STATE OF THE STATE FORESTS  By Bill Botti

This is the centennial year for Michigan's state forests. They began with the dedication of about 30,000 acres in the Houghton and Higgins Lakes area in northern Lower Michigan. Some folks had been advocating this for a number of years before it actually came to pass. And when it did happen, everyone in Michigan did not turn out in favor of forestry.

What was going on that would cause people to oppose something as inherently good as planting trees on denuded land where once magnificent forests had stood? By the dawn of the 2011 century, essentially all of the white pine forests were gone from the northern Lower peninsula. Farmers were hard at work finishing the job of clearing much of the land to convert it to agriculture; much of what they did involved the burning of brush, stumps and other unwanted forms of wood. Fires often got away; sometimes with disastrous results. (See the previous three issues of Michigan Forests for details on some of the resultant fires.) Tax laws did not encourage owners to invest in reforestation. So the cutover, burned-over lands generally reverted to state ownership-generally to be sold again to another would-be farmer who would repeat the process of either burning himself out of house and home or would exhaust the soil's fertility with a couple of crops of potatoes.

Roscommon, a town near the new Forest Reserves, as the state forests were called at first, was a hotbed of opposition to the idea of putting trees back on the land. Many Roscommon residents envisioned that area as a great agricultural center in the making. Some outsiders saw opportunities for quick profits by buying land from the state at fifty cents an acre and reselling it to immigrant farmers for ten or twelve dollars per acre! The proposed "forestry scheme", as one letter writer to a local newspaper called it, had the potential to interrupt this lucrative land speculation industry.

 In 1902 the Michigan Forestry Commission and a group of forestry advocates from Lansing visited Roscommon in preparation for the dedication of some land as a forest reserve. They were not welcomed and were encouraged to make their stay short. Thus the local feeling on the eve of the state forests' establishment was less than enthusiastic toward forestry.

Convinced that the dedication of state forest reserves was needed, and authorized by the Legislature, the Forestry Commission moved forward. They hired Filibert Roth, an associate of Gifford Pinchot, the future founder of the United States Forest Service, to be the Forest Warden. Roth was professor of forestry at the University of Michigan and was permitted to share his time between the University and the forest reserves.

The Higgins Lake Nursery was established at the same time as the state forest reserves, in order to make seedlings available for reforestation. This was a necessary step, but before trees could be successfully planted, some means of controlling fires was needed. One fire could wipe out years of progress and in fact this was happening continually to naturally established seedlings.

In order to gain some control over the fire problem, a series of fire lines was constructed by horse and plow. These lines were plowed every quarter mile, forming a grid pattern outlining each "40". The lines were 12 feet wide and were disked during the summer as necessary to keep them open. The theory was that, since sand doesn't burn, fires would be stopped or drastically slowed when they hit the bare sand fire lines.

 It worked. Once these fire lines were established, trees were successfully established between them. The fire lines eventually became two-track roads and can still be seen today. Some of the oldest ones start just north of the old nursery which is now a part of North Higgins State Park. A large amount of oak sprouted up among the planted pine and pretty much took over the hill immediately north of the nursery, but pines prevailed j just north of there. It's hard to picture these scenic forest roads as the pioneering fire barriers of a hundred years ago, but that's what they were. And they marked the beginning of the control of wildfires and the eventual recovery of the forest cover to northern Michigan.

Control of the state forests was transferred from the Forestry Commission to the newly created Public Domain Commission in 1909. Shortly thereafter, a full-time state forester was hired. Marcus Schaaf took over the program in 1910. New state forests were gradually added as funding permitted-the Fife Lake and the Lake Superior in 1913, the Ogemaw in 1914 the Presque Isle in 1915, the Alpena in 1916. the Pigeon River in 1919, and so on. Establishment of fire lines was a major activity on these early state forests: the areas affected by this activity can be seen north of West Branch, near Fife Lake, north of Moorestown in Missaukee County, at Perch Lake north of Newberry, and other centers of early state forest activity.

In 1921 the state forests were moved to the new Department of Conservation (now the Department of Natural Resources) and there they have remained. We'll pick up the story here in the next issue.

Please note: there will be a state forest centennial celebration at the old Higgins Lake Nursery in North Higgins State Park on Saturday, August 9. This would be a good time to visit and walk some of the old nursery beds and fire lines.

BEAUTIFUL BIRCHES
By Bill Cook MSU Extension Service Forester

Few people fail to recognize a paper birch, with its bright white bark peeling from the trunk. It is one of the "no brainers" in the world of tree identification and an icon of the "northwoods".

 The birch family, Betulaceae, is a truly northern group of trees and shrubs stretching into the arctic. Worldwide, there are six genera and about 100 species, with nine species in the Upper Peninsula. While the family has the necessary botanical similarities, their ecological ranges and habitats probably couldn't be much more diverse.

Paper birch may be the most popular tree among U.P. tourists and remains the most common birch in our forests. However, its presence is declining due to old age and natural forest succession to other forest types. Wildfire and other disturbances favor the regeneration of the species. Paper birch is a short-lived, medium-sized tree that requires full sunlight.

