Keweenaw Natural Areas (KNA) started it all.
THIS EMAIL WAS ORIGINALLY SENT TO THE KNA FAMILY. IT EXPLAINS HOW WE GOT TO THE WATERSHED PROJECT 1992-2022. Dear KNA Family,
I hope this newsletter finds you happy and healthy and enjoying our beautiful Keweenaw summer! This is an exciting update on all that KNA has accomplished recently. What follows is the final report on TML, BIG news on more KNA acquisitions, and BIGGER news on the Gratiot River Watershed. Complete with maps of course 😊 You might want to print it.
When we last spoke, KNA had completed The Missing Linkage (TML) project – what an amazing accomplishment and Thank You again to everyone who contributed, especially the donor we call the River Angel who put $2.3 million in Superior National Bank to secure KNA's $1.5 million TML loan 😳
As you will recall, we called it The Missing Linkage because the 536 acres with 3,100’ of lakeshore and 1.4 miles of Gratiot River connected the surrounding properties (MNA’s Black Creek Sanctuary, Gratiot River County Park, and KNA’s Conglomerate Falls and Gratiot River Falls Natural Areas) into one big contiguous chunk, completing the downstream portion of the Gratiot River Conservation Area (GRCA) with a grand combined total of 1,366 acres with 2.6 miles of Lake Superior shoreline and the lower 3.1 miles of the Gratiot River. GRCA forever protects the habitats and species on the property, prevents splits and development, and provides public access via Gratiot River Road (drive in) plus miles of hiking/ biking/ skiing/ snowshoeing trails.
We did good 😇 thanks and congrats again.
What you might not know is that back in 2016 I had kidney cancer. Hello, mortality! I decided to stop and smell the flowers a bit more, including cutting back on my volunteer conservation work. Then the TML property became available, and as the River Angel said, “We can’t not do this!” so KNA took on the TML project in December 2018. It was supposed to be completed by the end of 2019. Instead, the final funds to retire the $1.5 million loan were not acquired until 2023 (special thanks to The Carls Foundation and Superior Watershed Partnership/Community Forest). Completing TML and GRCA was the culmination of 30 years of volunteer effort. When it was all done, your volunteer Board and your volunteer President were wiped out.
But it was SO worth it. Check out the Gratiot River Conservation Area as of 2022 -- we did it! |
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Gratiot River Conservation Area (GRCA) in 2022 showing TML: 1,366 acres with 2.6 miles of Lake Superior shoreline and the lower 3.1 miles of the Gratiot River.
Celebration! We thought we were done… and then a donor we will call the River God saw this 2022 GRCA map and said “What KNA has accomplished over the last 30 years with all-volunteer effort is amazing; I want to help you do more.” And then the River God gave KNA the money to do just that.
Using these funds, KNA was able to acquire 1) Hills Creek Natural Area(1,240 acres, contiguous to the south with GRCA) 2) 320 acres to fill in a “hole” in the Gratiot River Falls Natural Area, 3) Merganser Pond North Natural Area (80 acres with 2460 feet of Lake Superior, contiguous with 400-acre Merganser Pond NA), 4) 210 acres along and west of Five Mile Point Road north of North Farmer’s Block Road, and 5) the Southern Spine of the Keweenaw Natural Area (aka “the Phillipsville property: 1,172 acres along US Hwy 41 between Kearsarge and Allouez and north, including the central “spine” of the peninsula from Bumbletown to Centennial Heights).
WOW! After 30 years of nickel-and-dime, acre-by-acre struggle by the KNA Board, volunteers, members, and donors, KNA added over 3,000 acres and a half mile of lakeshore in a couple years.
These acquisitions were made not a moment too soon. KNA acquired Merganser Pond North days before it was going to be split into 10 lakeshore lots – bulldozers were literally on site! And KNA acquired Hills Creek Natural Areas a few months before it too was about to be “lotted up” into 5-acre homesites including new roads extending north and east from Dextrom Road.
