LANSING — The Department of Natural Resources is pausing a goose euthanasia program and scrapping plans for a solar farm on state land in Otsego County, both of which garnered public opposition and drew attention from lawmakers.
The goose initiative, which was approved last year by the state Natural Resources Commission, was set to apply in cases where non-lethal intervention had already been tried in areas with 100 Canada geese or more.
The department stopped transporting live geese in 2022 due to concerns about the spread of bird flu.
The DNR said last month that the option is a last resort for landowners who haven’t had success with other methods.
Animal rights advocates labeled the practice as ‘goose gassing,’ since the geese would be euthanized through carbon dioxide inhalation.
DNR Director Scott Bowen said in a letter to lawmakers last week that the department would be pausing the program for the rest of the year.
The DNR also announced last week that it would no longer pursue a proposal to lease 420 acres of state-owned forest land in Otsego County, near Gaylord.
The proposal was announced early this year and drew pushback from many in Northern Michigan who felt the project would result in the unnecessary loss of natural space.
The DNR argued that much of the land had already been cleared and that the environmental impact of the remaining work would be minimized.
Now, the department has concluded its four-month public comment period and announced that the proposal has been scrapped.
The department says that responses from the public and lawmakers contributed to the decision, as well as the private solar developer saying they’re no longer interested in the project.
The DNR also says it will continue to pause large-scale solar projects planned to be built on state land. They say they’ll develop a new framework to properly weigh the impacts of potentially leasing land for projects in the future.