Yellow birch is the opposite, a large tree usually associated with cooler northern hardwood associations and eastern hemlock. These two species are the only "full- sized" trees in the family. High quality yellow birch sawlogs obtain high prices in the market. The twigs of yellow birch possess a characteristic wintergreen flavor, a definitive identification clue in the winter. Seeds of both yellow and paper birch resemble small "fleur de lis", often seen on top of the snow.

Bog birch lives in bogs and swamps, seldom growing more that a couple feet tall. The shrub often forms loose colonies of many stems. The leaves are small, about an inch long. The leaves from all the other birch family members are similar to each other.

Ironwood and musclewood are smaller trees that grow under the higher forest canopy. The very hard wood has earned ironwood its name, a fact not lost on those who cut and split their own firewood. The trunk of musclewood appears sinewy, suggestive of the well-toned leg of a runner. Both have papery fruits containing hard seeds. Ironwood is sometimes called "hop-hornbeam" because the fruit resembles that of hops.

Two species of hazel can also be found in upland understories of more open wood lands. Beaked hazel is the most common, getting its name from the tube extending from the husk of the fruit. American hazel tends to be more southern in range. Both species have tiny delicate maroon flowers in the spring and provide edible nuts in the late summer and fall. Hazel is a choice wildlife shrub.

The aquatic equivalent of hazel is tag alder, the ubiquitous shrub across many U.P. wetlands. Maligned by many due to dense, nearly impenetrable thickets, it remains good alternate habitat for ruffed grouse and other wildlife. Green alder is similar in appearance and much less common, except in areas along Lake Superior. Both species have male flower catkins, often in triplets that resemble turkey feet. The female flowers produce small woody cones, under an inch long.

Paper and yellow birch are the only commercial tree species in the family, comprising about eight percent of the timber volume in the Upper Peninsula, less across all of Michigan. However, the birches re- main outstanding in the lore and appreciation of our great northern forests.

As an MSU Extension forester, I provide educational programming for the  entire Upper Peninsula. My office is located at the MSU Upper Peninsula  Tree Improvement Center near Escanaba. The Center is the headquarters for  three MSU Forestry properties in the U.P., with a combined area of about  8,000 acres. A collection of these newspaper articles, back to July 1997, can be viewed on the following  website: http://forestry.msu.edu/msaf/ Newspaper/Directory.htm  Michigan State University programs and materials are open to all without  regard to race, color, national origin, gender, religion, age, disability,  political beliefs, sexual orientation, marital status, or family status.  Bill Cook, Forester  MSU Extension, Upper Peninsula  6005 J Road  Escanaba, MI 49829  906-786-1575, voice  906-786-9370, fax  Email: cookwi@msu.edu

EMERALD ASH BORER

Dr. Deb McCullough, Michigan State University, presented information the Natural Resources Commission on the emerald ash borer, a beetle that is native to Asia. The ash borer was identified in southeast Michigan in 2002, however, little is known, biologically, about this beetle other than its impacts to the ash tree.

She believes it is likely that the beetles will start hatching from eggs June through August. The larvae bore under bark and feed aggressively in the ash tree cambium in serpentine galleries. The larvae feed into September. In the fall, the larvae chew compartments into the tree or thick bark where they spend the winter.

Pupation begins in April and the adults emerge from the tree creating D-shaped exit holes from May to July.

The impact to the tree depends on how many galleries exist in that tree. External symptoms include bark splits and woodpecker holes.

Affected counties include Wayne, Washtenaw, Macomb, Monroe, Livingston and Oakland. Nurseries in these six counties are quarantined from shipping ash trees out of this six county area.

Dr. McCullough said that, if the insect is not contained, it will spread across North America. Recommendations for addressing the problem are:

Contain the infestation.

Reduce the beetle density.

And ultimately eradicate the emerald ash borer.

A national emerald ash borer science advisory board convened in October, 2002 to address the problem.

Dr. McCullough expressed concern that infested firewood would be taken out of the southeast Michigan area and spread the infestation. She stressed the importance of getting the information on this beetle to the public to create the awareness of what to look for.

Frank Sapio, DNR, Forest, Mineral and Fire Management Division (FMFM), presented additional background on the ash resource. There are 65 species of ash worldwide, 16 in the United States and four in Michigan. He reported that 18.5 million board feet of ash is harvested annually in Michigan. Emerald ash borer infestation in Michigan covers approximately 2500 square miles with 50 percent of the affected trees in this area showing declining health. The emerald ash borer appears most active on residential streets.

Mr. Sapio stated that treatment for the beetle at this time is very costly and not necessarily effective. He believes that damage from the ash borer can be slowed, and hopefully eradicated in the future.

The ash tree was predominantly utilized for landscape in the southeast Michigan area. Future forestation of residential areas will focus on planting a variety of species to reduce the possibilities of total devastation from the emerald ash borer. DNR Director K.L. Cool stated that the USDA has released $14.5 million for addressing the emerald ash borer issue this year. This is a long term problem and more resources will be needed.