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County plans purchase of forestland

ESCANABA — Members of the Delta County Board of Commissioners and officials from the Delta Conservation District discussed the county’s ongoing efforts to purchase 1,400 acres of land in Cornell Township for use as a community forest in a committee of the whole meeting Friday. The Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund Board recommended Wednesday that the county be awarded a grant for this project, which is expected to cost a total of $1,275,000.

The land in question is currently owned by forest products company Weyerhaeuser. Once it is officially taken over by the county, it will be open to the public year-round for hunting, hiking, and other activities.

Regular logging on this land will provide a new source of revenue for the county’s parks, as well. Delta Conservation District Executive Director Rory Mattson noted that, while the financial boost this will give to the county will not be immediately apparent, the revenue from timber sales will eventually allow the park system to be self-sustaining.

“It’s not gonna start for 10-15 years,” he said.

The Trust Fund Board met to submit their project funding recommendations for 2017 earlier this week. Mattson and Parks Manager Steven Wery were in attendance at this meeting.

“Steven and myself went down to the Trust Fund Board on Tuesday,” Mattson said.

In an application submitted to the Trust Fund Board, it was stated that Delta County’s match for this grant would be $318,800, or about 25 percent of the project’s total cost. The county will pay for most of this match through money earned from the sale of 160 acres of unutilized property in Garden Township.

While the percentage of the county’s match will not change, Mattson said its dollar value could decrease if the total project cost goes down.

The State of Michigan is expected to officially authorize the grant in January. From that point, Mattson said the county and Weyerhaeuser will follow the Trust Fund Board’s pre-determined timeline for land acquisition projects. It will likely take between three and four months from the time both parties start following this timeline for the county to take full ownership of the land.

“It’ll be taken over by summer,” Mattson said.

Near the end of the meeting, Commissioner David Moyle voiced his appreciation for the effort Mattson put into getting this project approved.

“Thank you for your work on this,” he said.

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