Keweenaw County residents will have a unique ballot in November with the addition of voting for members of the Recreation and Natural Resources Authority Board for the Keweenaw Heartlands.
The ballot will feature overlapping four- and two-year terms designed to maintain institutional knowledge and consistency in managing the working recreational forest. Voters will select three individuals from six candidates for four-year terms and two individuals from seven candidates for two-year terms.
“This first board is going to be incredibly important in setting a foundation for the future of the Keweenaw Heartlands and then the future of the county beyond that,” said Julia Petersen, Keweenaw Project Manager for The Nature Conservancy. “You’re never losing more than two or three people at a time, so you have that long-term institutional knowledge.”
The staggered term structure ensures the board maintains continuity while allowing for gradual transitions in leadership. The inaugural board will begin in January 2027 and will spend approximately one to one-and-a-half years organizing themselves, building bylaws, establishing a code of ethics, creating a budget and developing a comprehensive management plan for the forest.
“They’re going to be busy in that first year and a half,” Petersen said.
The Keweenaw Heartlands represent about 15 percent of the county’s total size. In 2022, The Nature Conservancy purchased the 32,000 acres from The Rohatyn Group. Since then, the organization has worked with a community advisory board of Keweenaw County residents, stakeholders and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources to transition the land into public ownership and management.
The transition plan divides the property into two components: more than 20,000 acres will be managed by the newly elected Recreation and Natural Resources Authority Board, while approximately 10,000 acres will transfer to the state of Michigan. The Nature Conservancy remains committed to working with both the authority board and the Michigan DNR to complete this transition.
Over the past four years, residents have consistently expressed a desire to retain public access to the land in perpetuity, restore the health of the working forest, and protect cultural, environmental and recreational landmarks. This community input has guided both The Nature Conservancy and the DNR throughout the planning process.
“This is local, this is public, and those voters are going to have a direct say through their vote in how this forest gets managed going forward,” Petersen said. “The board will be able to address any future corporate divestments of land.”
Michigan amended the state’s Recreation Authority Act earlier this year, allowing municipal partners to develop a Recreation and Natural Resources Authority Board when county population is below 4,000 residents. The law enables small counties to manage and maintain working forests and recreation plans simultaneously to benefit the community.
“There’s quite a bit of flexibility in terms of how this board functions in relation to the forest in Keweenaw County,” Petersen said.
The Keweenaw Outdoor Recreation Coalition will host a candidate forum Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. at Horizon School in Mohawk. Candidates will introduce themselves before the forum moves into a question-and-answer session, with candidates split between those running for four-year and two-year terms.
Candidates for four-year terms are Rus Bjorn, Pete Clevestine, Gregg Patrick, Jon Schubbe, George Twardzik and Joseph R. Vairus. Candidates for two-year terms are Jeremy Bos, Brayden Cima, Richard J. Marsh, Hannah Rooks, Ramon C. Simonson, Kevin Tita and James Vivian III.
Learn more about the Keweenaw Heartlands Project here. Find a list of the Recreation and Natural Resources Authority Board candidates included in the TNC September Newsletter.
