THESE MOOSE ARE among the many types of wildlife that live within the proposed 73,000-acre Michigamme Highlands project area. (Michigan Department of Natural Resources photo)

An effort to protect 73,000 acres of fisheries and wildlife habitat in Baraga, Iron and Marquette counties gained $1 million in grants Thursday through the Life Time Foundation and Walmart’s Acres for America program.

Led by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, the Michigamme Highlands project is meant to ensure sustainable forest management, offer full public recreation access and protect and improve habitat for moose, white-tailed deer, brook trout and dozens of migratory songbird species. The area adjoins the federal McCormick Wilderness and Craig Lake State Park and includes Michigan’s highest natural point, Mount Arvon in L’Anse Township.

The project is a roughly $20 million effort to acquire a conservation easement to protect vast forest, coldwater lakes, trout streams and wetlands. Much of the project funding, more than $15 million, is being sought through a federal Forest Legacy Program grant.

An application was submitted to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service in September 2022 seeking 2024 program funding. A conservation easement would prevent fragmentation, ensure sustainable forest management and secure public recreational access, Michigan DNR Director Scott Bowen said.

“It will also provide for a variety of public recreational opportunities and help secure some of the most climate resilient landscape in Michigan,” Bowen said in a news release Thursday. The project is being done in partnership with the current landowner, Lyme Great Lakes Timberlands.

The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation on Thursday announced 10 grants totaling $5.6 million through Walmart’s Acres for America program that will help to permanently protect more than 148,000 acres of wildlife habitat across nine states, including the 73,000 acres in the U.P.

NFWF also announced the support of Life Time Foundation — a nonprofit created by Life Time Inc. — that provided $1 million to conserve forests and wildlife habitat and increase access to nature.

This year’s largest project for both programs — a combined $1 million — went to the Michigan DNR for the Michigamme Highlands project. The area includes 37 miles of rivers, 220 miles of perennial streams, 96 lakes and ponds, more than 13,600 acres of wetlands, and over 4,800 acres of white-tailed deer winter habitat.

The Acres for America program is a nearly two-decade-long partnership between NFWF and Walmart. Acres for America began in 2005 when Walmart made an initial 10-year, $35 million commitment to purchase and preserve an acre of wildlife habitat in the U.S. for every acre of land developed by the company. Walmart surpassed that commitment and renewed the program for another 10 years in 2015.

Over the past 19 years, Acres for America has funded more than 119 projects and has leveraged Walmart’s $68.5 million investment with matching contributions that have generated a total conservation impact of more than $1.1 billion.

Chartered by Congress in 1984, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation protects and restores the nation’s fish, wildlife, plants and habitats. Working with federal, corporate, foundation and individual partners, NFWF has funded more than 6,000 organizations and generated a total conservation impact of $8.1 billion.