The 27-mile-long Montreal River flows through a portion of the Keweenaw Heartlands before emptying into Lake Superior. It also will ensure that the public - including snowmobilers, ATV riders, anglers, hunters, hikers and mountain bikers - may continue to experience and enjoy the property. Acquiring the 32,600 acres of land from a private equity firm will conserve four large tracts of forest known collectively as the Keweenaw Heartlands. The Nature Conservancy recently purchased 22,700 acres of forest, wetlands and rivers on the peninsula, and it plans to acquire another 9,900 acres by the end of this year. The Keweenaw may soon be noteworthy for an entirely different reason: a community-based approach to land conservation. And the peninsula’s massive copper deposits helped fuel the growth of America’s modern economy, said Erika Vye, a geosciences research scientist at Michigan Technological University’s Great Lakes Research Center in Houghton, Michigan. Indigenous peoples who have inhabited the area for over 7,000 years carried out the earliest metal workings in the Western Hemisphere. The peninsula extends 60 miles into Lake Superior, the largest lake by surface area on the planet. The Keweenaw was formed by a series of lava flows that occurred over the course of 100 million years and ended approximately 1 billion years ago. The geological history and ecological significance of the iconic peninsula have led devotees of the area to call it a “land of superlatives.” Brockway Mountain is one of Michigan’s highest points, and it affords breathtaking views of Lake Superior and the lush forest that blankets the Keweenaw Peninsula.
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