GRAYLING, MI — A proposed military airspace expansion over northern Michigan and the Thumb is drawing fire from officials and conservation groups already upset with potential growth of the Camp Grayling National Guard base.

“Here we go again,” said Jim Knight, a Bear Lake Township trustee and one of several opponents to an expanded military footprint who spoke on a call with reporters Thursday, Dec. 8. “The communication on this thing has been very, very poor.”

Knight and others aren’t happy with a Michigan Air National Guard proposal to expand operations over northern Michigan and Lake Huron, which is being advanced separately but concurrently with a potential 162,000-acre expansion of Camp Grayling by the Army National Guard.

The National Guard is taking public comment on the airspace proposal until Dec. 15. The 30-day comment window on the expansion began Nov. 14, a date which irked conservation advocates because the 110-page technical analysis was released at the start of firearm deer season.

Expansion of the Alpena Special Use Airspace Complex would add another 1,633 nautical square miles to the existing 11,042 square mile airspace where military pilots train. The expansion would encompass parts of northeast Michigan east of I-75 as well as the northern part of Michigan’s Thumb.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will decide whether to allow the airspace expansion after the Guard…