Nature’s growth over many decades inspires visitors throughout the year. Michigan’s old-growth forest areas attract nature enthusiasts seeking to experience landscapes shaped by centuries of natural development.
Steve Voelker, associate professor of forestry and environmental sciences at Michigan Technological University, says the Upper Peninsula preserves the majority of the state’s old-growth forest areas. Many of these forests are found in smaller tracts of land that were harder to access during the height of Michigan’s logging era.
“Some of those old-growth forests are more kind of sugar maple and hemlock that were not as quite as desirable as the big old-growth white pines,” Voelker said. “So that’s really what makes some of these areas very impressive, especially Estivant Pines is that it does have one of those old-growth white pine forests that were really intensely targeted 120 years ago or so.”
Old-growth forests across the Upper Peninsula include the Estivant Pines, Sylvania Wilderness, Sturgeon River Gorge Wilderness and McCormick Wilderness. Voelker notes most old-growth in the state comprises white pine, hemlock and sugar maple trees, though other species thrive in these areas.
“There are lots of species that we have in Michigan that can be parts of old-growth forests,” Voelker said. “But usually the oldest trees are going to be white pine, sugar maple, hemlock, as well as white cedar, which doesn’t usually get as big, but can get very old. In some cases, there are remnant red pines, which can exceed the age of white pines in some cases. And then there are some of the other major species that go along with sugar maple are yellow birch and sometimes northern red oak can be quite old as well.”
Interestingly, Michigan could soon witness examples of modern old-growth forests. An old-growth forest stand must be at least 150 years old. Voelker says some areas harvested during Michigan’s earliest logging days contain trees that were either too young at the time or considered unusable by the industry.
“A number of them are recovering and getting to be a very impressive size now, 120 years later,” Voelker said. “Usually old-growth forests, we start to think of them as being 150 years and older. So we’re starting to approach that where a lot of those trees, if they haven’t been cut since that first logging, are starting to get larger.”
Across Michigan, visitors and residents have begun searching out each county’s tallest tree. While many old-growth trees grow quite tall, Voelker cautions that old-growth forests may not always contain an area’s tallest tree.
“Estivant Pines is, although they have huge diameter trees, it’s not a particularly productive site. It’s very rocky soil,” Voelker said. “So it usually wouldn’t go to that kind of site to find the tallest trees. The tallest trees are going to be in very fertile soils, usually at the bottom of a valley or in an area that’s kind of protected from the wind.”
Registration for the Keweenaw Land Trust’s Walking with Elders day of guided hikes through the Copper Country’s old-growth forests has filled up. The organization hopes to bring more people to appreciate these specimens in the future. Residents and visitors can always enjoy their own hikes.
Voelker encourages people to experience a walk through old-growth forests.
“They’ve just survived all kinds of challenges. And so they are something to be revered and they’re, you know, they make us, they kind of put us in our place and make us feel like maybe humans are kind of small compared to other parts of the world and nature that we can appreciate,” Voelker said.
Like many states across the nation, Michigan has limited old-growth forest land. Western states contain less than 5% of original old-growth, while states east of the Mississippi River conserve less than 1% of their original old-growth. Michigan contains more than other eastern states.
