20 University of Michigan 



A number of mammals are found in the shrub stage, but 

 they are far less abundant than in mature hardwood forest. 



Paper birch — aspen stage: The continued growth of the 

 young trees in the shrub stage leads to the production of a 

 sapling forest of the more quickly growing species, the paper 

 birches and aspens. Often one or other of these species 

 becomes dominant to the practical exclusion of the other, but 

 sometimes both occur together. On the slopes near the lakes 

 of the Cisco Lake chain aspens are rare, and the sapling for- 

 ests on the clearings and burns are almost a pure stand of 

 paper birch. Near Watersmeet, however, the aspen seems to 

 be the dominant form, and few paper birches were seen. Near 

 Gogebic Lake, also, the quaking aspen is the dominant form, 

 though paper birches are common in the sapling forests. The 

 growth in these sapling forests is very thick, and the ground 

 is nearly bare of vegetation, though it is heavily covered with 

 dead sticks and small logs. In a thick growth of quaking 

 aspens, on wet ground studied near Gogebic Lake, a number 

 of alders and paper birches, a few young trees of sugar maple 

 and arbor-vitae, and a rare elm occur. A scanty undergrowth 

 of mountain maple and numerous sugar maple seedlings is 

 present. Few mammals are found in this stage of the forest. 



On the western slope of Birch Point on Cisco Lake there is 

 a good stand of paper birches, growing in an open stand with 

 much grass in the spaces between the trees. This place has 

 been much used for camping and it may be that the develop- 

 ment of the grass is the result of opening the forest by clear- 

 ing out some of the trees. Among the birches are numerous 

 young firs and white pines, with a few young sugar maples, 

 and a rare arbor-vitae. The birches show many signs of age, 

 and would evidently, if undisturbed, soon give way to a forest 

 dominated by the pines and firs. In the grass among these 



