Some people are happy to hear that companies like PolyMet Mining are working on launching non-ferrous mining operations on the Iron Range because of the boost it will bring to Minnesota’s economy. Others are vehemently opposed to such operations because of concerns over potential environmental damage. Some might feel indifferent over the matter if it doesn’t directly affect Cook County. New developments have brought the issue right into Cook County at an unexpected place – McFarland Lake – through an unexpected owner – Wheaton College of Wheaton, Illinois.
PolyMet and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) have been discussing the possibility of exchanging numerous parcels of land that will help them further their respective land use goals. According to Liz Roat of the USFS’s Superior National Forest office in Duluth, PolyMet had been paying Wheaton College for an option to buy the 32 acres it owns on McFarland Lake in Hovland. “The tract has a lot of benefits that it would provide to the Forest Service,” she said in a December 28 phone interview with the Cook County News-Herald. “It’s not one of the highest priority tracts,” she added, however.
In this potential land exchange, a high priority for the Forest Service is to not lose any wetland acreage. “One critical element for this exchange is wetland balance,” said Roach.
PolyMet’s purchase of the McFarland property is now highly unlikely. On January 4, the News-Herald received a press release from the Minnesota Land Trust announcing that Wheaton College had given the trust a conservation easement on its McFarland Lake property in December. It quoted Minnesota Land Trust Executive Director Kris Larson: “This lake is a high-quality gem of great importance to anglers, paddlers, and others, and the conservation easement will help protect the region’s outdoor heritage while keeping the land in private ownership.” The land is indeed in private ownership but is tax-exempt because Wheaton College, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, uses it for outdoor education.
The press release goes on to say that the property is adjacent to a county-owned beach and boat access in close proximity to other public lands. “According to Larsen,” it states, “projects that are nearby other county, state or federally protected properties makes the protection of nearby private lands all the more urgent so as to not diminish the prior investments made in the existing habitat complex. ‘One of the Minnesota Land Trust’s goals is to fill in the gaps in protection,’ says Larson. ‘The shoreline zone is important for numerous species, especially as spawning and nesting areas for fish.’
“While the landowner voluntarily donated the conservation easement, Outdoor Heritage Funds [through Minnesota’s 2008 Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment and recommended by the Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council that oversees how that tax money is spent] helped complete the transaction and ensure that the easement will be enforced in perpetuity.”
The press release says that this is the first project to be completed through the Minnesota Land Trust’s Critical Shoreline Habitat Protection Program, which has a goal of protecting more than 100 miles of “sensitive shoreline habitat” throughout the state over the next 10 years.
“The current focus of the program is to permanently protect shoreline habitat,” the press release states, “with an emphasis on the priority trout streams, lakes and wetlands in northeast Minnesota’s Arrowhead region.”
The Minnesota Land Trust is a member supported nonprofit conservation organization.
Wheaton College was contacted for information regarding its decision to grant the conservation easement, but its director of media relations was still gathering the requested information at press time. The New-Herald has also requested information from PolyMet.
Some will be pleased to learn that the amount of Cook County land under conservation easement has increased by 32 acres. With 70 percent of the county owned by the federal government and 15 percent owned by the State of Minnesota, others may be concerned that decreases in private or developable land will diminish opportunities for economic development and private industry.
The News-Herald will follow up on this issue as it is obtains further information from Wheaton College and PolyMet and as new developments occur.
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