PORTAGE TOWNSHIP - The effort to secure conservation easements on 360 acres of 1,382 acres of property along the Pilgrim River is about halfway complete with the raising of almost half of $200,000 needed for the easements.
Bill Leder, Copper Country Trout Unlimited board member and Pilgrim River Watershed Project Fundraising Committee chair, said a $20,000 matching challenge from the J.A. Woollam Foundation of Lincoln, Neb., was made last autumn.
Woollam created his foundation with profits from the sale of some of his creations.
"He's an inventor, physicist and engineer," Leder said.
Woollam is particularly interested in the Pilgrim River Watershed Project, Leder said, because of his interest in the Upper Peninsula.
"His roots are in the Lower Peninsula, and he spent a lot of time in the Upper Peninsula," he said.
In September, the Pilgrim River Watershed Project partners began an effort to match that $20,000, Leder said.
"We actually exceeded the Woollam Foundation challenge by a large margin," he said.
Leder said as of the Dec. 31 deadline to raise the matching funds, $30,400 was raised.
The Pilgrim River Watershed Project consists of Copper Country Trout Unlimited, the Keweenaw Land Trust, Partners in Forestry, Copper Country Audubon, Northwoods Alliance, Keweenaw Trails Alliance and the Houghton/Keweenaw Conservation District.
The purpose of the watershed project is to purchase the conservation easement from the Wisconsin-based Hovel family, who own the 1,382 acres under consideration. The Hovels have the property in the Michigan Commercial Forest program and plan to harvest trees there. The upstream 360-acre portion is separated from the remaining 1,022 acres by another privately-owned parcel.
Because the Hovels will continue to timber their property, Leder said it will continue to provide tax revenue for local governments.
Leder said the Hovel property had other owners before them, and because of the Commercial Forest law, the public has been allowed to use it for about 100 years.
Leder said the conservation easement will allow public access to the Hovel property in addition to non-motorized recreation activities outlined in the Michigan commercial forest law, which are fishing, hunting and trapping. Further activities which would be allowed by a conservation easement include hiking, biking and other non-motorized activities.
Leder said the members of the Pilgrim River Watershed Project are pleased with how the community responded to the request to match the Woollam donation.
"It was mostly individuals in the community," he said. "There were a few business donations."
With the recent fundraising effort, Leder said the partnership has about $108,000 toward the $200,000 for the conservation easement on the upstream 360 acres. The goal is to raise the remaining amount by the end of 2012.
Another match challenge has been made by the Keweenaw Trails Alliance, which Leder said has provided $5,500.
The entire Pilgrim River watershed is about 16,000 acres, Leder said.
"The conservation project is only about 9 percent of the total watershed," he said.
Leder said the current estimate for the cost of conservation easements on the other 1,022 acre parcel would be about $900,000, and project partners realize it will take quite awhile to raise that amount.
Pilgrim River Watershed project partners think the fundraising for the conservation easements is going well.
"We're very pleased with the progress we've made," he said.
For more information about the effort to raise money for the conservation easements, call Bill Leder at 482-0158, or email bleder@charter.net.