The Michigan Department of Natural Resources now has the mining rights to more than 8,000 acres beneath Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park.
It was part of a recent land exchange between the DNR and the Keweenaw Land Association, Limited.
“This is a very important transaction for both parties,” said Ron Olson, chief of the DNR’s Parks and Recreation Division, said in a press release. “This allows us to better protect park resources in the Porcupine Mountains, and it provides the land association with mineral rights in areas believed to contain prospective copper, gold and nickel resources.”
The DNR says process to evaluate and exchange the acreage between the parties took nearly three years to complete, with the deal closing on Oct. 11, 2024.
In addition to the acres of mineral rights underlying portions of Ontonagon and Gogebic counties at Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park, the DNR also acquired mineral rights to a 40-acre property in Dickinson County where a mine operated previously and is today an active bat hibernaculum, where insectivorous bats spend the winter months.
In all, the DNR acquired 8,392 acres of mineral rights and Keweenaw received 9,551 acres of mineral rights from the DNR in parts of Baraga, Dickinson, Gogebic, Iron, Menominee and Ontonagon counties.
No money changed hands in the deal as the mineral-for-mineral exchange was considered a fair value trade.
Michigan bought the land that is now the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park for $1 million in 1944.
Addition land was purchased between 1947 and 1955 from the Keweenaw Land Association, but the Associated kept the mineral rights under those lands.
The recent minerals exchange allows the DNR to now own the surface rights and the mineral rights for numerous parcels within the state park. As part of its public land management strategy, the DNR seeks wherever possible to reunite mineral and surface rights that are severed.
“The Porcupine Mountain State Park is really a crown jewel within the state park system and Keweenaw is honored to play a role securing its sustainable future,” said Tim Lynott, president of the Keweenaw Land Association, Limited, in a statement. “For Keweenaw, this exchange will offer incremental growth and consolidation in areas that offer the potential to secure Michigan’s role as a key source of critical and strategic minerals, in a state with strong regulatory and environmental regulations that allow for sustainable exploration and mining practices.”
Prior to this transaction, the state did not own about 45% of the minerals underlying the state park. Areas remain where the minerals are severed within the park boundaries.
For example, the deal does not include lands associated with the Copperwood project being developed by Highland Copper in the southwest corner of the park.
For that project, the DNR says the mining company would access minerals from outside the park, with no disturbance to park surface land features. Under state law, surface landowners are required to provide “reasonable” access to subsurface mineral rights owners.
