In 2020, The Conservation Fund acquired an expansive forest landscape known as Minnesota’s Heritage Forest. Nearly 40% of these lands were located within the reservation boundary of the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa. As part of our work to create lasting solutions for naturally and culturally important lands that make sense for the environment and communities, we worked with partners to restore the forest to the Bois Forte band.

When PotlatchDeltic, a forest products company based in Spokane, Washington, decided to sell its rural timberlands in Minnesota, the fate of these forests and the benefits they provide to people and wildlife became uncertain. So TCF stepped in to secure a new future for the land.

The tracts owned by the company offered exceptional water quality, wildlife habitat and recreational opportunities for anglers, hunters and wildlife watchers. In 2020, we purchased more than 72,000 acres of these lands through our Working Forests program and began working with local partners to determine conservation outcomes that would balance environmental protection, economic benefits and opportunities for climate change mitigation.

Approximately 28,000 acres — 44 square miles — of the forest fell within the boundaries of the Bois Forte reservation in northern Minnesota. We saw a unique opportunity to restore those acres to the Bois Forte band, whose members were eager and ready to sustainably manage the land for economic, cultural and environmental purposes.

Our Role

As a mission-driven national nonprofit, The Conservation Fund is focused on creating lasting solutions for naturally and culturally important lands that make sense for the environment and communities.

Ensuring that U.S. working forests stay forested is a top priority because our forests provide a multitude of vital benefits — supplying clean air and water, mitigating the effects of climate change and providing wildlife habitat, forestry jobs, revenue streams and recreational opportunities. We collaborated with the Bois Forte band and the Indian Land Tenure Foundation to create an outcome for this portion of Minnesota’s Heritage Forest that provides the band with an important revenue stream through sustainable land management while advancing our mission to conserve the lands that matter most for wildlife and people.

Why It Matters

Over the past few decades, much of Minnesota’s industrial forestland has been subdivided and converted to non-forest uses due to changing land uses and economic forestry conditions. By reuniting these 28,000 acres with the Bois Forte band and ensuring the long-term stewardship of these forests, we honor the heritage of this land. Moreover, we believe that the band is the best possible caretaker of this forestland and celebrate this historic land restoration with them.

The importance of this transaction to the Bois Forte band cannot be overstated. The band first sought to safeguard its land by entering into a treaty with the United States in 1854. Twenty years later, the federal government set aside that treaty so it could subdivide the band’s land, selling it to timber companies and homesteaders. When we learned we could help the band regain 21% of its homeland as outlined in the 1854 treaty — securing forever what should have been secured all those years ago — we were compelled to act.

The Bois Forte band demonstrates an unquestionable commitment to do what’s best for the forest. And now, for the first time since the 1800s, the future of this land is a story that will be written by its members.

Learn More

• The Bois Forte Band of Chippewa
• Indian Land Tenure Foundation
• Minnesota’s Heritage Forest