The Wildlife Research Foundation donated $2.5 million to the University’s College of Natural Resources on Wednesday.
It is the largest single, private donation ever made to the college.
The money, donated by the family of Frank Brookes Hubacheck Sr., will be used to fund research and education about ecology and forestry and will focus on forests in northeastern Minnesota.
The Wildlife Research Foundation was created by Hubacheck, a 1922 graduate of the University’s Law School who later became an attorney in Chicago. Hubacheck also was a University of Minnesota Foundation trustee in its early years.
In 1937, Hubacheck bought a pine forest on Basswood Lake, now a part of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. He started the Wilderness Research Center in 1948 to fulfill a passion for learning more about forested communities and how natural ecosystems function.

Dawn Throener covers the St. Paul campus and welcomes comments at [email protected]. She can also be reached at (612) 627-4070 x3216.