Forest Park school board backs plan to acquire Cooks Run

Forest Park school board members voted unanimously April 27 to move ahead with acquiring Cooks Run, a 122-acre county-owned parcel off US Hwy 2 in western Iron County that leaders see as a possible school forest, outdoor classroom and conservation site.

The attraction is tied to both law and legacy. County Forester Brock VanOss has said the land cannot simply be sold because it is subject to a state reverter clause, but it can be transferred to another public entity. That makes Forest Park School District a potential fit for a parcel that must remain in public use, and it keeps the debate centered on how to protect the property rather than whether to privatize it.

Cooks Run already carries a long public history. The site was built in the 1930s as a federal public works project, later operated as a trout hatchery, and came into county hands in 1961. Its caretaker’s cabin, one of the property’s most recognizable features, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. For district leaders, that combination of land, water and historic structures could turn an old county parcel into a living classroom for students studying forests, streams and natural-resource management.

The school board’s interest comes after years of county work on the site. In November 2023, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources signaled it would work with Iron County on a path forward after earlier denying a land deal. By February 2025, county officials were discussing whether the cabin could be rented, but the same deed restriction still stood in the way of any private investment that would trigger the reverter clause.

County commissioners kept pressing ahead in March 2026, when they approved a request for proposals to manage part of Cooks Run. Proposals are due June 3, and the county said the process would be long. The request focused on rehabilitating and maintaining public access to the caretaker’s cabin and surrounding area, and any proposal would still need state review because of the deed restrictions.

The parcel has also drawn close scrutiny from conservation advocates. In April 2025, residents urged the county to be cautious about a proposed timber harvest at the site, pointing to its ecological value. White Water Associates completed an ecological evaluation of the defunct fish hatchery and its influence on the stream, work funded by the Wilderness Shores Mitigation and Enhancement Fund established by WE Energies and supported through the Iron County Watershed Coalition. That broader public attention underscores why the Forest Park proposal matters: Cooks Run is not just land on a map, but a public asset with educational, environmental and historical stakes that Iron County officials will have to weigh carefully.