Conserving Natural Beauty

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Front cover image of the Michigan Conservation Periodical. May-June 1963. Image: Man in water fishing in background, fish cooking on a fire.

Michigan has long boasted beautiful, unique, and varied ecosystems. With over 3,000 miles of freshwater coastline, 11,000 lakes, and 70,000 acres of shoreline dunes, Michigan offers a staggering amount and variety of awe-inspiring landscapes. In addition to providing incredible sites and supporting the state's rich plant and animal life, Michigan's land also sustains the people living there, with over 53,000 farms and more than 330 unique kinds of farm product produced annually (MACD). Regardless of where someone stands in Michigan, they will never be farther than 6 miles away from a body of fresh water. Throughout the centuries, Michigan's landscape and environment have been crucial to the animals and humans living in the region. Efforts to preserve Michigan's beautiful and copious resources have also dated back centuries, if not millenium.

For over 10,000 years, Native Americans have lived in the region now known as Michigan. Indigenous peoples, such as the Anishinaabek, have been stewards of the lands for just as long. While the concept of conservation—defined as the wise use and protection of our natural resources—is a relatively modern concept, Indigenous peoples have been knowledgeable about maintaining and nurturing Michigan's lands since long before European setters landed in the Americas. Native Americans are believed to have used fire to manage the land, maintain trails, clear fields, and fertilize cropped land. Similarly, their land practices helped maintain important ecosystems, such as the jack pine plains of central lower Michigan. When European settlers began colonizing what became Michigan, they benefited from the effective and non-destructive Native American land practices (Dempsey, Ruin and Recovery).

However, first contact altered Michigan landscapes forever, starting with the fur trade. Overhunting of beavers depleted the Michigan beaver population and transformed the state's hydrology. According to Dave Dempsey, the fur trade in Michigan essentially eliminated "20,000 acres lying within a 12-mile semicircle around Detroit [that once] consisted of marshy tracts of wet prairies created by the beaver." The plundering of other resources led to additional issues; ditching and draining of the lake plain prairies for agriculture nearly destroyed them altogether, and savannas in southern Michigan have largely disappeared. Michigan's bison were decimated in the 19th century, alongside many of the state's forests. In 1870, Michigan ranked first among all states in lumber production, churning out 2.25 billion board feet of wood annually; by 1920, it ranked 16th due to overlogging. Unlike the Native Americans indigenous to the region, "the conservation impulse did not accompany 19th-century European settlers into Michigan. The imperative of the pioneers was to subdue and tame the land, not protect it" (Dempsey, Ruin and Recovery).

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore along Lake Superior

Eventually, Michigan inhabitants began to pick up on the alarming misuse of natural resources. In 1908, the Detroit News responded to a forest fire brought on by human actions, saying: "This neglect has become a crime—not only a crime against the state’s best interests, but a crime against humanity. Michigan must be reforested and protection must be made against forest fires, and the legislature must rise to the occasion.” The fire killed 25 people, burned 2.3 million acres, and caused $28 million worth of property damage. In 1910, William Mershon, the president of the Michigan Association, wrote that "the pine forests no longer stretch from here to the straits of Mackinaw. They are gone….The Michigan Association, of which I am the President, stands for the betterment of life out doors; for the protection of wild things, the increase in wild life, and the doing of that which will enable everyone to get his full benefit from a life out of doors.”

Michigan attempted its first environmental laws as early as 1859 in response to these issues, with an unsuccessful attempt to legislate against overfishing. Similarly, Michigan officials first expressed concern about logging in 1867, and the Michigan Sportsmen's Association pushed for land conservation laws beginning in the 1870s. Unfortunately, the Michigan government did not provide many substantail responses to these efforts until the 20th century.

In the 1900s, numerous environmental agencies and nonprofits emerged, including the Michigan United Conservation Clubs. Founded in 1937 by a group of 35 sportsmen and outdoor clubs, the MUCC was created to combat problematic natural resource policies in Michigan. Alongside other environmental groups, they were instrumental in the 1976 Michigan Bottle Bill, which established our current bottle deposit program, one of the most successful in the nation. Other Michigan environmental and conservation organizations included the clean Water Action Council, the Michigan Audubon Society, the Michigan Alliance for Environmental and Outdoor Education, the Michigan branch of the Nature Conservancy, and the Michigan Environmental Council.

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Front cover image of the Michigan Conservation Periodical. March-April 1961

The conservation efforts of Indigenous peoples and early Michiganders have led to a tremendous preservation of both state and national parks, resulting in a multitude of wonderful recreational activity for inhabitants of and visitors to the state. The United States's second ever national park was established in Michigan (second only to Yellowstone), and as of 2014, there are 109 state or national parks here. 22 million people annually visit Michigan state or national parks, which range geographically from Coldwater, MI near the Ohio border to Isle Royale National Park north of the Upper Peninsula. These 22 million visitors spend over $650 million annually on expenses outside of the parks and have the opportunity to engage in activities and resources such as fishing, hiking, canoeing, birdwatching, and cross-country skiing, among many others. In 2011, the National Recreation and Park Association named Michigan State Parks as the nation’s best park system (Power, Michigan State and National Parks).

Michigan's beautiful parks include the iconic Pictured Rocks and Sleeping Bear Dune National Lakeshore. Pictured Rocks offers a 5-mile-wide by 42-mile-long park with 15 miles of cliffs that rise up to 200 ft above water level. It has 16 groomed miles of cross-country skiing trails and 66 campsites available to the public. The Sleeping Bear Dune National Lakeshore contains 40 miles of land and headlands of over 400 ft tall and boasts 251 camping sites amid the world's largest moving sand dune.

While the state's parks are a significant stride toward preserving and appreciating our beautiful lands and wildlife, Michigan continues to face environmental challenges. According to the Nature Conservancy, Michigan is expected to face a number of climate change consequences in coming years, including increased risk of severe storms and floods, the decline of tree species such as the paper birch and balsam fir, and a higher risk of algal blooms in bodies of fresh water.

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Algae Bloom on Lake Erie

However, organizations such as the Nature Conservancy and the Michigan Conservation Districts, alongside the continued efforts of Michigan's Indigenous peoples, persist in fighting to preserve and restore Michigan's unique ecosystems. The Michigan Conservation Districts (CDs) are a branch of the U.S. CDs, created by the USDA in response to the 1930s Dust Bowl. Michigan's 75 CDs work with local, state, and federal groups to "conserve [Michigan's] lands and waterways so our environment can be as clean, healthy, and economically robust as possible." Its six branches help to protect Michigan's water, soil, dunes, wildlife, farms, and forests, with programs such as the Michigan Agricultural Environmental Assurance Program and the USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service. Ultimately, citizens and organizations across Michigan continue to fight to restore habitats, educate communities, and preserve "Michigan's one-of-a-kind trove of ecological treasures" (MACD).

To learn more about Michigan's parks and conservation efforts through history, visit the Clarke Historical Library website and Michigan's Department of Natural Resources.

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National Parks and Conservation