Graham Jaehnig/Daily Mining Gazette Julia Petersen, Keweenaw Heartlands project manager for The Nature Conservancy in Michigan, provided details on the Keweenaw County Emergency Operations Center project at a recent public meeting.

ALLOUEZ TOWNSHIP — During the Keweenaw Heartlands Public meeting on Tuesday, Julia Petersen, Keweenaw Heartlands project manager for The Nature Conservancy in Michigan, discussed the Keweenaw County Emergency Operations Center.

The KCEOC is right now a concept, Petersen said. The concept phase is funded through a $50,000 grant from the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity’s Office of Rural Prosperity, with a $10,000 match being divided between TNC, the Keweenaw Community Foundation and the Keweenaw County Sheriff’s Office, who were co-applicants for the grant.

With the grant application in October 2023, a two-phased project was proposed, which included applying this Rural Readiness Grant funding to Phase I of the project. Phase I focuses on the development of plans for a brick-and-mortar emergency operations center.

“It’s not even the full planning effort,” Petersen said, “it’s a portion of the planning effort, the initial stages of planning.”

Petersen said that she, Robin Meneguzzo, KCF director, County Sheriff Curt Pennala, Undersheriff Tony Mattila and Keweenaw County Treasurer Eric Hermanson, form the project team for the planning process.

“We hosted public engagement,” Petersen said. “We hosted a survey, we’ve also held a stakeholder group of individuals who are most closely associated with emergency management and response in Keweenaw County, and Houghton County as it pertains to Keweenaw County.”

KCF states on its website that it received 187 survey responses, with the majority (73%) filled out by long- or short-term residents of Keweenaw County. Many of the surveys contained thoughtful and detailed feedback, which we greatly appreciate. Nearly 30 people attending a Feb. 21 public meeting to share their thoughts as well and show their support. Attendees included Keweenaw County residents, members of local volunteer fire departments, first responders, search and rescue, law enforcement, the road commission, county board and township supervisors.

Gathering feedback from the community was the first step in what will be a year-and-a-half process to shape plans for a county Emergency Operations Center, said Petersen.

She went on to say that the reason TNC is involved in the project is because throughout the early planning phases for the Heartlands project, the managers consistently heard from the community that emergency response and emergency services were of significant concern. Of particular concern is the increasing number of tourists coming to the area for outdoor recreation opportunities, which has increased the demand on county emergency services needed to accommodate the influx of people. The county is struggling to fund the increasing level of services needed.

Also of concern, Petersen said, is that as the population is aging, so is the large number of emergency service volunteers in the county. The county’s population is not growing at the rate it is aging, so the number of volunteers will begin to decline as more are needed.

“So for our part,” Petersen said, “we knew that the acquisition of the forest was a big deal, because we could continue to conserve the forest, but we knew it would also continue to attract tourists and attract individuals from even Houghton County or beyond, who aren’t necessarily tourists, but come up for the day to enjoy the forest and benefits it provides.”

Through partnership involvement, she said, TNC hopes to be a part of the solution to those issues, which is why TNC helped to write the grant and are participating in the project.

Petersen said the team is exploring ways that the Heartlands could facilitate some hopes for the emergency operations center, such as search and rescue training, access to the trails, use of the forest for that type of training. Another concern is forest fires, she said, and is something that the planning group is talking about.