The group is working with the county on the effort, as it tries to find a conservation nonprofit to pay for the land. It is in talks with the Minnesota Land Trust, which will undertake an appraisal of the property.
The Land Trust is interested in conserving the property because it’s a community-led effort and the land’s location is inside a watershed of a designated trout stream that leads to Lake Superior.
The purchase would align with the Land Trust’s mission to protect fisheries and cold water on the North Shore, said Kathy Varble, a conservation program manager for the Minnesota Land Trust.
The Grand Marais harbor is picture-perfect at sunset on July 29. (Richard Tsong-Taatarii/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
However, securing the grant money before Dec. 1 is “aspirational,” she said.
Property owner John I. Scheef said he offered it for preservation before putting it on the market because “it’s best for the community” and he knows many in Grand Marais see the bluffs as part of the tight-knit town’s identity.
A one-mile road through county property would need to be constructed to access the land, filled with underbrush, aspen, cedar, birch and balsam trees. A Cook County judge has allowed that possibility, after a discovery that long ago, roads were officially platted into that area.