1814		First federal land office
1832		First commercial sawmill at Menominee River
1835		The Toledo War
1840		Commercial copper mining begins
1843		Beginning of the "copper rush"
1844		Iron discovered in the U.P.
1854		Marquette iron range opens
1871		Fires burn over 2 million acres in central Michigan
1874		More major wildfires in central Michigan
1879		More major wildfires in central Michigan
1873		1,600 sawmills in Michigan
1881		Fires burn a million acres in the "thumb"
1891		More major fires in the "thumb"
1889		First railroad logging in Ontonagon County
1890		Peak year of lumber production
1893		State gets power to takeover cutover lands
1895		First State Park at Mackinac Island
1897		Logged volume reaches 162 billion board feet
1899 1900		Michigan Forestry Commission First State lands set up for reforestation Over half of Michigan deforested
1902		Forestry Departments at MSU and U of M
1903		First State Forests in Roscommon & Crawford Counties
1904		Huron National Forest created
1904		First Tree Nursery at Higgins Lake
1905		U.S. Forest Service is Created
1908		Huge Metz fire in the Lower Peninsula
1909		Wyman School of the Woods Huron & Hiawatha (part) National Forest Created
1913		State reforestation policy provides tree seedlings
1920		Hardwood harvest first exceeds pine harvest
1921		Michigan Department of Conservation (now DNR)
1925		Commercial Forest Act created
1931		Isle Royale National Park
1931		Orders approved for the beginning of the Ottawa, Hiawatha, and Marquette National Forests
1932		From 1921-1932, the state received nearly two million acres of tax delinquent land.
1933		Michigan Civilian Conservation Corps Begins
1933		Manistee National Forest Created
1934		Public schools begin to teach conservation
1935		Seney Wildlife Refuge Created and Toumey Tree Nursery Established
1936		Forestry Department at MTU (Houghton)
1936		Worst wildfire year in the U.P.
1949		Since 1931, 642 school forests & 223 community forests created
1950		Chainsaws regularly used
1960		Logging camps become history
1960		Mechanized logging machinery
1968		The Department of Natural Resources created from the Conservation Department
1995		Department of Environmental Quality created from the DNR
2006		State Forest Lands Certified by SFI and the FSC
2007		State Forest Funding Reaches Crisis Low

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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.