Hartwick Pines State Park is a public recreation area covering in Crawford County near Grayling and

Interstate 75 Interstate 75 (I-75) is a major north–south Interstate Highway in the Great Lakes and Southeastern regions of the United States. As with most Interstates that end in 5, it is a major cross-country, north–south route, traveling from S ...

on the Lower Peninsula of the U.S. state of

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

. The

state park State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the sub-national level within those nations which use "Federated state, state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on accou ...

contains an

old-growth forest An old-growth forest or primary forest is a forest that has developed over a long period of time without disturbance. Due to this, old-growth forests exhibit unique ecological features. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Natio ...

of white pines and

red pine ''Pinus resinosa'', known as red pine (also Norway pine in Minnesota), is a pine native to Eastern North America. Description Red pine is a coniferous evergreen tree characterized by tall, straight growth. It usually ranges from in heigh ...

s, known as the Hartwick Pines. It is claimed by the Michigan Department of Natural resources that this old growth area, along with the Red Pine Natural Area Preserve in Roscommon County resembles the appearance of all

Northern Michigan Northern Michigan (also known as Northern Lower Michigan and colloquially within Michigan as "Up North") is a region of the U.S. state of Michigan. The region, which is distinct from the more northerly Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Upper Peninsul ...

prior to the logging era. These areas do, however, lack the reoccurring low intensity fires which once occurred throughout northern Michigan, impacting regeneration of red pine and

eastern hemlock ''Tsuga canadensis'', also known as eastern hemlock, eastern hemlock-spruce, or Canadian hemlock, and in the French-speaking regions of Canada as ''pruche du Canada'', is a coniferous tree native to eastern North America. It is the state tree of ...

, as well as leading to an increased content of

hardwood Hardwood is wood from Flowering plant, angiosperm trees. These are usually found in broad-leaved temperate and tropical forests. In temperate and boreal ecosystem, boreal latitudes they are mostly deciduous, but in tropics and subtropics mostl ...

species such as

sugar maple ''Acer saccharum'', the sugar maple, is a species of flowering plant in the soapberry and lychee family Sapindaceae. It is native to the hardwood forests of eastern Canada and the eastern United States. Sugar maple is best known for being the ...

and

beech Beech (genus ''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to subtropical (accessory forest element) and temperate (as dominant element of Mesophyte, mesophytic forests) Eurasia and North America. There are 14 accepted ...

History

The Hartwick Pines are a old-growth remnant of a pine grove that was withdrawn from logging by a local timbering firm in 1927—a time when very little old-growth pine remained in northern Michigan. Karen Michelson Hartwick, widow of lumberman

Major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

Edward Hartwick, donated the grove, which was then in size, and 8000 surrounding acres (32.4 km²) of cutover land to the state of Michigan as a memorial to the logging industry. Salling Hansen Lumber Company heavily logged much of the property within Hartwick Pines State Park during the 1880s and 1890s. The

Civilian Conservation Corps The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government unemployment, work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was ...

planted many of the park's trees in the 1930s as part of a massive restoration effort. Hence, this forest is known as "second growth." On November 11, 1940, the Armistice Day Blizzard badly damaged the Hartwick Pines old-growth pine grove. of old trees were destroyed by

windthrow In forestry, windthrow refers to trees uprooted by wind. Breakage of the tree bole (botany), bole (trunk) instead of uprooting is called windsnap. Blowdown refers to both windthrow and windsnap. Causes Windthrow is common in all forested ...

from this and other storms, leaving behind the that remain.

Logging museum

The Hartwick Pines Logging Museum was erected by the

(CCC) in 1934–1935. It contains recreated exhibit rooms, photographs and artifacts of the lumber boom years of northern Michigan. The museum is located in two replica logging camp buildings and has outdoor exhibits of logging equipment and an enclosed steam-powered sawmill that is operated during summer events. The museum is administered by the

Michigan Department of Natural Resources The Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is the agency of the state of Michigan founded in 1921, charged with maintaining natural resources such as state parks, state forests, and recreation areas. It is governed by a director appoint ...

' Michigan History Museum.

Activities and amenities

The Michigan Forest Visitor Center contains an exhibit hall on the history of the forests in Michigan, an auditorium, classroom space, a bookstore operated by the non-profit Friends of Hartwick Pines, and restrooms. The visitor center has an auditorium that can seat 105 people and a nine-projector multi-image slide show. The show is approximately 14 minutes long and shares the story of logging from past until today. Programs and special events are offered throughout the year. The state park includes a

campground Campsite, campground, and camping pitch are all related terms regarding a place used for camping (an overnight stay in an outdoor area). The usage differs between British English and American English. In British English, a ''campsite'' is an ...

, day-use area, and network of four-season trails for summer hiking and winter

cross-country skiing Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing whereby skiers traverse snow-covered terrain without use of ski lifts or other assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreational activity; however, some still use it as a m ...

. The Old Growth Forest Trail to the pine grove is a loop long. The Old Growth Forest is an even-aged stand of pines estimated to be between 350 and 375 years old. The tallest trees are between 150 and 160 feet tall, and have a girth of more than four feet DBH (Diameter at breast height). These eastern white pine are some of the largest trees in the eastern United States. The last remaining virgin maple and beech hardwood forest in the state is at Warren Woods State Park. There are two foot trails on the south side of M-93. The wooded Au Sable River foot trail is approximately three miles in length and takes hikers across the East Branch at two different locations. The Mertz Grade Trail winds through forest and field for approximately two miles and was named for the early logging railroad spur it shares for a portion of its distance. There are four small lakes located within the state park. Two of the lakes were originally named Bright and Star Lake. However, there were too many Star Lakes so they settled on Bright and Glory Lake.

In the news

Although changes in drilling technology make drilling for oil and gas possible under historically nonproductive strata in northern Michigan, including sections of state forests, the state of Michigan decided in 2014 not to auction off mineral rights under Hartwick Pines.

References

External links

Hartwick Pines State Park
Michigan Department of Natural Resources
Hartwick Pines State Park Map
Michigan Department of Natural Resources {{authority control State parks of Michigan Protected areas of Crawford County, Michigan Protected areas established in 1927 1927 establishments in Michigan Old-growth forests Civilian Conservation Corps in Michigan Forestry museums in the United States Industry museums in Michigan