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

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