Upper Midwest Conservation Initiative

Home to the headwaters of the Mississippi River, Hudson Bay and the Great Lakes, the Upper Midwest boasts an abundance of natural resources. Here, pristine waters sparkle beneath vast forests of spruce, fir and sugar maple, traveling a time-honored journey through the communities of America’s heartland.

But sprawl and land sales increasingly threaten this iconic region, which has long sustained both wildlife and thriving communities. To protect this rare landscape, The Conservation Fund has, since 1985, joined with public agencies, private land trusts and landowners to safeguard nearly 360,000 acres of recreation areas, wetlands, working forests and wilderness in the Upper Midwest.

Accomplishments to Date

Minnesota's Northwoods
In a landmark conservation deal, Minnesota has taken a major step to protect valuable wildlife habitat in its Northwoods region. Governor Tim Pawlenty announced that a team of public and private partners, including The Conservation Fund and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, have preserved more than 51,000 acres of working forest—almost 80 square miles—in Itasca and Koochiching counties, providing key habitat for the Canada lynx, gray wolf, American black duck and American woodcock, and dozens of other valued species.

Chippewa National Forest, Minnesota

Chippewa National Forest embraces 400,000 acres of lakes and wetlands and a crowd of red and white pine, sugar maple and basswood trees that house diverse wildlife, including the highest breeding density of bald eagles in the lower 48 states. The Fund has teamed with the U.S. Forest Service to acquire more than 60 acres of sensitive shoreline along three popular lakes in the forest, as well as an 80-acre island harboring old-growth forest.

Brule River State Forest, Wisconsin
Together with Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, The Conservation Fund has added nearly 6,000 acres of working forestland to the Brule River State Forest, preserving important wildlife habitat and timberlands while also offering more opportunity for the public to hunt, canoe, camp and fish. The Fund tapped its Great Lakes Revolving Loan Fund, largely supported by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, to acquire the forestland from Wausau Paper.

Palisades Preserve, Illinois
With the aid of a loan from The Conservation Fund, the Great Rivers Land Trust and other partners protected 430 acres of bluffland overlooking the confluence of the Mississippi and Illinois rivers to create the Palisades Preserve. Described as one of the best remaining examples of undisturbed, biologically important lands in Illinois, the preserve’s oak and hickory forests look much as they did 100 years ago. The land supports many species of conservation concern and is located in the largest flyway in North America for migrating birds.

Revolving Funds Support Upper Midwest Conservation

Great Lakes Revolving Loan Fund
In 2002, The Conservation Fund launched its Great Lakes Revolving Loan Fund with a generous grant from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. Using capital from this source, the Fund provides technical assistance and bridge financing to nonprofit land trusts working to preserve resources within the Great Lakes Basin – the nation’s most significant freshwater ecosystem. To date, this revolving fund has helped protect nearly 20,000 acres, valued at nearly $56 million, across the region.

Mississippi River Revolving Fund
Across the Mississippi River corridor, from Minnesota to Louisiana, The Conservation Fund is working to support the protection of wetlands, wildlife habitat, working landscapes, greenways and other natural areas. Since 1994, the Fund’s Mississippi River Revolving Fund, established
with a lead grant from The McKnight Foundation, has supported 34 conservation projects, valued at nearly $21 million and involving 17 partners, that protect more than 14,500 acres along the iconic Mississippi.