(Just Good) News from the North

For the last several years, utilities in the Upper Peninsula have prompted controversy by selling lands along waterways where they maintain hydroelectric operations. Critics of the sales have feared a loss of recreational access and piecemeal development of large wilderness tracts. Some sales have gone ahead and development has begun, but the most recent sale ensures that some of the targeted lands will remain wild. The State of Michgan has acquired over 1,000 acres along the Sturgeon river in Dickinson county, a federally designated wild and scenic river. Details in today's Free Press.