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Amid public confusion and rumors that the Michigan Department of Natural Resources has purchased 10,000 acres of land in eastern Keweenaw County within the roughly 32,000 acres The Nature Conservancy owns in the Keweenaw Heartlands, TNC said the acquisition -- although in progress -- has not been completed.
Ryan Hermes, media and public relations manager with TNC, said the DNR is committed to the acquisition.
"They're working on lining up the funding for it," he said. "It's probably going to be at least a year before that actually happens."
Hermes said the DNR has not publicly discussed it to any extent in part because the department wants to get its funding squared away.
On Dec. 5, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's office and the Michigan DNR announced they had recommended a combined $6,461,500 in Land and Water Conservation Fund grants go to eight community parks, trails and sports facilities and one state acquisition. Included was $3.5 million for approximately 8,000 acres of land in eastern Keweenaw County referred to as the Keweenaw Point Acquisition.
These were only recommendations, however, and funding has not yet been awarded.
The DNR has attempted to acquire the property in the past but was unable to reach an agreement with the former owners.
Now that the acreage is owned and protected by TNC, the DNR has the time necessary to get the funding lined up and to finalize the purchase, Hermes said.
"The way this works is that the state basically, in a sense, said 'This is what we want to use the money for, but the Fed still needs to sign off on it. They usually do, but you never know sometimes.'"
The DNR, he said, is reluctant to say anything regarding projects that far into the future without knowing that the funding is secure.
TNC in Michigan Director of Policy Rich Bowman said confusion surrounding the topic has resurfaced several times in the past.
While the 32,600 acres purchased by TNC in 2022 is referred to as the Keweenaw Heartlands, the acreage the DNR aims to purchase is what that agency refers to as the Keweenaw Point Acquisition, and there is confusion over the names and what the DNR is buying. TNC is continuing to work with the DNR.
"The DNR's 10,000-acre Keweenaw Point Project," Bowman said, "is the eastern 10,000 acres of the Keweenaw Heartlands. That includes basically everything from Fort Wilkins down to the mouth of the Montreal River, and east of the Estevant Pines."
The acquisition will add to 8,000 acres the DNR already owns in that area. When the purchase is final, the 18,000 acres will be reserved as a state-owned recreation area.