Announcement of the 



"Douglas Lake is located in the northern part of the Lower 

 Peninsula of Michigan about 17 miles each from Petoskey, Mackinaw 

 City and Cheboygan on highland 133 feet above Lakes Michigan and 

 Huron. This location in the transition belt between northern con- 

 iferous vegetation and central deciduous forest or hardwood vegeta- 

 tion makes this region particularly valuable for the study of condi- 

 tions thus represented. No other biological station in the United 

 States is favorable for the study of these conditions. 



"Glacial deposits were thickly strewn over the entire region, re- 

 sulting in essentially flat country. Low ridges, occasional hills and 

 small streams and lakes vary the monotony. Of the lakes in the 

 region, Burt Lake is the largest, being about 20 miles in length. 

 Douglas Lake is about 4 miles long and about 2 miles across in the 

 widest part. 



"Three conspicuous soil types are well distributed in the region. 

 On the uplands the better class of soils is clayey — the poorer class,, 

 sandy. Hardwood or deciduous forests are the normal vegetative 

 cover of the clayey soils and pine forest of the sandy soils. At the 

 present time, following lumbering and devastation by fire, part of 

 the clayey soil and all of the sandy soil is vegetated with aspens. 

 • The lowlands of the region are usually bogs and support the bog 

 type of vegetation. Less abundant, but thoroughly characteristic, is 

 the vegetation of the lake shores, river banks and the occasional sand 

 dunes found in the region. Thus it is evident that a wide variety 

 of conditions are present in the region. A diversity of work is there- 

 fore possible. 



"The beech-maple forest, occupying the better soil on the up- 

 lands, is quite similar to that occurring throughout the state of 

 Michigan. The characteristic trees are sugar maple, beech, hemlock, 

 and white ash. Several such forests are within 2 to 5 miles of the 

 station, but the best forests are along the Jackson and Tindle Lumber 

 Railway some 15 and more miles west of the station. 



"The sandy uplands are now occupied by aspens in place of the 

 pine normal to such situations and formerly present. No adequate 

 idea of the original conditions can now be gathered from the vicinity. 

 The nearest that one can get to conditions approaching original is 

 back of the dunes along Lake Michigan in the Big Stone Bay region, 

 about 17 miles west of Mackinaw City. Aspen vegetation is quite 

 typical of a good deal of the state holdings. Considerable experience, 

 valuable information and useful practice with regard to such land 

 may be gathered in the Douglas Lake region. The aspens are rather 

 short-lived trees, seldom attaining respectable size. They gain easy 

 access to a region which is burnt over and play their part in making 

 the ground again suitable for the original kinds of trees. Ample 

 testimony of this fact is had on every hand. One has but to note 

 the frequent occurrence of seedlings, naturally occurring, and the 

 ease with which planted seeds develop, to realize that, in the absence 

 of fire which proper protection can reasonably assure, the region 

 will again become pine. Near Douglas Lake this may be accom- 



