STATE OF THE STATE FORESTS
by Bill Botti 

In the last issue I began the story of the state forests' centennial. The state forest system began in 1903 with two forest reserves - at Higgins Lake and Houghton Lake. They were managed under the auspices of the Forestry Commission. In 1909 they were transferred to the Public Domain Commission and in 1921 to the Conservation Department. The lands included in the state forests had been in private hands and had reverted to state ownership for non- payment of taxes. That's where we left off last time.

The Conservation Department was formed as a part of governor Alex Groesbeck's reorganization of state government in 1921. Governor Groesbeck noted that knowledge of conservation issues had not been a requisite for a seat on the Public Domain Commission, but that the new department would be made up of people with professional training in natural resources management.

There were eight state forests comprising about 180,000 acres in 1921. Those forests were: Higgins Lake, Houghton Lake, Fife Lake, Lake Superior, Ogemaw, Presque Isle, Pigeon River and Alpena. Each forest had a headquarters with a residence and stable. The major activities involved in management were establishment of fire lines and reforestation, but there were numerous other demands on the managers' time. Local residents wanted permits to collect firewood and to cut hay and to graze their cattle. Some wanted timber to build barns. (Yes, even at this early date there was timber - second growth trees that had been protected from fire for nearly two decades. The system was working!)

In addition to all the uses of the state forests mentioned above, an additional value began to emerge about the time of the creation of the Conservation Department. That value was forest recreation. Hunting, fishing, camping and berry picking all were becoming important uses of the forests. The first state forest campground was established on Spring Lake on the Fife Lake Forest in 1929. Additional lands were being acquired by the state for parks and game refuges as well.

State Forester Marcus Schaaf was impatient with the rate of growth of the state forest system, stating in his biennial report in 1926 that the 119,000 acres in state forests was drastically short of where it should be and that the state should be thinking in terms of millions of acres, not thousands. The reason for the reduction in state forest acreage from 1921 to 1926 was the transfer of the Lake Superior State Forest to the Game Division and a change in its designation to a state game reserve.

Reindeer were introduced in the winter of 1922-23 into a 3,000-acre enclosure near the forest headquarters. Quite a tale was told of driving the herd of reindeer from Newberry to Headquarters with an overnight stay along the way. Some of the animals strayed and were found on the railroad tracks headed back for Newberry! Perhaps they had a premonition, but all 61 of them were eventually rounded up and driven into the enclosure.

The reindeer project was less than a success. The animals did not thrive, despite the fact that there was "an abundance of reindeer moss" in their new digs. By 1928 the Lake Superior was again a state forest and the reindeer were but a memory. For years tales persisted of people seeing ghostly herds of reindeer north of Newberry, but eventually, even those purported sightings died out.

Many ideas were hatched among land managers and politicians to help return the state lands to useful productivity. The campground idea turned out to be a good one. From its start in 1929, state forest camping has grown by leaps and bounds. The current count is around 150 camp- grounds.

Tax-reverted land continued to accrue to the state forest system through the 1930s and `40s, and in 1947 the state game areas were added to the system, bringing the total area up to about 3.6 million acres. From that time to the present, the area has increased only slightly. It has grown to be the largest state forest system in the United States. It is larger than the State of Connecticut and three times the size of Delaware!

In the next issue we'll look at the importance of the state forests to the people of Michigan.

PLAN YOUR NEXT TIMBER SALE
By Rick A. Lucas Conservation District Forester

Planning ahead is a good idea. In fact, most of us are pretty good at planning. After all, planning plays a significant role in our daily lives. In most cases, by the time breakfast is finished we have already given some thought as to what we are planning for dinner. Most of us have already planned what we are going to do next weekend way before Saturday is even in sight. Vacations are planned months in advance. And, with the more recent state of the economy, most of us view planning for the future needs of our children' s college fund or our own retirement with a heightened sense of importance. So, in keeping with this same thought process, let's take a look at how you can better plan your next timber sale.

