County approves applying for funds to match state grant for mouth of Gratiot River purchase Keweenaw County hopes to acquire 99 acres ’Äì including 3,000 feet of river and 4,000 feet of Lake Superior shoreline ’Äì at the Mouth of the Gratiot River, a popular spot for fishing and other recreation. (Keweenaw Today file photo) RIVER ’Äì With one commissioner objecting, the Keweenaw County Board approved Tuesday, Feb. 13, joining in partnership with the Copper Country Chapter of Trout Unlimited (CCCTU), the North Woods Conservancy (NWC) and the Copper Country Chapter of the Michigan Audubon Society to apply for funds to match a Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund (MNRTF) land acquisition grant for the purchase of 99 acres ’Äì including 3,000 feet of river and 4,000 feet of Lake Superior shoreline ’Äìat the Mouth of the Gratiot River in Allouez Township. Much of the area, which contains 70 acres of wetland habitat and 29 acres of wetland-associated upland habitat, is used by waterfowl and other wetland dependent birds for nesting and foraging. The Trust Fund grant for $442,500, or 75 percent of the total grant worth up to $590,000, is guaranteed to Keweenaw County for the purchase if a 25 percent match of about $147,500 can be raised. North Woods Conservancy President John Griffith told board members the county’Äôs partnership in a North American Wetlands Conservation Act (NAWCA) grant proposal titled "Michigan Upper Peninsula Coastal Wetland Project II" would, if that grant is received, provide the county with the matching funds needed for the Trust Fund grant. At the recent Keweenaw County Board meeting in the courthouse in Eagle River, John Griffith, right, North Woods Conservancy president, invites the board to sign a partnership agreement to apply for a grant that could provide the needed match for a Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund (MNRTF) grant. The $590,000 Trust Fund grant would enable the county to purchase about 99 acres at the mouth of the Gratiot River for public access. Also pictured are, from left, Commissioner Jeffrey Turnquist, Clerk Marilyn Winquist (background), Chairman Frank Stubenrauch and Commissioner Gordon Roberts. "This program dovetails perfectly with the Trust Fund, which is giving 75 percent of the money. This would be for the entire other 25 percent," Griffith said. "It’Äôs for public access and fishing and hunting in perpetuity, but the focus of the NAWCA grant is more on wetlands protection. This means that you’Äôre not going to be able to build in the river, which wasn’Äôt planned anyway as I understand it." Griffith said he calculated ’Äì using definitions provided in the NAWCA application, aerial photos and the USGS topo map ’Äì that there are approximately 70 acres of wetland and 29 acres of upland.  "Most of that ’Äòwetland’Äô does not have standing water," Griffith said. "It is cedars and alders, which are by definition wetland." Griffith added the "restrictions" on the NAWCA grant do not increase the restrictions on the property over the Trust Fund restrictions, which is why the partnership group was accepted as eligible to apply for the NAWCA funds to cover the Trust Fund match. He asked the board to approve Board Chairman Frank Stubenrauch signing the letter of partnership in the NAWCA grant application so that it could be submitted by the March 1, 2001, submittal date. Griffith added he expected the group would receive word in June or July on whether or not the application is approved. The money would become available in September, 2001. By a vote of four to one, the board approved a motion to have Stubenrauch sign the letter of partnership addressed to the North American Wetlands Conservation Council Coordinator, which reads in part: "The county board passed a resolution authorizing CCC Trout Unlimited and North Woods Conservancy to partner with the county in raising the 25 % needed for fee title acquisition. Upon approval of the grant, a purchase agreement with the willing seller will be signed, and the county will acquire the tract by 01 March 2002. The county will hold title to the tract for purposes of long term public benefit and wetland conservation, as specified in the state and federal grant agreements. "PARTNERSHIP STATEMENT: Keweenaw County is a willing partner with CCC Trout Unlimited, CC Audubon, and the North Woods Conservancy, to protect the mouth of the Gratiot River through purchase from a willing seller, and this match is put forth with our full knowledge and support in order to obtain grants funds for acquisition of the Gratiot River tract. We are pleased to be part of the Michigan Upper Peninsula Coastal Wetland Project II." Commissioner Jeffrey Turnquist said he voted against the county joining the partnership because he was afraid the NAWCA grant application had "strings attached ’Ķ that