The Keweenaw Heartlands Are Not Becoming Public Land. They Are Splitting in Two, and the Access Rules Are Narrower Than You Think.

A New York hedge fund put a sixth of Keweenaw County’s mainland on the market for $43.2 million. A conservation nonprofit bought the core of it for $27.2 million. Four years later the State of Michigan is buying about 10,000 acres of that at roughly a thousand dollars an acre.

Almost every account of the Keweenaw Heartlands describes land “becoming public.” That is not quite what is happening. It is splitting.

Two owners, two rulebooks

The Michigan DNR is taking roughly 10,000 acres in two phases. Phase I, approved in July 2026, is 4,494 acres for more than $4.9 million. Phase II is 5,476 acres in Grant Township, with a letter dated August 11, 2026 and closing expected before the end of the year. The Nature Conservancy’s Michigan director Rich Bowman described it plainly: “This Phase II purchase is for the balance of it.”

The remaining acreage, roughly 22,000, is headed somewhere else entirely. Keweenaw County adopted articles of incorporation in June 2026 for a locally governed community forest authority.

So one piece becomes state land under state land rules, and a much larger piece becomes something governed locally. Coverage that treats the Heartlands as one thing turning public is describing a transaction that is not happening.

The acreage everyone reports differently

You will see 31,000, “approximately 32,600,” and “over 32,500” depending on who is writing. The Nature Conservancy’s own figure is approximately 32,600 acres.

The spread is not sloppiness so much as timing. The purchase closed in tracts through late 2022, and different outlets counted at different moments. The $27.2 million price attaches to the initial 22,700 acres, not to the whole.

One claim to leave alone: “the largest conservation purchase in Michigan history” circulates and we could not verify it. TNC’s Julia Petersen offered a better and sourced framing anyway. It was, she said, “about 15% of the county’s mainland footprint.”

What you are actually allowed to do out there

This is the part nobody has written plainly, and it is the part that matters if you are the one driving up there this fall.

The forest is enrolled in Michigan’s Commercial Forest program. That program is a tax arrangement, and the public access it requires is specific and narrow. It obligates the owner to provide foot access to the public for hunting, fishing and trapping.

That is the list. Not hiking as a right. Not motorized use. Not camping. The land stays on the tax rolls at a set per-acre rate under Part 511 of 1994 PA 451, and the access obligation is the consideration the public gets in exchange.

Anything beyond that list is permission, not entitlement. The Nature Conservancy currently allows more than the minimum, and states directly that camping “is not allowed on the Heartlands at this time.” Permission granted by a current owner can change with the owner.

Which is exactly why the split matters. Once the DNR holds title to its 10,000 acres, state land rules govern that piece, and they are not the Commercial Forest rules. The other 22,000 acres will answer to whatever the community forest authority decides.

What is still unsettled

The Phase II purchase price is not public that we could find. Neither is the precise acreage split between DNR ownership and the community forest, nor whether the Commercial Forest enrollment carries over or is withdrawn on the state parcels.

Those are not small details. They determine what the rules are on ground the public is being told is theirs.

Update, September 10: what the county’s draft plan says about development

A reader wrote in after this piece ran to say the county master plan includes converting community forest land near Lake Medora into workforce housing. The 2017 plan that still governs says nothing of the kind. The 2026 draft, out for public review since July 23, does.

It sets aside about 200 acres of the Heartlands, in Eagle Harbor and Grant townships, to be “analyzed in 2026 for community infrastructure development, which could include workforce housing, support infrastructure, and other opportunities” (p. 73). It places one of those sites near Lake Medora and recommends the parcel be rezoned once a feasibility study is finished (pp. 114, 116, 122).

Nothing has been designated for housing and no project has been proposed. The county does not own the land; The Nature Conservancy does, pending transfer. The Planning Commission takes public comment on the draft on Monday, September 28 at 4 p.m. at the Eagle River Courthouse, and written comments go to the Keweenaw County Zoning Department, 5095 Fourth Street, Eagle River, MI 49950. Thanks to the reader who flagged it.

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Sources, credits, and reporting details

Sources & accountability

How this story was reported

Editorial methodAggregation

Last verifiedSep. 9, 2026

Corrections statusNo material correction note is recorded on this article.

AI assistanceResearched and drafted with AI tools. Reviewed and approved by editor Keegan O’Brien.

Verification note: Ledger establishes the two-phase DNR purchase (4,494 acres / $4.9M; 5,476 acres in Grant Township per an Aug. 11, 2026 DNR Real Estate Services letter), the 2022 TNC purchase ($27.2M for 22,700 acres against a $43.2M listing by The Rohatyn Group), the June 2026 county articles of incorporation, and the Commercial Forest program's foot-access-for-hunting-fishing-trapping obligation under Part 511. The article deliberately does not claim 'largest conservation purchase in Michigan history', a Phase II price, or the final DNR/authority acreage split. Editorial caution: the article says Phase I was 'approved in July 2026' on the strength of Mining Gazette reporting; the DNR's own NRC agenda lists 'Tip of the Keweenaw Phase I Land Transaction Case #20230233' on the Aug. 12, 2026 meeting, with the July 8 agenda silent on it, so the July date is a secondary-source claim, not a DNR-document claim

Primary sources

1. Commercial Forest Program Summary (IC4171, revised 03/17/2026) — Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Forest Resources Division

   Published Mar. 17, 2026. Accessed Sep. 9, 2026.