Including these recent KNA acquisitions and other public-access ownership, there are now 4,104 acres of Natural Areas comprising the Gratiot River Conservation Area west and downstream of Five Mile Point Road, all open to the public for hiking, biking, xc skiing, snowshoeing, and horseback riding. As previously noted, the county road to the Mouth of the Gratiot County Park cuts through most of the property, providing lots of easy vehicle access to the non-motorized areas. Check out THIS 2025 map:  |
Gratiot River Conservation Area (GRCA) in 2025: 4,104 acres. Pink = KNA, Yellow = Other NGO, White = County, Black = Private
So, what’s next? Two things:
1. Now that we have more or less completed the downstream portion of GRCA, KNA needs to develop recreational facilities: parking areas off of Gratiot River Road, trails (footpaths and equestrian), and signage throughout the area. Would you like to participate? Good! Please reply to this email. Alternatively, KNA could hire SWP’s Great Lakes Conservation Corps trail building crew; anyone want to lead a fundraising effort to make that happen?
2. AND, the effort to protect the Gratiot River Watershed continues. In a big way! I somehow found myself as the Keweenaw Representative of a national 501c3 nonprofit called American Songbird Management and Recovery (ASMAR). ASMAR is attempting to purchase 17,315 acresupstream and east of Five Mile Point Road, including the bulk of the 11,098-acre Watershed, 11.5 miles of the main river, and the Phoenix Cliffs! This will complement and complete KNA’s Gratiot River Conservation Area work downstream and west (which is why I am involved). Yes, another map, you will LOVE this one 😊 Take a look: |
Gratiot River Conservation Area (GRCA) plus ASMAR’s Gratiot River Watershed Project and other Conservation Land in 2026: 26,000 acres. Pink = KNA, Green = ASMAR, Purple = Private Conservation Easement Property (strict protections, no public access), Yellow = Other NGO, White = County, Black = Private. Dark Blue = Watershed perimeter, Light Blue = Gratiot River and major branches, Brown dashed = Phoenix Cliffs Keweenawan Rift Escarpment, Purple dashed = State Trail 3 (ATV, Snowmobile).
This is a $30 million project 😳 but here's the really crazy part: we have already raised 2/3 of the funds needed, $21 million. ASMAR "only" needs the final $9 million by December 2026. As with KNA, it’s all volunteer so every dollar goes to acquisition and not salaries or overhead. $9 million is a big chunk of change, more than most people can put a dent in, so what can we do to help complete protection of the Gratiot River?
1) Please visit the website www.GratiotRiverWatershed.org and please donate $5 (or more!) via the website. What does your donation do? Answer: it shows the big donors that we have broad support. ASMAR is aiming for 2,500 individual donations and we are more than half way there already.
2) Please share the website with any and all people on your email, Facebook, Instagram, X, BlueSky etc. contacts, and in conversation, and please encourage them to donate $5 and share with their contacts and social media too. We need to go viral... we need to get this project in front of the right eyes and ears. Big Donors love this project (bang for the buck, adding to protected land, 100% to acquisition, last chance), they just need to learn about it. Please help spread the word.
3) Invite me to give a presentation to your group! I have a 45-minute PowerPoint that gives the history of the Gratiot River conservation efforts beginning in 1991. I am available pretty much nationwide and any time.
4) Do you have a wealthy friend or relative, or do you work for a company that makes big donations, or do you have contacts with a foundation, or? Please advise them of this project, with your personal endorsement! Like KNA, ASMAR is a 501c3 nonprofit therefore all donations are tax-deductible to the fullest extent of the law.
I’m throwing lots of spaghetti against the wall, hurling a bunch of Hail Mary’s, doing whatever I can do to spread the word and find that last $9 million. All hands on deck -- I need your help!
This project is too big, too sexy, too biologically/ scenically/ economically significant to fail.
It’s really our last chance. It’s not hyperbole to say that if ASMAR does not acquire this property, it will be split up and lost to conservation and public access forever. Residential Subdivision/ Data Center or Wildlife & Recreation?
And you know me… as long as we’re dreaming… if we really strike it rich and find an additional $8 million or so, we could connect the Watershed to The Nature Conservancy’s 33,000-acre Heartlands project and create a contiguous 66,000-acre conservation/ recreation area!
But first, please help KNA/ ASMAR in protecting the Gratiot River Watershed. Please review the 4 points above and take action!
Yours in Keweenaw Conservation,
John Griffith KNA volunteer co-Founder and President ASMAR volunteer Keweenaw Representative My cell: 906 370-3494 |
Keweenaw Natural Areas (KNA) PO Box 124 Calumet, MI 49913 906 370-3494 (John's personal cell) |