imply impacting wetlands." He said he had formed his opinion after a discussion with Keweenaw County Prosecuting Attorney Donna Jaaskelainen, who said she had a question on the fact that the Trust Fund grant does not list specifically list wetland protection, while the NAWCA grant does. Griffith said he had already discussed this with the NAWCA grant administrator and did not see this as a problem because the Trust Fund grant, which is intended for recreation on the land to be acquired, includes de facto wetland protection and the NAWCA grant will not preclude anything the county has planned under the Trust Fund project. "It won’Äôt preclude improving the road; it won’Äôt preclude having some campsites down there; it won’Äôt preclude hunting and fishing. In fact that’Äôs what it’Äôs for," Griffith said. "It’Äôs just that this (NAWCA) grant is more focused on wetlands and waterfowls." He noted this partnership agreement is just for the application, which is a first step. "When the funds come, if we discover more barriers that I’Äôm not familiar with ’Ķ that would make you want to reject those funds, you can," Griffith said. "This is just to get our application." Commissioner Gordon Roberts said he agreed with Griffith on the value to the county of supporting the application since it does not really bind the county to anything until the funds are granted. Roberts made the motion for the Board Chairman to sign the partnership agreement. Keweenaw County Commissioner Don Keith In support of Roberts, Commissioner Don Keith said, "I grow nostalgic about the future whenever I see the efforts that some of the people are making to acquire this 99 plus acres. I can hear in my mind’Äôs eye generations yet to be born ’Ķ thanking all of us that at this point in time we had the foresight to acquire a piece of land for them in the future that they will have when the Keweenaw as we know it today no longer exists." Griffith added the chances of being funded are very good because the proposal is the second phase of a larger project with several different groups applying together and having other partners in the proposal increases the number of points in the NAWCA application. Dana Richter, president of the Copper Country Chapter of the Michigan Audubon Society, said his group "voted in a little money and some volunteer hours to protect habitat and be a partner in the grant." Audubon members plan to put nesting boxes along the Gratiot River for various species of birds common to the area, including wood ducks. Another partner joining Griffith’Äôs North Woods Conservancy in the NAWCA grant application is the Copper Country Chapter of Trout Unlimited (CCCTU). Bill Deephouse, now president of the Copper Country Chapter of Trout Unlimited, which is raising funds for the mouth of the Gratiot purchase, addresses the Keweenaw County Board of Commissioners at their Oct. 10, 2000, meeting. Deephouse explained to board members that CCCTU has been working to improve the Gratiot River as a fishery through restoration of coaster brook trout. (Keweenaw Today file photo) Newly elected CCCTU President Bill Deephouse said he hopes his five-year-old grandson will be one of those to benefit from the mouth of the Gratiot being preserved for public access. "We’Äôre working to preserve a way of life that everybody’Äôs been enjoying for over a century without realizing it," Deephouse said. "The potential for it to go into private ownership is high. We just want to guarantee that it remains open to the public in perpetuity." Deephouse said CCCTU is continuing its fundraising campaign just in case the NAWCA grant isn’Äôt funded. He said some chapters of Trout Unlimited have already pledged $1,000 each for the mouth of the Gratiot and some pledges are even in the five-figure range. "We have plans to expand the fundraising effort to include the general public in the whole Keweenaw Peninsula," Deephouse said. Deephouse said he was not worried about what CCCTU would do with funds they raise if the NAWCA grant is funded. "It’Äôs going to be an enjoyable problem to have ’Äì what to do with the money," he said. At their January meeting, after hearing about the Trout Unlimited fundraiser from former CCCTU president Ray Weglarz, the county board approved a resolution to accept the offer by the CCCTU and NWC to raise the 25 percent matching funds for the Trust Fund grant. Walt Arnold, I.P./Lake Superior Land Company director of marketing and sales, said his company, which owns the parcel at the mouth of the Gratiot, is ready when the county is ready to sign a contract or agreement as soon as the price is negotiated with the State of Michigan and a time frame is established. The county board has also requested an extension of one year (until Mar. 31, 2002) for obtaining the match to the Trust Fund grant. ’ÄìMichele Anderson February 15, 2001