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MOHAWK -- Voters in Keweenaw County will elect non-partisan members of the newly formed Keweenaw Heartlands Recreational and Natural Resources Authority Board during the Nov. 3 general election.
The election will establish a five-member board to administer the first public community forest authority in Michigan history. Once elected, the directors will manage public recreational, forestry, and natural resource interests on approximately 20,000 acres of land transitioning from ownership by The Nature Conservancy into a public asset.
The authority board’s jurisdiction is limited to the approximately 20,000-acre community forest tract.
The remaining 10,000-plus acres at the eastern tip of the peninsula are being acquired separately by the Michigan DNR to expand Fort Wilkins Historic State Park. The 10,000-acre state acquisition matches the acreage of the original military reserve established around the post by the U.S. War Department in 1844 to secure federal mineral lands from squatters and assist with federal Indian removal policies. Once the state purchase is finalized, those lands will be governed by state park regulations rather than local authority board policies.
Julia Petersen, the Keweenaw Heartlands project manager for The Nature Conservancy (TNC), addressed the Keweenaw County Board of Commissioners at its September meeting, discussing the strong community turnout for the election.
“There are 13 individuals running for the board,” Petersen said. “They are running for five at-large spots.”
To establish a staggered governing body and prevent total leadership turnover in future election cycles, the ballot is structurally split between short- and long-term seats.
“Two of the spots on the board are two-year positions,” Petersen explained. “We have seven people running for those.”
There are six people running for the three four-year positions, she added. Any registered voter in Keweenaw County can cast ballots for candidates regardless of local township boundaries.
The Keweenaw Outdoor Recreation Coalition (KORC) hosted a public candidates’ forum on Sept. 23 at the Horizons Alternative High School gymnasium in Mohawk. Following the event, all 13 candidates were invited to submit written responses to the three core prompts presented during the panel.
The candidates and their complete responses can be found online at the Keweenaw Community Foundation website.