Michigan Geography

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Michigan Geography
Forests
Instructions You can either go through the
lesson chronologically, or you can choose to
bounce around in any order you see fit. However,
please remember you are responsible for the
information on every slide so make sure you see
everyone! If you connect with an URL sight view
it and come directly back to the lesson.
Logging

• Forests and Lakes

Conservation
Lakes
Lakes Cont.
Bibliography
coastwatch.glerl.noaa.gov/.../ location.html
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Forests

• Forests cover about half of the state of
  Michigan, with most of it in the northern
  two-thirds. Michigans timberland acreage if the
  fifth largest in the entire U.S. Not only does
  the state have a lot of forests but they are
  growing. Since 1980 there has been a 7 increase
  in forests. Michigan forests can be sorted in
  five general kinds of forests Upland Hardwoods,
  Upland Conifers, Aspen, Swamp Conifers, and Swamp
  Hardwoods.

http//forestry.msu.edu/uptreeid/History/Facts.htm
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Logging Era

• From around 1840-1900, most of Michigans forests
  were cut down for farms and to produce lumber for
  building etc. Because of the boom of the era,
  Michigan was the nations leading producer
  between 1869-1900. They would d most of their
  cutting in the winter when it was easier to drag
  the logs across the frozen ground. They would
  wait for the spring so they could float the logs
  down the river to the sawmills. They used the
  river because there were few roads then.

Biology, Visualizing Life
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ConservationAround 1900 hundred people started
to realize that our forests were not going to
last forever the way we were cutting down limber.
The Michigan Forestry Commission and the Michigan
Department of Conservation were both formed to
help with the forests. During the 1930s when the
Great Depression was occurring, Michigan formed
the Michigan Civilian Conservation Corps which
gave people jobs as well as having crews plant
thousands of trees, and help fight fires. This
and other measures have helped Michigan become
the second largest state forest system in the U.S.
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Lakes

• Michigan has over 11,000 inland lakes. In
  addition to the inland lakes and rivers. Michigan
  touches four out of the five Great Lakes. The
  state touches Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Lake
  Huron and Lake Erie. The only one it does not
  contact directly is Lake Ontario.

MS Clip Art
Map Of Great Lakes
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The Great Lakes contain 20 of the worlds fresh
water. Lake Superior is the largest of all of the
lakes. Lake Michigan is Algonquian for Great
Water. Lake Michigan and Lake Huron are
technically the largest fresh water lake in the
world because they are really two parts of a
gigantic lake connected by the Straight of
Mackinac. Lake Erie is the shallowest and is
named after the Natives that inhabited the
southern shoreline.
www.glerl.noaa.gov/ rsch/glcfs/nws/lwn-00.gif
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Bibliography

• www.michigan.gov Great Lakes visited March 10,
  2005
• http//forestry.msu.edu Michigan Forests Visited
  March 10, 2005
• Biology, Visualizing Life textbook. Johnson,
  George. Harcourt Bruce Company, 1998. Picture
  on page 266.
• MS Office Clipart