Participating in a timber sale should not be based on a spur of the moment decision. So often, it is the lack in planning, which leads to the most unsatisfied landowners. Spur of the moment timber sales tend to focus only on the trees being removed. Little, if any consideration is given to conditions impacting the soil, water, residual trees, and the wildlife. What follows are some of the common and not so common points that you may want to take into consideration the next time you are planning for a timber sale.

Landowners who have little experience in forestry should contact a professional forester to assist in planning the management of their natural resources. A professional forester can help you with every step in the process of managing and selling timber. The forester can set up a harvest plan specific to the needs of your site including practices relative to the soil, water, air, plants and wildlife. They can help collect timber inventory data, appraise your timber resources, suggest appropriate silvicultural practices and logging methods, mark the timber to be cut, help you prepare a bid prospectus including specific conditions of the sale, a timber sale contract, and administer the timber sale to make certain things go as planned. Keep in mind, the forester's job is to help you manage your forest resource for the long term, not just cut for the short term financial gains.

Various studies have shown that land- owners that utilize the assistance of a professional forester in planning and conduct ing a timber harvest generally receive a higher price for their timber, while their residual forest has greater value and less environmental damage than that of landowners who do not utilize professional assistance. When a harvest is planned, it's essential that someone knowledgeable and someone you trust determines which trees should be harvested (based on age, species, condition and future value -not just present size).

Even under the best circumstances, timber harvesting is a disruptive affair. You have to start with clear communication between yourself, the forester you are working with, and the logger who will be performing the harvest. Everyone involved must under- stand what is expected of each other and how they want the job to turn out. In addition to having a good timber sale contract, in most cases, a lot of the confusion can be eliminated by first having a management plan developed for your property. Such a document should clearly define your goals and objectives for the property. Both short- term and long-term uses and expectations for the property should be outlined. Developing a management plan for your property prior to engaging in any activities on the land is planning at its best.

Advance planning helps to establish the reason for the harvest. Other than simply for financial gain, timber harvesting is a tool for accomplishing many of the objectives identified in your management plan. Some of the objectives that would be accomplished include:

• Improving the overall health and vigor of the forest
• Promoting understory regeneration
• Creating desirable wildlife habitat
• Reducing the density of the forest (over crowding)
• Establishing planting areas
• Improving and creating vistas and trails - Developing certain types of recreational activities
• Utilizing a renewable resource!

Whether you are communicating through your professional resource manager or one on one with a timber harvesting contractor, planning ahead can save you a lot of time and money. Things that typically might require you to hire another contractor to complete later can be accomplished as a condition of the current timber harvest. These might include pushing out a few stumps to create or expand an opening to be used as a wildlife food plot. Leaving some tops or unmerchantable trees near trails for easy access in meeting your firewood needs. Adding fill to a low spot in your trail system to improve access. If there is no water on your property, consider putting in a shallow 8-foot by 8-foot water hole in a low lying area. (Check to see if permits are necessary prior to implementing). Placing some large un-merchantable pieces of wood material where they can be used to form the base of your brush pile.

Many timber harvesting contractors are more than willing to accommodate most requests made by landowners when they are presented during the planning stage. These requests may also relate to road placement and final condition, clearing openings, placement of un-merchantable waste wood and so forth. After all, some of the equipment used to remove timber products is also capable of performing other functions.

The problems often arise when landowners make numerous requests after the contract has been signed. Granted, adjustments are frequently made along the way with any transaction of this magnitude. If you have special considerations that you would like addressed, they should be conveyed in the early planning stage. Make yourself a checklist and discuss these items prior to final agreement. Typically, adjustments are made in the price of the timber sold to cover the expense incurred by the timber contractor for these considerations. Be aware, not all contractors will be able to accommodate the planning of some of these activities.

Your satisfaction with implementing a timber sale can be greatly increased if you plan ahead. There are several sources of information to aid you in your planning process. Consider a visit to your local Conservation District office, MSU Extension Service office, MDNR office, private consulting foresters and wildlife biologist and industry foresters among others.

