VANDERBILT, MI – A big chunk of Michigan’s wild elk country is now part of the public trust forestland.

A 235-acre block of woods in the Pigeon River Country State Forest recently became state forestland after a conservation group scooped up the property last year. Nonprofit Huron Pines bought the “Elk Run Tract” from a private landowner to protect the site from possible development.

“It’s a process we’ve used in the past to get a property off the market until grant funds can be obtained, which can take a year or more,” said Chris Engle, spokesperson for the Gaylord-based conservation group.

Records show the state Department of Natural Resources bought the site for $359,000 with a combination of dollars from the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund and the Forest Legacy Program of the U.S. Forest Service. The land transaction happened last month, officials said.

The acreage is deep within the dense forest sometimes called Michigan’s last “Big Wild” area in the Lower Peninsula. The forestland features mixed northern hardwoods, aspen groves, open grassland, and planted red pines.

Wild elk trails weave across the landscape’s gentle hills, considered an ideal place for wildlife viewing.

Huron Pines Associate Director Lisha Ramsdell said protecting land and consolidating public ownership within the Pigeon River Country State Forest provides critical environmental benefits. It’s a key priority for the conservation organization, she said.

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Ramsdell said each land acquisition there “adds to the protective buffer around streams to keep them clean and cold, provides habitat for elk and makes Northern Michigan’s largest contiguous piece of state forest land more whole.”

The Elk Run Tract is in Cheboygan County’s Nunda Township, just north of the Otsego County line along Grass Lake Road. It’s about two miles northeast of Pickerel Lake State Forest Campground.

DNR officials are expected to remove a rustic cabin from the property, which also has some two-track roads.

Officials said the new state land will provide not only wildlife habitat connectivity and raw materials for forest products, but also recreational opportunities like hunting.