Michigan governor Jennifer M. Granholm and the Nature Conservancy have announced the largest conservation project in the state's history — the protection of more than 271,000 acres in the Upper Peninsula through the purchase of easements and the outright purchase of land — thanks in part to support from nine foundations in the state.

The Northern Great Lakes Forest Project, as the $58 million initiative is known, stretches over eight counties and will protect more than 300 natural lakes and 52,000 acres of wetlands and will link more than 2.5 million acres of protected federal, state, and natural areas across the UP. The agreement will keep the land in private ownership; ensure that it remains open to the public for hunting, fishing, snowmobiling, and other outdoor recreation activities; allow for continued timber harvesting according to the standards of sustainable forestry; limit development; and protect environmentally sensitive forest land.

"Michigan is literally defined by its environmental treasures, and today we take a bold and courageous step forward to preserve those treasures as a legacy for our children and our children's children," said Granholm in a news release. "Thanks to this unprecedented partnership, the Upper Peninsula's majestic trees and breathtaking shorelines — magical places that have inspired novels and paintings and countless hunting and hiking vacations — will still exist a century from now."

To date, the Conservancy has raised more than $40 million for the project, including a five-year, $10 million grant from the Flint-based Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, as well as support from the W.K. Kellogg, Kresge, Carls, Frey, Herbert and Grace A. Dow, Harry A. and Margaret D. Towsley, Rollin M. Gerstacker, and Wege foundations, the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund, and the Robert W. Wilson Challenge Fund.

"One of the strengths of philanthropy is its capacity to invest in projects for the long term," said Mott Foundation president William S. White. "While this often takes patience and persistence — just as bringing this project together did — the end result is worth the effort."