DNR celebrates Michigamme Highlands Conservation Easement with ceremonial declaration signing
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MARQUETTE -- The Michigan Department of Natural Resources Tuesday met with project partners at Presque Isle Park in Marquette to celebrate the recent acquisition of a conservation easement in the Michigamme Highlands area over Marquette, Baraga and Iron counties.
The easement is over 73,000 acres and includes Mount Arvon, 96 lakes and ponds, 37 miles of rivers and 220 miles of perennial streams, over 13,000 acres of wetlands, critical moose habitat, deer wintering habitat and habitat for black bear, bobcat, pine marten, fisher, ruffed grouse, bald eagle, owls and several species of trout.
Built into the conservation easement are permanent requirements to ensure long-term sustainable forest management and economic benefits for the area. Parties represented at the ceremonial declaration signing included the Michigan DNR, the Lyme Timber Company, the U.S. Forest Service, the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund Board and the Acres for America program.
"The entire property is now available for hunting, fishing, trapping, hiking, kayaking, mushroom and berry picking, snowshoeing and any other passive recreation you would like to do," said Shannon Lott, Natural Resources deputy director of the Michigan DNR.
The Michigamme Highlands conservation easement was purchased using over $15 million in grant funding from the federal Forest Legacy Program, over $4.2 million in grant funding from the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund and a $1 million grant award from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, which included $550,000 from Walmart’s Acres for America program and $450,000 from the Life Time Foundation.
"There are all sorts of just innumerable public benefits associated with this," said Liam Krause, regional administrator for the Forest Legacy Program of the U.S. Forest Service. "It's a huge win for timber, it's a huge win for outdoor recreation, it's a huge win for water and wildlife."
"This is where moose were reintroduced into Michigan," said Bill Rustem of the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund Board, referencing the Michigamme Highlands. "Prior to that, (it was where) fisher were reintroduced into Michigan at the beginning of 1961."
"The real people who win here are the future generations of Michiganders, the future generation visitors, people who have no idea who any of us are in the room, 50, 70, 100 years from now, who will get to go out and hunt, fish, hike," said Chris West of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.
After the speakers, Lott signed a ceremonial declaration stating that the Michigamme Highlands Project had been successfully completed.
"This project is rare in that it exemplifies the broad array of values that we cherish in Michigan -- the protection of precious natural and cultural resources, opportunities for hunting, fishing and outdoor recreational pursuits and sustainable management of healthy forests, all for current and future generations of Michiganders to enjoy," said Kerry Heckman of the Michigan DNR, who was the director of ceremonies for the event.
The event concluded with a tour of the conservation easement and a hike up Mount Arvon.
Annie Lippert can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 550. Her email address is alippert@miningjournal.net.