EMMAVILLE — Nearly two years after 3M announced it would sell its Camp Wonewok in Hubbard County, two land trusts officially closed on the property to support the creation of a new wildlife management area.
Northern Waters Land Trust, based in Walker, partnering with the statewide Minnesota Land Trust in St. Paul, announced Monday, March 17, that the transfer of about 450 acres of largely undeveloped property was finalized on March 10.
Northern Waters Executive Director Annie Knight said in a Friday interview that the partnership and project on Big Mantrap Lake have been in motion since 3M announced it was selling the property.
"A torrent of emails coming into our organization, [to] Minnesota Land Trust, a lot of environmental organizations across the state going, ‘Oh my gosh, this needs to be protected. It's an incredible rare gem in terms of in terms of land and water quality,’” Knight said.
The new conservation easement involves two sections of the 680-acre camp. The developed portion of the 3M camp, including the historic resort and conference center, does not yet have an announced buyer.
Rich Halvorsen is the former lake association president on Big Mantrap Lake and owns a cabin on its shore, a piece of property that has been dear to him since childhood.
Halvorsen said in a March 17 interview that he, and many of his neighbors, were concerned about how Camp Wonewok’s sale could change things on the lake.
"I think everyone on the lake kind of had that same feeling," Halvorsen said. “I heard just as much from everyone else trying to figure out what to do or what might happen.”
Halvorsen said he was happy to hear that much of Camp Wonewok will remain as-is under the new Big Mantrap Wildlife Management Area.
"It falls on the end of the spectrum much closer to the ideal future than, say, the opposite, of development or something like that,” he said.
The Big Mantrap Lake Association has a dedicated group of volunteers known as “looners,” who help create nesting habitats for the state bird, the Common Loon. Big Mantrap Lake, spanning 1,618 acres with depths of up to 68 feet, is identified as a “lake of outstanding biological significance” for its cold waters beneficial to fish and wildlife.
Big Mantrap Lake is in the Big Sandy Watershed, an area that land trusts are seeking to protect through conservation easements. Any landowner with undeveloped property, like hunting land, can participate in such an easement.
Ruurd Schoolderman, conservation program manager for Minnesota Land Trust, explained that preserving forests are key to the mission.
"Forest really helps protect the water quality, and what research has shown [is] that if we protect 75% of the watershed ... that really helps to assure that the water quality stays at high quality to support all the functions that they need to get an outstanding lake,” Schoolderman said.
Knight added trees and plants act as a perfect “sponge” or filter, protecting the lake from harmful runoff.
“When too much land in a watershed is developed or farmed, runoff and pollution increase and the sensitive balance of aquatic ecosystems is disrupted,” stated a joint press release from the land trusts. Runoff and pollution into lakes “can result in algae overgrowth, dead zones, and water that isn’t suitable for swimming, paddling, or fishing.”
Though the land trusts did not need the county’s authority to proceed with the private sale, Hubbard County commissioners voiced their concerns about lost potential tax revenue at a Feb. 11 work session.
Commissioner David De La Hunt questioned the value of weighing payment in lieu of taxes, or PILT, that the county and other local government units would receive under the new arrangement against the potential taxable value if the parcels were instead sold to private developers.
"So much of our county is already tax-forfeited land or public land,” De La Hunt said. “So when I see premium lakeshore going bye-bye to PILT, I get concerned, because we only have so much and when I couple that with, this watershed is so well protected already, I question, ‘Why do we need to do it?’”
Erik Thorson, out of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources’ Park Rapids office, replied since Potlatch’s “pseudo-public” lands transferred ownership about 15 years ago, he frequently hears from hunters looking for public land.
"There's been a lot of loss of outdoor recreation opportunities,” Thorson said. “We get calls all the time in our office, people looking for more places to hunt and to recreate in the county and they don't have access to a lot of those Potlatch lands anymore."
Land trusts like Northern Waters also aim to protect 75% of land in certain watersheds.
The project was funded through the state’s Outdoor Heritage Fund, part of the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment, with federal matching dollars through the Minnesota Loon Restoration Project.
Lorie Shaull
With this new wildlife management area, Northern Waters Land Trust’s Knight said the Big Sandy Watershed is now 65% protected, adding 1% to its protected areas.
"Going up 1 percentage point might seem like just might seem like a small achievement,” Knight said. “But in the conservation world, it's a huge achievement to be able to do that in fell swoop.”
Halvorsen said the donated land, which will eventually be conveyed to the DNR, will contain some of the lake's most interesting characteristics.
"[It’s] a long, drawn peninsula with several bays and points and all that,” Halvorsen said. "The character of the lake is centered around that."
3M has owned this resort since 1955 but announced its sale as part of some cost-saving measures in 2023. As the Big Mantrap Wildlife Management Area, it will open to the public, accessible for outdoor recreation like hunting, fishing and wildlife observation.
Lorie Shaull
