wpe5.jpg (2127 bytes)U.P. TREE  IDENTIFICATION  KEY
from Michigan State University Extension

MICHIGAN FOREST HISTORY TIMELINE
Click on one of the colored and labelled boxes below to learn about that time in Michigan Forest History (you may have to "scroll" down with your browser). 

Timeline5.tif (299552 bytes)

ICE
AGE

PRESETTLEMENT
TIMES

LOGGING
ERA

BEGINNING
OF
CONSERVATION

MODERN
FOREST
MANAGEMENT

Note: This timeline is NOT to scale. The left side represents many more years than the right.
The right side shows more years because there were more things happening . . .
and there still are more things happening in the forest today!

Michigan has a colorful forest history, similar to that of Wisconsin and Minnesota.  After the retreat of the glaciers, vegetation gradually moved back into Michigan.  Some tree species returned centuries before other tree species.  Our forests are ever-changing from the effects of climate, nature, and the influences of human beings.  American Indians changed the forest in many ways.  When people began logging the forest in the middle 1800s, the forest at that time was in a condition useful to our growing nation.  Our forests continue to be great natural resources, both for wood production as well as the many other benefits we receive from the Great Forests of the Great Lakes State!

Click HERE to return to the U.P. Tree ID home page.

This site created and maintained by Bill Cook, MSU Extension Forester for the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.   Editing and modification is ongoing.  Submit suggestions, questions, and corrections to cookwi@msu.edu or call 906-786-1575.