MARQUETTE — Around 15 years after the Heartwood Forestland property was purchased, the city of Marquette is protecting a portion of the property from commercial, agricultural and residential development so it can be used solely for conservation and recreational purposes.

At a meeting on Monday, the Marquette City Commission voted 5-1 to approve the Heartwood property conservation easements. This is a local development agreement between the city of Marquette and Rippling River Resort LLC that “requires both parties to execute conservation easements on selected properties under their ownership,” city commission notes state.

Commissioner Evan Bonsall first made the motion to approve the Heartwood property conservation easements, with Commissioner Andrew Lorinser seconding the motion.

The easements will maintain the property’s current state, which prohibits commercial, residential or agricultural development but allow for walking, running, hiking, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing and bicycling trails.

The Superior Watershed Partnership will be conducting the monitoring of the property.

“I think the conservation easement is something that I’ve been in discussion with various people in the community about since the beginning to run for city commission and it was always something that seemed to be of a common-sense thing,” Bonsall said. “Now we look back at past generations who had the wisdom and foresight to preserve our public lakeshore, Presque Isle Park, other assets we have in the community and I think that future generations … will look back and thank us for doing that. I’m really happy to motion tonight.”

Having the land set aside for conservation and recreation is an important step for the city, Lorinser noted.

“Conservation is really important to our future and again, there’s an intrinsic value to land … With land conservation across national parks and stuff, this is incredibly important to our citizens,” Lorinser said.

Ecological impacts were a concern brought up by Mayor Pro Tem Jenn Hill, who noted that the written document doesn’t address any conservation values.

“I continue to be concerned that as it’s written, it is primarily granting … to allow recreation. It’s 578 acres, I think we need to keep those 578 acres healthy and that is what then supports a recreation that will be successful for the long term,” Hill said. “Everyone agrees that if something goes wrong we’re going to fix it, but that’s the problem with ecology. Things are lost, it’s not that they’re broken. They’re lost. I don’t want to lose what we have and I think we could strengthen this and beef it up a little bit so we know there’s nothing that could possibly be lost as well as conserved. That to me, is an important difference — we’re not talking about a three-acre park here, we’re talking about 578 acres.”

Hill motioned at the beginning of the meeting that the Heartwood property conservation easements should be removed from the agenda and revisited at a later date to address those environmental concerns, but the motion failed. Officials suggested that with the monitoring done by the SWP, the agreement could be reviewed and amended at a later date.

Over 15 years ago, the land was purchased and now it’s finally coming to fruition, which is a “real watershed moment,” Commissioner Fred Stonehouse said.

“It’s been a long process but it is really good to see us at the end of that process and have the wonderful jewel that we have again, within the city limits of Marquette. That wonderful piece of property that will be there in perpetuity for the recreational use of our citizens,” Stonehouse said.

Moving forward with this is going to benefit the city of Marquette, Stonehouse said, as setting aside over 500 acres for conservation and recreation is something not every city is able to accomplish.

“It’s important because you want to have that property placed in a lockbox and this is the way we do it. The longer it remains out of that lockbox, the greater potential that something would occur to prevent it from ever going into it,” Stonehouse said. “In other words, the idea being that now is the time to finish it off, to get it done and move onto the next issue.

“I find it, as a commissioner, intensely satisfying to be able to see this process go through a huge amount of public input, a fair amount of … different groups came up with different ideas and different concepts for how the property would be used. And to finally have it come together into the format that it currently is and the idea being again, always focused on that conservation of the property and the recreational value that the property offers to the citizens of Marquette.”

Jackie Jahfetson can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 248.