Giving Tuesday Non-Profit Spotlight: Keweenaw Land Trust

Throughout the Keweenaw Peninsula, many residents are proud of the access to public forest lands, thanks in part to many of the region’s conservation groups. Working to protect the western Upper Peninsula’s forests and Lake Superior shoreline has plenty of rewards, but it isn’t an easy task either. The Keweenaw Land Trust protects 26 locations in Baraga, and Houghton Keweenaw counties, thanks in large part to a dedicated board of directors, passionate trail maintenance crews, and superior guides for education programs.

“We’ve added a lot of land in recent years, and we haven’t really bolstered our stewardship to match. And so that is what joining Giving Tuesday is about. Giving us the resources so we can go out and make more improvements to those lands to make them easier for people to find and enjoy. That includes creating and marking new trails, and building an off-road parking spot where people can safely park and then get out to enjoy the nature area. There’s signage. There are invasive species that have to be managed. Because those can really degrade the experience of being out in nature.” Pat Toczydlowski, Project Specialist, Keweenaw Land Trust

Throughout the year the Keweenaw Land Trust provides various educational programming to the community. Inviting teachers and classrooms to conservation lands for outdoor class instruction and immersive opportunities to learn about environmental topics. During the pandemic the group began what is called story walks, encouraging families to enjoy a little interpretive trail hike.

“And then when the pandemic hit. It was really hard to do programming that people felt safe about. But we still felt it was really important to still try to do it. And so those story hikes for families really started to take off. Recently Sarah Poole, who has a toddler, has been in charge of leading our Tike Hikes. This has been getting families with toddlers outside and they usually do an activity along with their hike. OS helps people learn about our lands and then they can go back on their own to go for family hikes as well.” Jill Fisher, Botonist and Program Manager, Keweenaw Land Trust

Keweenaw Land Trust will join the 30 non-profits for Giving Tuesday for the first time this year. Giving Tuesday with the Copper Shores Community Health Foundation last year raised over 650,000 dollars from individuals in the community and from friends of the Keweenaw Peninsula. Annually the foundation has provided a match sum to add to the day of giving’s total. Adding up to over 2.7 million dollars spread throughout the copper country over the past six years. Find more information about Giving Tuesday with the Copper Shores Community Health Foundation here, and more about the Keweenaw Land Trust here.