The Michigan Department of Natural Resources has acquired nearly 10,000 acres at the tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula, the agency announced Friday. The state purchased the land from The Nature Conservancy for $11.2 million.
The DNR funded the purchase through three sources: the Land and Water Conservation Fund, the Michigan Natural Resources Fund, and the Land Exchange Facilitation Fund.
The acquisition expands public access, protects important natural and cultural resources, and supports long-term recreational and economic benefits for the region.
“This landscape, shared by both geological history and human heritage, will now forever be in public ownership,” said DNR Director Scott Bowen. “It will remain accessible to Michiganders, tribal nations, visitors and future generations to appreciate and enjoy.”
TNC State Director Helen Taylor said many residents had worried that the land could be fragmented. Fragmentation, she said, would have harmed the region’s recreational trails, threatened long-term public access, and damaged the local economy and the area’s natural and cultural resources.
The Tip of the Keweenaw was originally purchased by TNC in 2022 from The Rohatyn Group as a part of the 32,000 acre acquisition that would become the Keweenaw Heartlands. Throughout the past four years The Nature Conservancy has worked with the Michigan DNR and community partners to transfer the land holdings to public ownership. Recently the Keweenaw Heartlands Recreation and Natural Resources Authority Board was selected by voters at the November election, to manage the 22,000 acre heartlands working recreational forest. During the work to transition the main swatch of the land into the Keweenaw Heartlands, TNC has worked with the DNR to transition to Tip of the Keweenaw into public management through the state of Michigan.
The DNR intends to manage the Keweenaw Point State Lands, including the Tip of the Keweenaw, through the Parks and Recreation Division. Any future forest management activities will focus on ecological stewardship, habitat enhancement, public safety and resource health, including potential for timber harvest to support objectives when determined appropriate. The adjacent Baraga Forest Management Unit will remain under the DNR Forest Resources Division for habitat management and multi-use recreation.
Bowen added, “The DNR joined this effort because the project aligned directly with the department’s mission and presented a rare opportunity to support a model for responding to large-scale private land divestments.”
All existing designated motorized trails will remain open in the Keweenaw Point State Lands. The DNR will require a recreation passport to access the 10,000 acres through the land’s designation with the Fort Wilkins Historic State Park boundary. Camping and fires are only allowed in designated areas in line with state park rules. Dispersed campers will continue to follow guidelines allowed through the Forest Resources Division – Managed state forest lands that include the Copper Country State Forest. Hunting was recently approved by the Natural Resources Commission as an allowed use of the Keweenaw Point State Lands.
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