Pigeon River Country: A Michigan Forest

Title Page, Copyright

Pigeon River Country Contributors Sibley Hoobler Ford Kellum Harold D. Mahan Gerald F. Myers Eugene E. Ochsner L. K. Titus o Pigeon River Country A MICHIGAN FOREST DALE CLARKE FRANZ Revised Edition The University of Michigan Press o Ann Arbor Copyright © by Dale Clarke Franz 1985, 2007 All rights reserved Published in the United States of America by The University of Michigan Press Manufactured in the United States of America c Printed on acid-free paper 2010 2009 2008 2007 4 3 2 1 No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher. A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Franz, Dale Clarke, 1937– Pigeon River Country : a Michigan forest / Dale Clarke Franz. — Rev. ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN-13: 978-0-472-03164-1 (pbk. : alk. paper) ISBN-10: 0-472-03164-3 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Pigeon River Region (Mich.)—History. 2. Pigeon River Region (Mich.)— Description and travel. 3. Pigeon River Country State Forest (Mich.)—History. 4. Pigeon River Country State Forest (Mich.)— Description and travel. 5. Natural history—Michigan— Pigeon River Region. 6. Natural history—Michigan—Pigeon River Country State Forest. I. Title. F572.P53F73 2007 977.4'83—dc22 2007030973 The first edition of this book was made possible by a grant from the Madge and Raymond Hoobler Foundation. Maps by wildlife artist Rod Lawrence. To FORD KELLUM who expressed what was in all our hearts Preface Among changes addressed in this revised edition are a shift in the scientific community away from believing only humans think and have feelings and growing disappointment that formal agreement failed to stop hydrocarbon pressures arising to bedevil the forest. Potentially powerful threats emerged in mid-2007, too late for examination in our book: Oil and gas promoters now suggest that the Pigeon’s off-limits resources be exploited to provide inexpensive energy for environmentally friendly technologies like solar panels, which take much energy to make. Even though it would override protections long in place, the idea appealed to some in a state facing one of the most severe money crunches in the nation. “Every generation has to fight anew to protect the Pigeon and places like it,” Ken Glasser, chairman of the Otsego County Board of Commissioners, said. There are two new chapters, “Ecology” and “Animals and People,” plus an afterword , “Presence.” We solve the mystery of the dam spill. We describe how global warming will likely affect this forest. A richer understanding of life forms gives us a new perspective on why places like the Pigeon River Country are so special. We give additional emphasis to threats from overuse and how many of its qualities can be enjoyed in other natural settings. This is not a book to stuff into your pocket for a trip to the woods. It’s one to curl up with on a winter evening by the fire. Of course, some forest surroundings can enhance any book. The ‹rst time I saw Lewis Thomas’s Lives of a Cell in a shop near my Philadelphia apartment, I dismissed it for some forgotten intellectual reason. After moving to the north woods, a friend sent me a copy, and I remember a wonderful afternoon spent leaning against a pine stump in the Pigeon River Country waiting with my camera for deer to step into a clearing and reading that the giant clam, if he had a mind to, might be dismayed that he has incorporated so much of the plant world into his own complex clamhood while plant cells and algae might have tinges of conscience that it was they who had captured the clam on the most satisfying terms. The forest is nearly a world apart from our normal experience. This book was ‹rst proposed as a guide to the Pigeon River Country but a more substantial concept soon emerged, re›ecting a depth of affection for this forest impossible to ignore. The book is about Walter Babcock growing up in the Pigeon River Country and saying, “We took some schooling, missed a lot of it.” It is about Sam Titus and a herd of elk listening to Bach on her car radio. It is about spruces pointing into the sky and winterberries nestled in the snow. In one sense, this is a regional history...