   Supports: The Commercial Forest program (Part 511, 1994 PA 451) requires only that enrolled land be open to the public for foot access to hunt, fish and trap, with a set per-acre tax rate ($1.35/acre for 2022-2026).

   Document text: 'There must be foot access to the public for hunting, fishing and trapping to all portions of the enrolled land.' MCL 324.51113 on legislature.mi.gov could not be fetched (robots.txt), so the DNR summary stands in for the statute text.

2. Mich. Admin. Code R. 299.2605a, Public use of listed land (Commercial Forests) — Michigan Administrative Code, via Cornell Legal Information Institute

   Published Nov. 6, 2023. Accessed Sep. 9, 2026.

   Supports: Public use of Commercial Forest land for any activity other than foot access for hunting or fishing requires owner permission, so hiking, motorized use and camping are permission, not entitlement.

   Rule text: 'Public use of listed land for any activity other than foot access for hunting or fishing requires owner permission.' The rule does not itself list trapping; the DNR summary and Part 511 do.

3. Natural Resources Commission Draft Meeting Agenda, August 12, 2026 — Michigan Department of Natural Resources / Natural Resources Commission

   Published Aug. 12, 2026. Accessed Sep. 9, 2026.

   Supports: The DNR's Phase I Keweenaw purchase went before the Natural Resources Commission as a Parks and Recreation Division land transaction ('Western Upper Peninsula District – Keweenaw County Tip of the Keweenaw Phase I Land Transaction Case #20230233').

   Agenda item VII.b.iv under New Business / Land Transactions. Contains no acreage or dollar figures. The July 8, 2026 draft agenda (Agenda_July_Draft_1.pdf) contains no Keweenaw item; see update_note.

4. The Legacy of the Keweenaw (Keweenaw Heartlands page and FAQ) — The Nature Conservancy

   Published Apr. 11, 2023. Accessed Sep. 9, 2026.

   Supports: TNC's own figure for the Heartlands is approximately 32,600 acres, most of it open to foot access for hiking, hunting and fishing, and 'Camping is not allowed on the Heartlands at this time.'

   Page dated April 17, 2022, last updated April 11, 2023. Does not mention the Commercial Forest program by name.

Additional reporting

1. Completing the final step — The Daily Mining Gazette (Graham Jaehnig)

   Published Aug. 25, 2026. Accessed Sep. 9, 2026.

   Supports: Phase II is 5,476 acres in Grant Township, described in an Aug. 11, 2026 DNR Real Estate Services letter to the county board as the final step of a two-part project, with closing expected before the end of 2026; Rich Bowman: 'This Phase II purchase is for the balance of it.'

   Also the source of the 'In July, the Natural Resources Commission (NRC) approved the first acquisition' sentence the article relies on.

2. Michigan set to buy nearly 4,500 acres in Keweenaw Peninsula for conservation, recreation — Michigan Public (Hanna Donovan)

   Published Aug. 17, 2026. Accessed Sep. 9, 2026.

   Supports: Phase I is 4,494 acres for $4.9 million, and TNC's Julia Petersen said the original 2022 sale 'was about 15% of the county's mainland footprint.'

3. Land transfer nearing completion — The Daily Mining Gazette (Graham Jaehnig)

   Published Aug. 12, 2026. Accessed Sep. 9, 2026.

   Supports: The DNR is taking roughly 10,000 acres in two purchase agreements, while a separate tract of about 21,000 acres will be governed by the new Keweenaw Heartlands Recreational & Natural Resources Authority.

   Gazette gives the non-DNR tract as 21,000 acres; the article says 'roughly 22,000'. Cites a DNR land transaction memorandum 'released in July'.

4. Nonprofit buys 31,000 forested acres by Copper Harbor to keep land public — Bridge Michigan (Kelly House)

   Published Oct. 27, 2022. Accessed Sep. 9, 2026.

   Supports: TNC paid $27.2 million for the initial three tracts totaling 22,700 acres, after New York hedge fund The Rohatyn Group listed the land at $43.2 million; the total deal was over 31,000 acres closing in stages through late 2022.

5. County adopts articles of incorporation — The Daily Mining Gazette (Graham Jaehnig)

   Published Jun. 2, 2026. Accessed Sep. 9, 2026.

   Supports: The Keweenaw County Board unanimously adopted Articles of Incorporation for the Keweenaw Heartlands Recreational and Natural Resources Authority in June 2026.

   Corroborated by Keweenaw Community Foundation post dated 2026-06-16 (https://www.keweenawcommunityfoundation.org/news/keweenaw-heartlands-june-2026), which dates the board action to June 1, 2026.

Photo and media credits

1. Copper Harbor nature.jpg (featured image) — Robert Emperley, via Wikimedia Commons

   Featured image record. Accessed Sep. 9, 2026. CC BY-SA 2.0.

   Supports: Featured image caption on the article: 'The trail network runs through a mix of township, state forest, lodge and private land. Photo: Robert Emperley (CC BY-SA 2.0), via Wikimedia Commons.'

   Commons file identified Sept 9 2026 via the Commons API from the author credit and matching aspect ratio.

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