The western Upper Peninsula is part of the taiga, or boreal forest, the largest terrestrial biome in the world. The taiga covers parts of Alaska, Canada, Russia, Japan, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, and of course Finland—to which the above scene bears an especially strong resemblance. An oversized mouth relative to its frame is one way the brook trout has adapted to its short growing season.
Through an opening in the forest, sunlight falls on an old wolf kill. All that remains of this whitetail are a few tufts of hair. The U. This make-shift shower in a backwoods trout camp offers something no five-star hotel does: free-range hygiene with a view of the stars. Woodlots, seldom larger than acres adjacent to farmland, continue to be fractured into smaller parcels near suburban areas. The Upper Peninsula is dominated by northern hardwood forests which occupy the better upland soils and which also occur in poorer quality on lighter soils.
These stands include principally sugar maple, elm, basswood, and yellow birch, with beech present in the east half of the peninsula, and with hemlock and white pine often in mixture.
The large areas of sandy plains found in many parts of the peninsula mostly support pines. Spruce, balsam, cedar, and tamarack larch , the swamp conifers, generally occupy the poorly drained sites, while extensive areas of aspen occur throughout, principally on burned-over lands.
In the Lower Peninsula northern hardwoods occupy the extreme northern part, extending in a broad band along the northwest side and into the central and southwestern sections. Yellow birch, hemlock, and white pine occur with less frequency or are entirely absent in these stands below the center of the state.
Pine occurs principally in the broad sand plains and hills region in the north central and northeast parts. Aspen covers extensive areas of old burns throughout the north half of the Lower Peninsula, while the swamp conifers occupy the poorly drained and wet sites.
The central hardwoods in general occupy the southeast part of the Lower Peninsula and are characterized by the oaks and hickories on the dry hilly soils, and by such species as sycamore, cottonwood, and silver maple on the heavier soils and bottom lands.
While the area of forest coverage has generally rebounded since the timber boom period of the last century, few regions of the State contain the same mixture of tree species that existed prior to settlement. For further information email Wayne. Kiefer cmich. Source: Atlas of Michigan , ed. Lawrence M. Sommers, How do we know so much about presettlement vegetation patterns?
These diminutive brown and white shorebirds blend in easily with sandy beaches. Another factor leading to the decline of the piping plover is the increase of human-tolerant predators like gulls, raccoons, feral cats and skunks.
These ever-changing ecosystems are great to visit for a wide range of recreation, from beachcombing to birdwatching. However, to preserve these beautiful dune communities and the valuable plants and animals that thrive there, we need to take a few precautions.
These forests provide spectacular displays of color in the fall and attract thousands of tourists to the state. Beech-sugar maple forests are found mainly in southern Michigan and are characterized by moist soil, long growing seasons, high nutrient availability, and beech, sugar maple and red maple trees. Other trees that commonly grow in the beech-sugar maple forest are walnut, tulip tree, aspen, black cherry, ash and basswood. Northern hardwoods are like beech-sugar maple forests, but they occur farther north, where the growing season is a bit shorter.
Eastern hemlocks, white pines, yellow birches and northern white cedars are commonly mixed in with the beech, maple, ash, black cherry and basswoods of the beech-sugar maple forests. Aspen forests are most often found in northern Lower Michigan and the Upper Peninsula and are dominated by trembling quaking aspen and big-toothed aspen, both of which are shade-intolerant, fast growing and short-lived.
Other trees associated with the aspen community include white birch, balsam fir, pin cherry, red maple, and white and red pine. Young forests can be an old field growing up in saplings, a shrubby wetland or new trees springing up after recent logging. Aspen is a key component of a young forest. Many wild animals need young forest habitat. A couple of these include ruffed grouse and American woodcock, both prized by hunters. Conservationists and landowners create young forests by mimicking natural disturbance events using timber harvests, mowing, shrub and tree planting, and controlled burning, all of which stimulate the dense regrowth of small trees and shrubs.
Aspen is a valuable timber tree. It springs up thickly following logging, creating excellent habitat for wildlife. Desert Biome. Prairie Biome. By the end of the s, these magnificent animals were pushed to the brink of extinction by buffalo hunters. Today they survive in preserves such as the National Bison Range in Montana.
Plant Community: An assemblage or association of certain dominant indicator species occupying a given region.
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