Covering 109,000 acres, 12 miles wide by 20 miles in length, the Pigeon River Country State Forest is the largest swath of undeveloped land in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula. Called the ‘Big Wild,’ it is also home to Michigan’s elk population. And if all goes as planned, it is going to get 8,844 acres or roughly eight percent larger.
Thanks to a Forest Legacy Program grant with additional financial support from the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Little Traverse Conservancy, The Nature Conservancy and other partners, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) plans to buy Black River Ranch and add it to the forest. Conserving the land will be a boon for elk, deer, black bears and other wildlife as well as fish since the ranch has three lakes and portions of the Black River and Stewart Creek.
“The natural resource values on this property are incredibly high,” Kerry Heckman, DNR forest land administrator, told the Traverse City Record-Eagle. “We have many state parks that are smaller than this property.”
The project is expected to close at the end of 2025.
RMEF’s conservation resume in Michigan dates to 1990. Since then, it combined with partners to complete 176 conservation and hunting heritage outreach projects with a combined value of more than $7.6 million. These projects conserved or enhanced 6,912 acres of habitat and opened or improved public access to 1,601 acres. That includes helping expand the Pigeon River Country State Forest by 597 acres in 2020.
If you cannot view the Traverse City Record-Eagle article in the above link, it is also available here.
(Photo credit: Michigan Department of Natural Resources)