SUSTAINABLE FORESTRY: IT'S HERE ALREADY, YOU JUST HAVEN'T TRIED IT
 By Pete Klink, Consulting Forester, Coldwater, Michigan

Where do we begin when asked to write an article on sustainable forestry in Michigan? Continental drift, inland oceans, and periods of glaciation have all influenced our forests. About 13,000 years ago, Michigan and points south to mid Illinois, Indiana and Ohio were covered with glaciers thousands of feet thick. As the global climate warmed (wonder who to blame for that) the glaciers receded leaving the landmass of Michigan looking like a moonscape. The first plants to establish themselves were algae, mosses and other simple plants. Soils were formed and spruces, pines, and other conifers were the first tree species to invade this state. Humans started to explore this area as it became more hospitable. These first visitors and their ancestors used fire extensively for a multitude of reasons including but not limited to hunting, habitation, security, and warfare. Burn permits were not required in those days and without a local fire department, these fires and those started by mother nature had consequences that have significantly influenced our current forest composition. As our hemisphere continued to warm and fires and windstorms went unchecked, hardwoods progressed northward.

At this time we should make a simple clarification: hardwoods (angiosperms) are broad leaved deciduous trees and softwoods (gymnosperms) are needle leaved evergreen trees. Yes some softwoods are harder than some hardwoods and vice versa and your father taught you that popple and cottonwood are softwoods, but if you want to be politically correct, this clarification is the accepted scientific classification. You may also want to know that not all hardwoods are deciduous and not all conifers are ever- green. (TRIVIA: what produces more heat: a pound of hickory or a pound of popple ((both air dried))?).

Let's return to our major focus for this article: the forests of Michigan. Only for the last couple of thousand years has Michigan's forest composition been basically what it is today. For brevity, this article is only going to address the 100+ woody trees, shrubs, and vines that naturally occur in Michigan. By no means do we want to understate the importance of other plants to our natural heritage. Those stories would be best told by other more informed individuals.

We all know about the heyday of logging in northern Michigan, but do you know that southern Michigan was extensively covered by hardwood forests? When the pilgrims first stepped onto Plymouth Rock, it is said that a squirrel could travel west to the Mississippi without touching the ground. In southern Michigan (let's use Mt. Pleasant as the point of distinction), over 85% of the landmass was forested prior to the arrival of our industrious European ancestors. They left the prairies alone thinking that they didn't have the capacity of growing traditional agricultural crops and proceeded to clear the forests to grow their crops. Just think, no chainsaws, bulldozers or dynamite. Talk about American perseverance.... Our southern Michigan "settlement" took much more effort than the logging of the north country. The trees were larger and harder to cut, stumps had to be removed, rocks had to be picked. If we may digress here a bit... Did you ever wonder how those stumps were removed? Most of them were left to rot in place and were farmed around until they could be popped out with little trouble. The neatest explanation on how many of those stumps were removed was by using a 30' long hickory pole chained horizontally to the stump and having a team of horses walk around the stump and actually unscrewing it. True or not, we don't know. We just use a backhoe, works good on rocks too.

Well, we've come to another point for distinction. Do we talk about forestry in all of Michigan or not? Michigan has two distinct forest classifications and if you ask any two college professors you may qualify for 3 hours of credit before they give you a simple answer. However, again using Mt. Pleasant as an arbitrary dividing line, the forestlands to the north are considered as the Northern Forest Group with both hardwoods and conifers, and forestlands south of Mt. Pleasant would be in the Central Hardwood Forest Group. Each of these classifications has several forest types within its grouping. Yes, there are transitional exceptions, but that's what makes Michigan interesting. So you can see that to do justice to all of Michigan's forestlands it would take more than one article.

Much has been written about the northern forests of Michigan, so we feel that at this time we would like to focus on the overlooked forests of the lower 1/3 of Michigan where 80% of the population lives. Remember that 85% of this area was forested prior to European settlement. Forestland currently comprises only 12-15 % of southern Michigan. Historically, most farms left a woodland somewhere on the farm, usually to the rear of the property or on ground that was less desirable to grow traditional agricultural crops. These woodlots provided lumber, fuel, food, medicines, and numerous other commodities that were necessary for everyday life in developing America.

