Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
By RICHARD JENKINS
MADISON, Wis. — The state legislature’s Joint Finance Committee approved purchasing an easement to open access on over 14,000 acres of land in Iron County Tuesday — at $500,000 less than expected.
If approved, the conservation and access easement would give the public access to 14,352 acres of land owned by the Keweenaw Land Association in the towns of Carey, Knight and Mercer.
The state’s Natural Resources Board approved purchasing the easement using $4.8 million from the state’s Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Fund in February.
Jim Lemke, the real estate section chief for the DNR, told the Daily Globe the amount was reached by reconciling comparable market sales on other conservation easements and an estimate of the land’s potential timber sale value.
“The $4.3 million that you saw (the Joint Finance Committee) approve was actually a component of those appraisals,” Lemke said, adding the figure represents what the potential timber value of property is believed to be.
The property is primarily forested woodlands and contains 3.25 miles of classified trout streams, Lemke previously told the Daily Globe, along with 13.91 miles of other streams. There are also a number of lakes on the property — including Fifteen Lake and Little Moose Lake — and 16 miles of roads within the property’s boundaries.
George Meyer, executive director of the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation, told The Associated Press he was concerned the lower purchase price could jeopardize the sale.
Lemke said he will be concerned about the sale until it is complete.
“We’re certainly concerned about it until we get final approvals at all levels,” Lemke said. “We have concerns because we’re very much interested in acquiring this easement for the benefit of the state and for access to that property.”
“Right now, the decision on whether or not to accept the $4.3 million is solely on the Keweenaw Land Association’s shoulders,” Lemke said. “We’re pretty much, at this point, bound by the the decision of (the committee) and now the decision point shifts over to Keweenaw Land Association to see if that’s an acceptable number to them.”
Keweenaw president Mark Sherman declined to comment on the committee’s decision to the Globe Tuesday.
Lemke said he was unsure if the committee’s decision left any room for further negotiations or if there were ways to supplement the approved Knowles-Nelson funds with other sources.
“That’s something the department really hasn’t looked at, right now we’re just looking at the numbers that we received from (the committee),” he said.
Should Keweenaw accept the deal, Lemke said the easement purchase goes to Gov. Tony Evers for approval before the closing process starts.
The completion of the easement purchase would also open up access to adjoining public lands, including the 13,805-acre Twin Lakes forest legacy easement acquired in 2014 to the west and the Moose Lake State Natural Area to the east.
“All together, with these projects being contiguous as they are, there’s 32,000 acres of continuous land that are open to the public through state ownership,” Lemke said in March.
