The Keweenaw County Board adopted theArticles of Incorporation of the Keweenaw Heartlands Recreational & Natural Resources Authority on June 1. Left to right are Commissioners Del Rajala, Mike LaMotte, Don Piche, Bob DeMarois and Randy Eckloff. (Graham Jaehnig/Daily Mining Gazette)

KEWEENAW COUNTY — The deadline for filing to run for one of the five non-partisan positions on the Keweenaw Heartlands Recreational & Natural Resources Authority (Authority Board) is July 16. Candidates will be placed on the ballot of the November’s general election.

The Authority Board will become the publicly governing body of the Keweenaw Heartlands Community Forest. Its role is to work for the public to preserve and keep the forestland cared for and publicly accessible.

“The startup of this new board is a critical step in the development of the community forest,” said Julia Petersen, Keweenaw Heartlands Project manager with The Nature Conservancy (TNC).

The Keweenaw Heartlands Community Forest was officially organized on June 1, when the Keweenaw County Board of Commissioners unanimously adopted the Articles of Incorporation of The Authority.

Keweenaw Heartlands became the first locally owned, locally managed community forest in the state of Michigan. A 12-page draft of the Articles of Incorporation of the Authority was published on the Keweenaw County website on April 20, and also printed in the Daily Mining Gazette.

With the adoption, the Keweenaw County Board of Commissioners became the official government entity in charge of legally creating and organizing the Authority Board.

The board is independent of the Board of Commissioners, however, and county commissioners cannot sit on the Authority Board.

“County board members are are not eligible to fun for, or hold a position on the Authority Board unless they first resign from their current position,” said Petersen.

To be eligible to run for a seat on the board, interested individuals must must be registered voters and full-time residents of Keweenaw County. As the organization was created specifically to manage and control the public land in Keweenaw County, non-residents are legally barred from holding a seat.

Eligible residents interested in running for the Authority Board must complete and file candidacy paperwork with the Keweenaw County Clerk by July 16. the paperwork is available at the Clerk’s Office.

A Frequently Asked Questions page regarding the Authority Board is posted on the county website.

According to the Articles of Incorporation, when individuals file candidacy paperwork, they will have to declare their length of term. Candidates running for two-year terms will run against each other, and candidates running for four-year terms will run against each other.

With the new board in place after the November election, the Authority will become a legal shield for the public forest. It can sign contracts, accept donations, and handle legal disputes to ensure the forest remains unfragmented and open to public recreation forever.

Petersen said TNC will remain a presence as community development moves forward.

“The Nature Conservancy continues to work with the community and will work with the board on the Keweenaw Heartlands Project and on the development of the Keweenaw Heartlands Community Forest,” she said. “We have more work to do, so we’re not going anywhere fast, but we are still working to secure the dollars for the transition of the community forest acres, about 20,000 acres.”

In April, Robin Meneguzzo, CEO of the Keweenaw Community Foundation, announced the launch of the Keweenaw Heartlands Forest Fund, to raise $600,000 to support The Authority. The goal of KCF, she said is to raise the funds through local community members.

To provide those funds, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) committed to establishing a $2.3 million endowment for governance and management of the Heartlands, to be held by the KCF. Of that endowment, $300,000 is being set aside for initial operating funds, half of the amount necessary for the first three years of operation.

“The reason is, when you start something from nothing, you have to anticipate (expenditures),” Meneguzzo said. “There are legal fees that we want to be able to cover, and part of the goal is to raise those dollars locally here, so that way we can ensure that they have those operating dollars when that new Authority Board is created and ready work.”