10 



MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS. 



Michigan Forestry Association. 



The Michigan Forestry Association was organized in Grand Rapids August 30, 1905, having for its object the promotion of a rational system 

 of forestry in Michigan. The society is managed by the following roster of officers: President, John H. Bissell, of Detroit; Vice-President, R. 

 Hanson, Grayling; Secretary, J. Fred Baker, Lansing; Treasurer, J. J. Hubbell, Manistee. Board of Directors Mrs. Francis King, Alma; Hon. 

 Arthur Hill, Saginaw; S. M. Lemon, Grand Rapids; H. N. Loud, Au Sable; Thos. B. Wyman, Munising; Prof. Filibert Roth, Ann Arbor. 



The State Forestry Commission Charles W. Garfield, Grand Rapids ; Hon. W. B. Mershon, Saginaw ; William H. Rose, Lansing. 



REFORESTRATION IN THE 



UPPER PENINSULA. 



(Lecture given by Thos. B. Wyman, of the 

 Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Company before the 

 Forestry Club of the Michigan Agricultural 

 College on April 7, 1908.) 



The matter of reforestation in the Upper 

 Peninsula of Michigan can be best treated by 

 dividing the subject into its natural subdivis- 

 ions and taking them up in sequence: 



1. What has been done naturally. 



2. What has been done artificially. 



3. What is now planned. 



4. Ultimate results. 



Let us first take up the division included 

 under the heading, "What has been done nat- 

 urally." 



We are prone to believe that nothing has 

 been done by nature toward reforestrating the 

 many thousands of acres which have been de- 

 forested either by the innumerable forest fires 

 of unknown origin or by the woodsman's axe. 

 But here we err for there- are very few acres 

 which have not already restocked themselves 

 or are now in the process of restocking. 

 There are thousands of these acres, to be sure, 

 which show only on occasional seedling, but 

 that seedling will be followed by others from 

 the same source or by others of its own pro- 

 duction and eventually the entire area will 

 furnish forest cover provided fires do not con- 

 tinually prevent the efforts of nature. In other 

 words, if protection were furnished every acre 

 would, in time, reproduce itself. 



Not always, however, is this restocking of 

 the species desired, but it is a means to the 

 desired end and acts as an usher growth for 

 the more valuable and hence more to be de- 

 sired species. The best example of this is our 

 native pine or fire-cherry. On the loamy sand 

 of the Upper Peninsula, such as characterizes 

 the Coalwood Tract, to be later described, the 

 fire-cheery occupies the ground within a year 

 after the removal of the hardwoods and the 

 consequent exposure of the soil to the light 

 and air. The cherry, acting as a nurse, keeps 

 the light soil from blowing and erosion, main- 

 tains its moisture and furnishes a quick leaf 

 mould all things which would be too long 

 delayed if left for the slow-growing maple to 

 accomplish. After four or five years the hard- 

 woods are noticeable under the cherry which 

 is then from eight to twelve feet high. When 

 the cherry is about twenty feet high it has 

 reached the point of most rapid growth and 

 begins to feel the effects of the black knot, 

 which attacks it at all ages in this upper coun- 

 try. It then begins to shorten its annual 

 height growth, puts on more body and, if se- 

 verely crowded by the oncoming maple and 

 birch or overtopped by the wolfish balsam, it 

 may break at about half its height and so add 

 its decaying top to the soil cover. By the 

 thirty-fifth year the cherry has been practically 

 superceded by the clean boiled hardwoods, 

 which have since their birth been kept in the 

 straight and narrow upward path leading to 

 light. 



On typical hardwood soil sandy loam with 

 us the natural reproduction comes in more 

 slowly because it produces directly the maple, 

 beech and birch with no usher growth of 

 cherry. This often leads the layman to be- 

 lieve that the soil producing the cherry is the 

 stronger and hence more valuable for agricul- 

 tural purposes. As a consequence many of 

 the descriptions of cut over lands purchased 

 with the idea of turning them into farms have 



now gone back to the state for taxes while 

 our really good agricultural soil has not yet 

 been exploited. 



Of the coniferous timbers there are large 

 acreages reproduced in white. Norway and jack 

 pine and mixtures of the same on soil graded 

 according to the needs of the species. This re- 

 generation is of all ages from one to fifty years 

 and in stands of all degrees of density. I know 

 of tracts of jack pine regeneration which are 

 simply impassable and others which to dupli- 

 cate and raise would cost from $15,000 to $20,- 

 000 to the acre. Yet few of these lands are 

 protected in any way and every time a few 

 acres are lost by fire the commonwealth is the 

 unconscious loser. 



There are also scattered tracts of practically 

 pure poplar of various ages and quality, the 

 most extensive of which borders Deer lake, in 

 Township 49 N., Range 11 W. This township 

 contains without doubt the most diversified 

 regeneration, as well as some of the most 

 typical and beautiful regeneration to be found 

 in the Upper Peninsula, and should, in its en- 

 tirety, be set aside as a state forest reserve. As 

 reserve it would typify and preserve Upper 

 Peninsula pine and poplar regeneration, while 

 offering to both peninsulas the most excellent 

 basis for comparison of growth and soil adapt- 

 ability. 



What Has Been Done Artificially. 



