KALKASKA -- The state of Michigan could own about 70 acres of new forestland in Kalkaska and Grand Traverse counties, if the state's natural resources director approves two proposed land transactions.
Rebecca Humphries, director of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, will decide at a Dec. 4 meeting of the Natural Resources Commission whether to sign off on a state forestland acquisition and a land exchange.
About 30.5 acres that straddle the border between Kalkaska and Whitewater townships could be reverted to state ownership after CMS Gas Transmission Co. did not build a planned compressor station there. The state conveyed the property to the company in 1994, but no drilling or construction ever occurred so the DNR intends to claim its reversionary rights.
The land exchange in Kalkaska County involves the swap of 40 acres in Garfield Township owned by Robert and Tracy Wiseman of Ionia for 40 acres in Blue Lake Township.
The offered land was appraised at $72,000 and is completely surrounded by existing state land with frontage on Big Devil Creek, about 12 miles southeast of Kalkaska. The land the Wisemans' want in exchange is about a half-mile west of Big Blue Lake in the northeastern region of the county, appraised at $61,000.
