The Upper Mississippi-UPM Forest Legacy Project will protect more than 187,876 acres of northwoods forests, wetlands, and shoreline owned by UPM and located in Aitkin, Beltrami, Cass, Clearwater, Itasca, Koochiching, and St. Louis counties.
The project stitches together more than 4,000 square miles of public and private forests and conserves more than 60,000 acres of wetlands and more than 280 miles of stream, lake, and river frontage. The DNR acquired an additional 1,344 acres to help consolidate existing state forests.
The Upper Mississippi-UPM Forestry Legacy Project is the largest conservation project ever undertaken by the state of Minnesota.
Funding for this project was provided from the Outdoor Heritage Fund as appropriated by the Minnesota State Legislature and recommended by the Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council (LSOHC) to restore, protect, and enhance Minnesota's wetlands, prairies, forests, and habitat for fish, game, and wildlife.