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We joined a partnership in 2000 called the Michigan Upper Peninsula Coastal Wetland Proposal Phase II Project. This partnership, in response to a grant offering under the federal North American Wetlands Conservation Act (NAWCA), submitted a proposal for the acquisition of 3,148 acres in seven counties in Michigan’s Congressional District 1. In our contribution, we were able to use the dollar value of the Jean Farwell Wilderness Area as a “wetlands acquisition demonstration match” towards the purchase of 160 acres currently owned by Fred and June Rydholm and Prentiss Brown. This property encompasses the headwaters of the main branch of the Salmon Trout River and also sheds into the Yellow Dog River (the property comes within 50 feet of the main stream of the Yellow Dog). Quoting from the NAWCA news release:
“The focus of this phase of the overall landscape-scale project is to acquire lands that are under threat of fragmentation and development. Sites include a river-wetland complex in the Little Carp River watershed in Baraga County; wetlands and forested uplands along the scenic Presque Isle River in Gogebic County; wetlands and forested uplands along the Yellow Dog River that leads into Lake Independence and, eventually, into Lake Superior in Marquette County; a wetland-associated upland in the Long Lake complex and a wetland/forested upland in the Gratiot River complex (including 4,000 feet of Lake Superior frontage), both sites being on the Keweenaw Peninsula; and a key Great Lakes avian staging area that provides migratory habitat for tens of thousands of waterfowl, passerines, and raptors during spring and fall migrations. Public access and public use is allowed on all the lands to be acquired.”
Thank you Jean. You smile on us again.
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