The first steps in artificial reforestration in 

 the Upper Peninsula were taken when S. M. 

 Higgins, of the Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Company, 

 planted a forty-acre tract near Negaunee in 

 1903. This tract is a part of what is known as 

 the Baldwin Kiln Plains and is typical white 

 pine soil. The description was planted to 

 white and Scotch pine and Norway spruce, 

 three-year-old plants being used, with a smat- 

 tering of other species put in for experimental 

 purposes. Furrows were plowed six feet apart 

 and the plants were placed approximately six 

 feet apart within the row. The growth during 

 the first year was somewhat retarded by the 

 dense stand of grass which occupies the entire 

 plain. Protection was furnished by a fire lane 

 consisting of a double line of back furrows 

 about eight feet apart, running around the en- 

 tire plantation. The space between the fur- 

 rows was kept burned clean during the fire 

 season to prevent fire from crossing. 



The second season showed a marked growth 

 and a tendency to push the leaders above the 

 grass. The same protective measures were 

 taken, and in addition a stock fence built 

 around the plantation. This plantation is 

 looking well now and should have no serious 

 conflicts in the future as it is well established. 



The next plantation was established near the 

 company's fish hatchery, near Munising, and 

 consisted of about thirty acres of Norway 

 spruce. This planting was done in 1905 by 

 Thos. B. Wyman. Three-year-old stock was 

 used and was hole planted about 6x6 feet 

 through a dense growth of fire-c'herry, which 

 covered a southern slope overlooking the 

 hatchery. No cultivation has ever been given 

 and no especial protective measures, other than 

 a sharp lookout for fires by the keeper of the 

 hatchery, have been put in force. Yet the 

 spruce has developed nicely and will push its 

 way through the overtopping cherry without 

 difficulty. The percentage of loss in this plan- 

 tation has been less than 5 per cent, and such 

 loss has been largely due to the matting of 

 the brake fern above the plant in the fall and 

 the breakage resulting from the snow bearing 

 all to the ground. 



In 1906 a small nursery was established at 



one of the company's wood chopping camps 

 and various experimental plantations have 

 been made, including white, Scotch and Nor- 

 way pine, white and black spruce, balsam, na^ 

 five, Carolina and Norway poplar and black 

 locust. The white and Norway pines and 

 Norway spruce are the more successful plant- 

 ings and for the large tract of land clear cut 

 by the furnace department of our company 

 known as the Coalwood tract, the white and 

 Norway pines will unquestionably be the most 

 successful. 



This tract is a light, loamy sand and has 

 borne a fair stand of hardwoods, maple and 

 beech, overtopped by some of the finest of 

 Upper Peninsula white pine. Its soil is of just 

 that class which will produce white pine rap- 

 idly, or the more exacting and slower growing 

 hardwoods very slowly indeed; hence it is ad- 

 visable to not only shorten the period of rota- 

 tion as much as possible, but to produce the 

 more valuable timber at the same time. 



Plans have been drawn and practically ap- 

 proved for the reforesting of the entire tract, 

 some fourteen thousand acres, and it is ex- 

 pected that work will be started this spring. 

 This will make one of the largest, if not the 

 largest, solid plantation in this country. 



In addition to this solid tract the Cleveland- 

 Cliffs Iron Company will plant and reinforce 

 many other smaller tracts for utility and beau- 

 ty. Some immediate planting is planned for 

 the Munising district in reforesting the hills 

 overlooking the town from which the best of 

 the hemlock was removed several years ago 

 and the remainder fire-killed by the burning 

 of the slash. 



What Is Now Planned. 



There are various advocates of forestry and 

 reforestration in the Upper Peninsula, chief of 

 these being the Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Company, 

 which hopes and plans to reforest, either nat- 

 urally or artificially, such of its lands as are 

 not suitable for agriculture. 



The Calumet & Hecla Mining Company has 

 been considering the reforesting of its cut-over 

 lands, but at the latest report it had not com- 

 pleted its plans. 



The Chicago & Northwestern Railroad Com- 

 pany is said to have withdrawn all of its lands 

 from the market and will soon undertake the 

 raising of tie timber on its now barren acres. 



On the southern slope of thedivide, in Delta 

 county, the Evergreen Nursery Company, of 

 Sturgeon Bay, Wis., has planted a number of 

 plantations, but the details of these plantings 

 have not yet been given out. 



Various small planters have had the matter 

 under consideration, but the dangers from fire 

 are yet too great to tempt the small planter 

 to action. Wood-lot planting is not yet called 

 for in the Upper Peninsula because there is 

 still an abundance of virgin forest for firewood 

 purposes. This feature is bound to be one of 

 great importance within a few years, in fact, 

 just as soon as our agricultural lands are 

 occupied. 



Ultimate Results. 



There are many reasons why the Upper 

 Peninsula will in time be returned to forest 

 conditions. There are all of the familiar ones, 

 need of fuel, and this will be particularly im- 

 portant on account of the distance from the 

 coal fields, building timber, wind breaks, etc., 

 but one of the least considered reasons while 

 being one of the greatest importance is the 

 absolute necessity of maintaining our streams 

 which today furnish magnificent, though unde- 

 veloped, water-power. 



I thoroughly believe that this peninsula will 



