Who needs those oxygen polluting trees anyway? The sportsmen who like to migrate to northern Michigan to hunt or fish can go elsewhere. Damn the beautiful forests! Full net zero ahead!

PHOTO CREDIT: Pixabay