Home    News    December 2004

News from the Keweenaw Peninsula Posted Dec. 16, 2004 Text © 2004 Michele Anderson and Grant Township Press Release. Photo © 2004 and courtesy Jim Junttila. Reprinted with permission.

Trust Fund approves Hunter's Point purchase

COPPER HARBOR -- Trustees for the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund recently placed on their final recommendation list of projects a $560,000 grant application to purchase Copper Harbor's Hunter's Point. The Trust Fund's decision caps a two-year effort by Grant Township, which includes the Upper Peninsula villages of Copper Harbor and Lac La Belle, to purchase a picturesque section of Copper Harbor's Lake Superior shoreline in order to protect it from development.

View of Hunter's Point from Brockway Mountain, above Copper Harbor. (Photo © 2004 and courtesy Jim Junttila. Reprinted with permission.)

Hunter's Point is a narrow finger of land that protects Copper Harbor from the storms of Lake Superior. The Point has long been a destination for visitors to Copper Harbor -- Michigan's most northern village with just 80 year-round residents -- and it is noted for its interesting rock formations, a variety of plants and wildflowers and migratory birds. Hunter's Point has been threatened by the development of a subdivision that would restrict access to this popular hiking spot. The purchase includes 9.4 acres and 4,800 feet of shoreline on Lake Superior and the interior shores of Copper Harbor. 

"Christmas has come early to Copper Harbor this year," said Richard Powers, Grant Township supervisor. "This is very exciting news, and on behalf of the residents of Copper Harbor I would like to thank the trustees for their support." 

The trustees' decision is the first step in acquiring the Hunter's Point property. The Michigan Legislature must pass enabling legislation before the purchase can be completed, which could be as soon as mid-2005. The Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund grant requires a local match, and Grant Township needed to raise $195,000 to qualify for the grant.

In July of 2003, Grant Township, with the support of the Copper Harbor Improvement Association, began their drive to raise the $195,000 and increase public awareness of the threat to public access to Hunter's Point.*

Rich Jamsen, Hunter's Point Fund-Raising Committee member, noted the local match is just $10,000 short of that goal.

"This culminates two years of hard work toward this goal by our entire community and our visitors who collectively have made our effort to save this beautiful place forever a success," Jamsen said. "Our community can use this as an example of how well we can work together to attain a common goal."  

By the end of November 2004, the community raised $185,000, including over 960 donations from individuals, trusts and businesses in 33 states. Over 7,000 petition signatures have been collected and hundreds of letters and emails have been received supporting the purchase.

Fundraising efforts have included garage sales, a lemonade stand, a community dinner and sporting events. This summer a 15-year-old Copper Harbor resident, Jenn Stigers, staged a five-day, 120-hour, sit-in using a large chair in front of her parents' Copper Harbor restaurant and raised over $7,000. Anonymous donors have donated $70,000, and the Izaak Walton League Endowment Fund donated $10,000.

Powers described the response to the request for public support as "overwhelming."

"We have more than 300,000 visitors to the Copper Harbor area each year. Many families have been coming back for years and have developed a strong attachment to the area. Without their support we would not be able to complete the purchase of Hunter's Point," he said. 

The land purchase was supported by editorials in the Lansing State Journal and The Detroit Free Press. The Free Press described the effort by Grant Township to purchase Hunter's Point as "premier Michigan do-it-yourselfism, with generations yet to come as the ultimate beneficiaries."

Tax-deductible donations may be sent to the Grant Township Hunter's Point Project, P.O. Box 76, Copper Harbor, MI 49918.

Information about the Hunter's Point Project may be found by emailing grantsuper@pasty.com or by visiting the Hunter's Point Web site, which includes photos, maps and a virtual hike on Hunters Point, as well as Jim Rooks' naturalist's description of the area.

*Editor's Note: The subdivision development received approval when the Grant Township Utility Board, with the permission of the Township Board, agreed to let the developers hook up to the Copper Harbor sewer system. See the Nov. 2, 2003, article, "Grant Township seeks to acquire Hunters Point."

Visit the Keweenaw Now discussion forums to comment on this article.