Graham Jaehnig/Daily Mining Gazette More than three years after assuming the position of Keweenaw Heartlands Project Manager, Julia Petersen, at Monday’s special meeting of the Keweenaw County Board, was happy at the Board’s adoption of the project’s Articles of Incorporation.

KEWEENAW COUNTY – At a special meeting Monday, the Keweenaw County Board of Commissioners unanimously adopted Articles of Incorporation for the Keweenaw Heartlands Recreational and Natural Resources Authority.

The adoption allows for the creation of a new five-member, publicly-elected authority able to govern and manage public forests and natural resource areas in Keweenaw County for both their natural resource and recreational values.

Keweenaw Heartlands Project Manager Julia Petersen said the adoption is a major milestone for the Keweenaw Heartlands Project and the community members who have so involved in the process, as well as the public, who have given feedback every step of the way.

“It means not we can move forward and continue to transition the land and that the new board is ready to go, ready to make to manage, and ready to govern,” she said.

The articles ensure there is local, public governance and management, said Petersen. Until the governance board elections happen, she said, The Nature Conservancy, the Department of Natural Resources, along with community members, will continue to work on the land acquisition aspect of the project.

“It will make sure sure that TNC can transition the land,” Petersen said, “whether it’s to the DNR or this local entity, but most likely to the DNR.”

The elected authority, known as the Keweenaw Heartlands Recreational & Natural Resources Authority, will be established for the purpose of owning, operating, maintaining and/or improving a public forest and natural resources area.

According to the articles, the Authority will be directed by and governed by a board of directors consisting of five members. Each member will be elected in at-large, non-bipartisan elections by Keweenaw County voters.

The initial Board members will be elected at elections held in August or November 2026. Two members of the first Board will serve terms expiring December 31, 2028 and three members will serve terms expiring December 31, 2030. After the initial elected Board, the subsequent terms of each Board member will be four (4) years.

Among its responsibilities, the Board will establish advisory committees and may, from time to time ,establish such other committees to advise the Board as it deems necessary or appropriate.

The Board will establish and maintain a standing Community Advisory Committee (“Community Advisory Committee”), consisting of at least six members, including members representing, at a minimum, the following interests: (a) Environmental Interests; (b) Cultural and Historical

Resource Management; (c) Forestry and Commercial Use; (d) Recreational Uses; (e) Infrastructure Management and Public Safety; and (f) Economic Development.

“That brand new government entity can work with the DNR,” said Petersen, “to figure out long-term arrangements so we can still move forward.”

Petersen was retained by The Nature Conservancy in May, 2023, as the project manager of the Keweenaw Heartlands. In that role, she directed land use and land management planning, science and community relations for TNC’s long-standing preserves, and recent acquisitions, in the Keweenaw Peninsula,says TNC. She serves as the principal contact to government agencies, conservation organizations, local businesses, foundations and community members in their collective endeavor to develop a rural prosperity plan that balances the conservation values, cultural resources, land use, land management needs and interests of the Keweenaw community.