Lake Superior State Forest
Encyclopedia
Lake Superior State Forest is a state forest
in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan
. It is operated by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources
. The North Country Trail
utilizes this state forest for 43 miles (69 km) of its route.
The Lake Superior forest region was one of the last areas in Michigan to be logged for old-growth Red Pine
and White Pine
. Logging continued into the 1910s. Much of the sandy, cut-over land was seen as worthless and was allowed to revert to the state of Michigan in lieu of unpaid property tax
es. The state reorganized these parcels of property as the Lake Superior State Forest.
State forest
A state forest is a forest that is administered or protected by some agency of a sovereign state.The precise application of the term varies by jurisdiction...
in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
. It is operated by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources
Michigan Department of Natural Resources
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources is the agency of the state of Michigan charged with maintaining natural resources such as state parks, state forests, and recreation areas. It is governed by a director appointed by the Governor and accepted by the Natural Resources Commission...
. The North Country Trail
North Country Trail
The North Country National Scenic Trail , which stretches approximately from Crown Point in eastern New York to Lake Sakakawea in central North Dakota in the United States, is the longest of the eleven National Scenic Trails authorized by Congress...
utilizes this state forest for 43 miles (69 km) of its route.
The Lake Superior forest region was one of the last areas in Michigan to be logged for old-growth Red Pine
Red Pine
Pinus resinosa, commonly known as the red pine or Norway pine, is pine native to North America. The Red Pine occurs from Newfoundland west to Manitoba, and south to Pennsylvania, with several smaller, disjunct populations occurring in the Appalachian Mountains in Virginia and West Virginia, as well...
and White Pine
Eastern White Pine
Pinus strobus, commonly known as the eastern white pine, is a large pine native to eastern North America, occurring from Newfoundland west to Minnesota and southeastern Manitoba, and south along the Appalachian Mountains to the northern edge of Georgia.It is occasionally known as simply white pine,...
. Logging continued into the 1910s. Much of the sandy, cut-over land was seen as worthless and was allowed to revert to the state of Michigan in lieu of unpaid property tax
Property tax
A property tax is an ad valorem levy on the value of property that the owner is required to pay. The tax is levied by the governing authority of the jurisdiction in which the property is located; it may be paid to a national government, a federated state or a municipality...
es. The state reorganized these parcels of property as the Lake Superior State Forest.