Words of Others
Excerpts from the introduction to the Atlas of Early Michigan's Forests,
Grasslands and Wetlands
Have you ever wondered what your neighborhood, town,
or family farm looked like when the state was first being settled by our
European ancestors? This atlas provides a glimpse back to Michigan's historical
landscapes – its forests, grasslands, and wetlands, with maps based on the
original land surveyors' notes that were recorded between 1816 and 1856. These
maps are supplemented with general descriptions of the forests, grasslands,
and wetlands that are based on both the surveyors' comments and the comments
of early settlers and historians. At the end of the description of each vegetation
type, locations are identified where most of the vegetation types can be visited,
typically in state and federally owned parks and forests, or in private nature
preserves.
Between 1816 and 1856 Government Land Office surveyors mapped a one-mile
grid across the surface of Michigan, starting in the southeast near Lake
Erie and finishing at the Wisconsin border along Lake Superior. The surveyors'
maps opened the lands of Michigan to land claims, settlement, and sale, and
large parts of the grid were gradually transformed into our present road system.
The Land Office surveyors were not only creating a grid for land ownership,
they also were recording information about the land and its vegetation, describing
the fertility of the soil, mapping bedrock exposures, and recording the size
and type of trees. Along the way, surveyors also made reference to trails
and other features established by Native Americans. In addition, they noted
locations of natural disturbances to vegetation, such as areas previously burned
by wildfires and areas of blown-down trees from severe wind storms. The Atlas
of Early Michigan allows you to retrace the surveyors' paths across the historical
landscape, seeing your neighborhood and the entire state as the surveyors
saw them. The broad prairies surrounding Detroit, the extensive forests of white
pine and red pine along Saginaw Bay, the oak savannas open enough near Kalamazoo
to allow passage of covered wagons, the dense forests of sugar maple and American
beech standing at the site of the capital in Lansing, and many more vegetation
types were described by the surveyors. These vegetation types and disturbance
features are displayed on the maps of Michigan, and they are overlain by today's
road systems to facilitate identification.
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