County to accept matching fund offer for acquiring public access site at mouth of Gratiot River Ray Weglarz, president of the Copper Country Chapter of Trout Unlimited, addressed the Keweenaw County Board of Commissioners at their meeting Tuesday in the Courthouse in Eagle River. From left, Commissioners are Don Keith, Eric Bjorn, Jeff Turnquist, Frank Stubenrauch and Gordon Roberts. EAGLE RIVER ’Äì The Keweenaw County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved Tuesday, Jan. 9, a resolution to accept the offer by the Copper Country Chapter of Trout Unlimited (CCCTU) and the North Woods Conservancy (NWC) to raise 25 percent matching funds of up to $150,000 for a Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund (MNRTF) land acquisition grant. Worth a maximum of $590,000, the grant would allow the county to acquire from International Paper/Lake Superior Land Co. 4,000 feet of Lake Superior frontage and about 100 acres of land for public access at the mouth of the Gratiot River. The board also voted to request an extension on the grant deadline of March 31, 2001. While the county had considered using road improvement as an in-kind match, such improvement would be at taxpayers’Äô expense and could be construed as providing access to potential development of LSLC’Äôs adjacent property. CCCTU/NWC told county commissioners the donation could be available by the end of the month, would save the taxpayers money and would have no strings attached. Bill Deephouse, board member of the Copper Country Chapter of Trout Unlimited, prepares coaster brook trout for planting in the Gratiot River. In cooperation with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, CCCTU members planted coaster brook trout in the Gratiot River in September, 1999, and September, 2000. (Photo courtesy Pete Van Dusen, CCCTU member) CCCTU President Ray Weglarz repeated Tuesday what he had told the board at their Ways and Means Committee meeting Monday ’Äì that it would be "a feather in their cap" to accept the donation of the match from the two groups, since the mouth of the Gratiot River is one of the most popular and scenic places for recreation in Keweenaw County, besides being a valuable fishery that his organization has worked to improve through restoration of coaster brook trout. "Trout Unlimited is very hopeful that we can work with the county to make the purchase happen for the benefit of all the residents in the county," Weglarz said after the board’Äôs decision Tuesday. "It’Äôs going to be a lot of work to raise the money." Weglarz said he expects to receive support from other Trout Unlimited chapters, from both inside and outside the state, as well as from the national organization. He will make a presentation on the Gratiot River this weekend at a meeting of the Michigan Council of Trout Unlimited in Lansing. Before the board’Äôs approval of the resolution, both Weglarz and North Woods Conservancy President John Griffith, who is also seeking funding for the match, assured the Commissioners that neither organization had any intention of owning or managing the area but simply wanted it preserved in perpetuity for its natural resources and for recreation, in accordance with the purposes of the MNRTF grant. They asked the board to assure them the county had no agreement to secure the match from LSLC in return for the road improvement, which would cost the county taxpayers money. Said Griffith, "If both (options) are viable, we’Äôre asking you to choose ours on behalf of the taxpayers." Newly appointed Board Chairman Frank Stubenrauch said, "We would be reluctant to accept that money if there were any strings attached. I myself see no real problem accepting this offer. It’Äôs quite a task to raise that amount of money. So far we’Äôre not sure how much that share (the 25 percent match) will be because we’Äôre not sure what the final asking price will be." He was referring to the fact that LSLC is still asking for more information before they accept either of two appraisals on the fair market value of the property, both at approximately $540,000. However, the two groups are confident they can raise up to $150,000, which is clearly enough to make the 25 percent match of the $590,000 maximum amount of the grant. CCCTU Board Member Steve Albee plants coaster brook trout in the lower falls of the Gratiot River. (Photo courtesy Pete Van Dusen, CCCTU member) Jeff Turnquist, newly appointed as Board Vice-Chairman, asked whether Trout Unlimited’Äôs introduction of coaster brook trout in the river would have a negative effect on the steelhead population, but Weglarz assured him it would not since the two species spawn in different seasons and are known to cohabit successfully on the north shore of Lake Superior. Said Weglarz, "The members of the Copper Country Chapter of Trout Unlimited ’Ķ love to fish for steelhead, so we certainly aren’Äôt looking to replace steelhead with coaster brook trout. We’Äôre hoping to ’Ķ add to the pot." New Commissioner Don Keith, who made the motion, supported by Commissioner Gordon Roberts, to accept the offer from the two groups, was pleased at the unanimous vote on the resolution. "I’Äôm pleased to see the new board seems to be off to a good start ’Äì fulfilling the wishes and needs of the people of Keweenaw County," Keith said. Turnquist said the road would still have to be improved, since it is a county road. He said County Road Commission Engineer Jim Heikkila told him the erosion problem (causing many vehicles to get stuck on the road) would be the first job to tackle. "(Heikkila) is going to improve it with the county people as money and time allow," Turnquist said. Walt Arnold, Lake Superior Land Company director of marketing and sales, said he had some resentment at the interpretation that a road would help only LSLC. "To begin with, we didn’Äôt have to offer that property to the county," Arnold said. "We could’Äôve just developed it; and ’Ķ (interruption by Turnquist that the county wouldn’Äôt be putting a road to LSLC’Äôs property) the road could be built with many varying degrees of improvements; and we were simply making a recommendation or an offer to try to help the county in trying to find a solution to pick up the cost, not to try to selfishly line our pockets with money." Weglarz apologized, saying he did not wish to be offensive to Arnold or his company, but that he and Griffith did not wish to do the work of raising the money if there was already an agreement in the works to take care of it. "We really don’Äôt care where the money comes from," Arnold said. "We salute you for your efforts in working with the county and offering that, because I think it shows a great cooperative trend (and we’Äôd like to see more of that)." The board approved a motion to apply for a one-year extension on the MNRTF grant application and Stubenrauch agreed, for the board’Äôs next meeting, to look into the information they would need to send to the state of Michigan. -Michele Anderson January 10, 2001