The Blandin Foundation has joined with the Nature Conservancy and other groups to slow the rapid transformation of northern Minnesota forest into developed home and cabin lots.

The effort, to be announced today, will build a $17 million fund to buy conservation easements on up to 75,000 acres of privately-owned forest in and around Itasca County.

Grand Rapids-based Blandin has promised $6.25 million over three years to leverage another $11 million in combined private, state and federal money to keep the land open to logging, hunting and hiking.

The effort has the rare support of both the timber industry and conservation groups, of state forestry officials and Congress.
In recent years, tens of thousands of acres of Minnesota forest have been divided up and sold, developed into rcereation property -- often forcing out hunters, loggers and wildlife.

``As we pursued our Vital Forests, Vital Communities effort . . . it became clear the top priority out there was this fragmentation and parcelization. It threatens our area economically, environmentally, socially,'' said Bernadine Joselyn, director of public policy and engagement for the Blandin Foundation. ``This trend came right up Highway 169 and has taken over the north.''

The land held under the easements - owned by large corporations, such as UPMKymmene Corp., Potlatch Corp. and the Forestland Group LLC - would remain in private hands and on the tax rolls. But the DNR would pay those companies to hold legally binding easements. The companies would agree not to subdivide or develop the land.

Conservation groups will determine which of the largest, contiguous blocks of private forest should be included in the effort.
Corporate landowners often favor easements because they provide cash and satisfy their stockholders. Yet the companies keep the land and the timber to sell or use in their own mills, as long as they don't divide or sell the property.

BIG CHANGE

All of northern Minnesota, and Itasca County in particular, have seen large tracts of forest land sold in recent years for development. The trend has squeezed hunters off land they traditionally used, and DNR officials say that's crowding more public land nearby.

The parceling of land is also making it harder for the region's wood products industry to manage woodlands and buy trees for their mills. The Minnesota Forest Resources Council, a state-appointed group assigned to promote sustainable forest management, considers the issue of private land sell-off the state's ``top priority forest policy issue,'' said Dave Zumeta, executive director of the council.

Subdivisions and new homes fragment wildlife and bird habitat and may contribute to the decline of several species, especially birds that favor deep, undisturbed forest, Abello said.

Nearly 46 percent of northern Minnesota's forested land is privately owned and 56 percent of the trees used by the timber industry come from private land.

Some say the loss of undeveloped forest land in Minnesota is near a crisis stage, much the same as the loss of wetlands.

``It's changing the character of the north woods and most people don't even realize its happening,'' said Ron Nargang, state director for the Nature Conservancy.

Since 1999, more than 400,000 acres of Minnesota's industrial-owned forest land has been subdivided and sold. In the past 15 years, another 400,000 of Minnesota's roughly 13 million acres of forest have been permanently lost to new roads, driveways and home sites.

Nearly 1 million more acres of company-owned land, the size of the Chippewa National Forest, is at risk of being sold and subdivided, Nargang said.

``We are experiencing a sea change for conservation and forestry in America and in Minnesota,'' said Tom Duffus, The Conservation Fund's state director.

Traditional timber companies held the land for decades to supply their mills. But the change has put forest ownership in the hands of investment companies and others seeking quick, high rates of return on their purchase price by subdividing the land for eager buyers.

NEW PARTNERSHIP

Today's announcement marks the first time in Minnesota that a private foundation and a nonprofit conservation organization have established a fund designed specifically for forest conservation.

Others involved in the project include the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, the Conservation Fund and the Minnesota Forest Resources Council.

To help purchase the conservation easements, the groups will seek state and federal funds, including U.S. Forest Service Legacy Act money available from Congress. Wisconsin, Michigan and other states have used the Legacy Act money extensively to keep more than one million acres of private forest open to the public.

Brad Moore, assistant DNR commissioner for operations, said the state has pledged full support for the effort.

``Where this effort has worked out east is because private foundations like Blandin have become partners, so this is a big step,'' Moore said. ``We've already lost tens of thousands of acres of forestland and we're going to lose tens of thousands more if we don't get aggressive on this.''