Undated – Upper Peninsula conservation groups, K-12 students and landowners are in line for grant monies to improve white-tailed deer habitat thanks to state grants generated from deer hunting license revenue.
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources is funding 14 projects totaling nearly $200,000 in grants in 2026. That’s double the per-year amount of funding from past years through the ‘Deer Habitat Improvement Partnership Initiative.’ Over the last 18 years, the U.P. initiative has awarded nearly $1.5 million across 176 grants, with partners contributing more than $1 million in matching funds or in-kind contributions.
Funding for the initiative comes from the Deer Range Improvement Program, or DRIP, a state appropriation created in 1971. Through DRIP, $1.50 from every deer hunting license goes toward improving deer habitat.
The grant monies will be used for mass plantings of trees, plants and grasses favored by deer… turning abandoned logging roads into hunter walking trails… and several projects involving public school students.
DNR doubles deer habitat grant funding in UP