The forest is a community, not only of trees, but also the associated soil, water, and wildlife components. Hardwood veneer and lumber and other traditional products are still important yields of these forests, but other values associated with today's society are becoming as important, if not more so in many cases. These values are as diverse as each individual. They may range from the general aesthetics offered by forestlands to visual and sound barriers, soil and water conservation, wildlife habitat, diverse recreational opportunities and a multitude of other uses. The commodities produced by our forestlands can no longer be measured in dollars alone.

As the population continues to grow and the land resource remains constant, the true value of forestlands becomes immeasurable and this brings us back to our original intent for writing this article: SUSTAINABLE FORESTRY. Many professional foresters feel that the cliché of "Sustainable Forestry" is redundant. If practiced right, forestry protects the integrity of the forest and assures its succession. Good forest management improves the health and vigor of the forest, provides diverse habitat for wildlife, and protects the watershed. As foresters, we are responsible to the landowners and their objectives, but we also address society's concerns by informing the landowners of the best options for their consideration. Professional foresters have the tools to manage Michigan woodlots for multiple uses, however we work with private landowners, and this brings us to the real dilemma. One of the biggest problems foresters face is the constant change of landowners for individual woodlands. Each new landowner, and even long-term landowners, often change their objectives for their forestlands. With the average crop rotation being 100 years, you can see that man's short time of involvement is definitely an impediment to long term management.

So to see where sustainable forestry is, we have to look at where we have been. If one is to consider a forest as a place of woody plants, then we are actually improving on the situation since the turn of the century.. Many marginal farm fields have been left fallow and have naturally returned to a forested state. Government programs and private efforts have reforested significant acreage. The residual forestlands have been producing twice as much wood fiber as is being harvested. From a forester's perspective, this natural conversion of old farm fields and reforestation efforts by many landowners is very beneficial. However, those residual forestlands growing an abundance of fiber are not necessarily growing what the forest industry currently desires. In southern Michigan, quality is the name of the game. All species have some value if they are blemish and defect free. Historically, black walnut, white oak, red oak, sugar maple, and cherry have been the most valuable and desirable trees to harvest. Markets do exist for other species and lower quality products, but the value of high quality saw logs and veneer can be 10 times more than the value of inferior trees and less desirable species. Landowners must know what they have prior to determining what needs to be done. The forester will provide various options and the short and long term consequences of those options to the landowner. Timber production, wildlife, water quality, recreation, aesthetics, and whatever other goals the landowner has expressed an interest in will be optimized with timely management. Whatever the landowner's objectives may be, there are always trade-offs in forest management, we try to minimize the detrimental ones and maximize the beneficial ones. All landowners are ultimately responsible for their management decisions.

Only 10% of forest landowners have followed some sort of professional forest management recommendations. Only 1 % of our forested acreage is considered as being managed with intense and timely management activities. The main reasons for this minimal effort are limited markets for low quality forest improvement thinnings and inadequate time/finances for such activities by the landowners. If a landowner is willing to invest even a moderate level of time and money in his/her woodlands, significant improvements will occur. In most cases, professional forest management can double the growth rates and increase the value of the residual forest. Significant improvements can be made for all ownership objectives at the same time through a multiple use management plan.

In southern Michigan there are minimal restrictions on what can and can't be done on your property. Several states have enough don'ts, can'ts, and other responsibilities associated with landownership that it is starting to take the pride out of ownership. For now we still have private property, but... Be responsible and take a good look at your property and work with a professional resource person prior to undertaking any serious activities. It takes a hundred years for that tree to grow and moments for it to go. There are many agencies and organizations that can put you on the right track to responsible land ownership: Michigan DNR, Soil and Water Conservation Districts, Michigan Forest Association, MUCC, industry foresters, and private consulting foresters. Private consultants represent landowners just as lawyers represent clients.

So where does that leave us on the issue of sustainable forestry? Only you, the landowner, can answer that. But then we have to remember those glaciers, polarity reversal, and the story of the dinosaur. So the bigger question may not be sustainable forestry, but sustainable earth.