Notes on the Mammals of Gogebic and Ontonagon Counties, Michigan, 1920: Occasional Papers of the Museum of Zoology, Number 109Dice, Lee R. (Lee Raymond)
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Notes on the Mammals of Gogebic and Ontonagon Counties, Michigan, 1920: Occasional Papers of the Museum of Zoology, Number 109
_White pine forest habitat:_ White pine (_Pinus strobus_), which
formerly was a common forest tree in northern Michigan, has now been
mostly removed for lumber. Near Little Girl's Point a small natural
grove of this species was studied, occupying a moderate southerly slope
above a black spruce bog. The area is about 50 by 150 meters in size.
White pines are by far the most numerous and dominant tree, the trunks
measuring up to about five feet in diameter. In the grove yellow birch,
some of large size, are common; toward the bottom of the slope hemlocks
are also common; and near the edge of the bog there are a few
arbor-vitae. Shrubs are almost absent, there being merely a few small
seedlings of arbor-vitae, hemlock, and fir, mostly toward the bottom of
the slope. A few scattered clumps of grass appear, but the forest floor
is mostly covered only by a thick carpet of dry pine needles. Numerous
dead limbs and sticks have fallen from the pines.
_Wet hardwood forest habitat:_ The land adjoining much of Gogebic Lake
is low and poorly drained. Here is found a mixed forest dominated by
sugar maple (_Acer saccharum_), black maple, hemlock, yellow birch
(_Betula lutea_), linden, elm (_Ulmus americana_), ash (not black ash),
and ironwood (_Ostrya virginiana_). The hardwoods are decidedly
dominant over the conifers. The forest crown is high and closed, and
the trees are large. The underbrush in general is scanty, though in
some places there is a thick growth of mountain maple (_Acer spicatum_)
and of sugar maple seedlings. Leatherwood (_Dirca palustris_), hazel,
ferns, and a few young firs (_Abies balsamea_) also occur.
Some of the lower forests in the Cisco Lake Region approach the wet
hardwood forest type, though none are extensive in area, and they are
usually surrounded and dominated by the dry forest condition.
_Dry hardwood forest habitat:_ The highest development of the dry
hardwood type of forest was found on the upper parts of the moderately
high ridge near Little Girl's Point. The slopes in general are very
gentle, but well drained. The forest here is dominated by the sugar
maple (_Acer saccharum_), yellow birch (_Betula lutea_), and linden
(_Tilia americana_). Hemlocks are rare, and only one elm was seen. The
trees are large, the trunks frequently reaching diameters of two feet
or more. The forest crown is high and heavy. Underbrush is scanty and
low, being mostly young seedlings of sugar maple, though seedlings of
linden are numerous. Other shrubs and herbs noted were the leatherwood
(_Dirca palustris_), hazel (_Corylus rostrata_), yew (_Taxus
canadensis_), gooseberry, ferns, false Solomon's seal, and grass. On
the ground are many decaying leaves, these usually forming a heavy
carpet; decaying logs and freshly fallen sticks are common.
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