| Fast Facts |
location
216 miles from Duluth, Minnesota
ecoregion
Great Lakes
project size
25,000 acres
preserves
Mary Macdonald Preserve at Horseshoe Harbor, East Shore Bluffs
public lands
Fort Wilkins State Park, Copper Country State Forest
partners
Michigan Department of Natural Resources, International Paper, Keweenaw Land Trust, Eagle Harbor Township, Grant Township
natural events
Northern Lights, most visible fall and winter; thousands of migrating raptors, song- birds and shorebirds, spring and fall | |
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| At the northernmost point of the Upper Peninsula, shoreline development threatens to degrade the world’s largest freshwater lake and a rich forest ecosystem. |
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Bette Grise Bay and Mount Houghton, Lac La Belle.
© Larry Ulrich |
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The tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula juts 60 miles into Lake Superior, its fingerlike extension discernible from the moon. This zenith of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula is a product of volcanic activity, formed at least 1 billion years ago. Now, wave-eroded rock defines the rugged shoreline where only the hardiest vegetation withstands constant exposure to the Great Lakes’ ferocious winds.
Traveling the Great Lakes Flyway, thousands of raptors gather each spring and fall on the Keweenaw’s shores, among them bald eagle and peregrine falcon. Inland, waterfalls and glacial lakes punctuate forest of balsam fir, white cedar, spruce and birch. More than 900 species of plants blanket the peninsula, providing food and shelter for animals as large as black bear and moose and as small as the tawny crescent, a rare butterfly. |
White-tailed deer.
© Tom & Pat Leeson |
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Known as “copper country,” the Keweenaw was a booming mining hub at the turn of the century—once the largest single source of the metal in the Western Hemi-sphere. Copper was transported from the peninsula entirely by ship. The Keweenaw is today primarily working forestland and a summer tourist destination. Tourism-related development, especially new homes proliferating along the forested shoreline, threatens to fragment forest habitat and degrade the lake’s clear waters. | |
Seizing a rare opportunity to protect more than five miles of pristine shoreline and significant inland habitat, The Nature Conservancy in 2002 brokered a land transaction between International Paper and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. Through the agreement, the state will pay $12.5 million to permanently safeguard the property. The land, previously planned for subdivision, will be open to the public for recreation and will link a Conservancy preserve with another protected area, creating a vast contiguous corridor for wildlife.
Learn more about The Nature Conservancy's work in Michigan. |
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| Conservation Profile |
targets
boreal forest, peatlands, alpine bistwort and pale Indian paintbrush, rayless mountain ragwort, black bear, peregrine falcon, tawny crescent
stresses
incompatible shoreline development, incompatible forestry practices
strategies
acquire land, encourage conservation management of public and private forest, secure public funding, engage community in natural resource management
results
more than 10,000 acres in conservation management, including five miles of lake shoreline | | | | |
