The logging era in Michigan and its environmental effects

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Review of pre-settlement forests

Before European settlement...

Last of the ice retreated from our area roughly 10,000

years ago

First forests were boreal type (mostly spruce/fir)

Gradually transitioned into the mixed forests we see

today

Forest environments dictated the lifestyles of Native

Americans

Clean, abundant water

Review of pre-settlement forests

Upper Peninsula:

Mixed forests of pine,

spruce, and hardwoods

Northern Lower

Peninsula: Dominated

by large white pine

Southern Lower

Peninsula: Mixed

hardwoods (mostly

oak)

Image: www.geo.msu.edu

Review of pre-settlement forests

Images: www.geo.msu.edu

White pine (Pinus strobus): Michigan’s state tree

Settlement era

1780’s: Ordinances to survey the area and

prepare it for statehood

Rectangular system: like placing a grid over the

landscape

Township: 36 square miles

Section: Each square mile within the township

640 acres

Quarter-section: 160 acres

Quarter-quarter: 40 acres

Image: www.landprints.com

Settlement era

Surveys completed by mid-1800’s

Surveyors took many notes along the way

Documented features of the landscape they

encountered

Their notes enable us to picture what these forests

looked like

Completion of survey also helped coordinate lands for

sale – often to timber barons who learned of the vast

forest resources

Settlement era

Mid-1800’s: The Great Land Giveaway

Standard price: $1.25/acre

Many reasons settlement was encouraged:

Increase population to expedite statehood

Establish dominance over areas still occupied by

Native Americans

Develop agriculture across the state

Settlement era

Forests and wetlands had to go!

Image: www.connorcoyne.com

Early logging era

Logging generally started in the south and

moved north across the state

White pine was king, but other conifers and

hardwoods were also harvested

Timber companies bought huge tracts of land,

took the best trees, and moved on

Little regard for environmental consequences

Early logging era

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Early logging era

Most work done by hand: Axes and band saws

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Early logging era

Logs transported across land by horses

Easiest movement on sleds during winter

Taken to nearest river where they could be

floated downstream to their destination

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Image: www.michpics.wordpress.com

Image: www.bentley.umich.edu

The river drive:

Millions of logs

sent down

Michigan’s rivers

to the sawmills

Life as a logger

Long hours, back-breaking work

Very dangerous

Lumber camps cramped and dirty

Weekends = alcohol

Seney: A particularly rough logging town

Fights to prove masculinity

Life as a logger

Image: www.hal.state.mi.us

Technological improvements: 1860’s

Railroads come to Michigan

Created access to new forests

Made delivery of logs more efficient

Made clear-cut method more sensible

Allowed sawmills to be built away from rivers

Need for railroad ties created new market for wood

Steam-powered band saws

Dramatically increased output of timber

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Stunning output of timber

Forest destruction gained momentum through

the late 1800’s

Thousands of sawmills in Michigan

By the 1920’s:

92% of the state’s forests destroyed

244 billion board feet of timber cut

Try to picture a stack of logs 10 feet high, 10 feet

wide, and about 35,000 miles long – enough to circle

the earth one and a half times!

Next: The environmental consequences

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Common problems

Corruption and greed

Many logging companies cut areas they didn’t own

After all the useful timber had been removed, many

lands were simply abandoned

In most cases, property taxes were never paid

Economic hardships from boom-bust cycle

Common problems

Useless cutover lands, environmental

devastation

“Slash”: the debris left behind by the logging

companies

Tops, limbs, any undesirable materials

Logs that were useful, but not as profitable as the

ones taken

Trees that “got in the way” when others fell

Left littered across the landscape

Slash

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Wildfires

Slash becomes highly flammable once it dries

Wildfires became a common occurrence

throughout the late 1800’s

Many drought years

Fires started by lightning, carelessness, and

sparks/exhaust from trains

Wildfires

Little effort or ability to fight fires

An accepted part of “progress”

Many U.P. towns burned as fires raged out of

control

Lake Linden 1887

L’Anse 1896

Ontonagon 1896

Also burned: Vast areas from Ishpeming to Big Bay,

the Baraga Plains area

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The Great Fire of 1871:

Out-of-control fires

swept across much of

Michigan, and

devastated the cities of

Peshtigo WI and

Chicago IL.

Wildfires

The Great Michigan Fires, 1871:

Over 2.5 million acres burned

Over 300 people died

1881: Over 1 million acres burned

1908: Another 2.4 million acres burned

Worst fires in the U.P. occurred in the 1890’s

through the 1920’s

1881: Most of

Michigan’s

Thumb region

burned

Wildfires

Skies became smoky that shipping traffic on the

Great Lakes was often halted

Homes, farms, railways destroyed

Severely scarred soils

Process of forest regeneration set back

More sediment flushed into streams

Damaged soils

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Image: www.autopoia.org

Hydrophobic soils

repel water -- like a

freshly-waxed car

Damaged soils

Difficult for forests to regenerate after the

organic material burned up

Bare soils susceptible to erosion

Much soil washed into nearby streams

Many areas unsuitable for agricultural use

Fouled water bodies

Many river banks torn up from log-floating

Erosion choked water with sediment, killing

many fish – some species now extinct

Water temperature increased in exposed

streams

Flooding increased

Water bodies

damaged from

river drives and

soil erosion

Image: www.bentley.umich.edu

Fouled water bodies

Forest succession

The process of gradual ecological change

“Secondary succession”: Occurs after a

disturbance such as logging or fire

This process describes the regeneration of

Michigan’s forests following the logging era

Forest succession

Stand initiation: The establishment of pioneer

species

Fast-growing

High light requirements

Rapid reproduction

Tolerant of harsh conditions

“Weeds”

Poplars, aspens

Forest succession

Stem exclusion: Pioneer species mature and

develop crowded conditions

Even-aged forest

Inadequate sunlight reaching forest floor

New seedlings of pioneer species cannot sprout –

however shade-tolerant species begin to appear

Forest succession

Understory reinitiaion: Mature pioneer species

begin to die, creating gaps in canopy

Some sunlight reaching forest floor

Slow-growing, shade-tolerant species establish

Spruces, pines, hemlocks, maples, birches

Species diversity increases

Forest succession

Old-growth: Pioneer species mostly disappear

Multi-structured canopy

High species diversity

May resemble original forests, but the process takes a

long time to get to this point

Any disturbance along the way sets the process

back to the beginning

Ecosystems are always changing!

Michigan’s forests today

Over half of the state is forested

Forests have returned but are different than

those that were cut

Changes in species composition

Changes in structure

Recovery has been slow

Michigan’s forests today

Image: www.mff.dsisd.net

Upcoming activities:

How have people helped the forests recover?

What policies and initiatives were involved?

What agencies manage forest resources?

Field activity: What stage of succession is

this forest in?

Any questions?

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