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The Nature Conservancy in Africa - Conservation in Africa

The Nature Conservancy in Asia Pacific - Conservation in Asia-Pacific

The Nature Conservancy in the Caribbean - Conservation in the Caribbean

The Nature Conservancy in Central America - Conservation in Central America

The Nature Conservancy in North America - Conservation in North America

The Nature Conservancy in the United States - Conservation in the United States

The Nature Conservancy in South America - Conservation in South America

Great Lakes Conservation

 

Hiker at McMahon Lake

Hiking at McMahon Lake. © Michael D-L Jordan, Courtesy of the C.S. Mott Foundation.

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Michigan - Northern Great Lakes Project

From shore to shore, lush, green trees blanket Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. These forests form part of a great ring of northern forests that extend across Canada, Russia and Europe, creating Earth’s “emerald halo”— an international resource that provides oxygen, habitat and wood to the world.

An historic agreement recently protected more than 271,000 acres of this peninsula. Called the Northern Great Lakes Forest Project, it includes more than 300 inland lakes, 516 miles of rivers and streams, and 52,000 acres of wetlands—a truly breathtaking landscape. The partnership—between the Conservancy, the state of Michigan, under Governor Jennifer M. Granholm’s leadership, and one of Michigan’s largest private landowners—is the largest conservation initiative in the state’s history.

The project links more than 2.5 million acres of protected land in an area biologists call the “transition zone.” Here, northern boreal forests of Canada and the broad-leaf forests of the southern United States converge. Many bird species, rare plants and natural communities—threatened elsewhere—thrive here. Michigan’s forests also provide habitat for wide-ranging mammals, such as black bear, gray wolf and moose.