Beaver Island ArchiveA primary-source archive & encyclopedia45°40′N 85°33′W · Lake MichiganSearch

Dataset

Circa-1800 land-cover unit 36589: Beech-Sugar Maple-Hemlock Forest

0

Draft — sources verified, prose evolving

TypeDataset
Coordinates45.4130° N, 85.8449° W
WithinBeaver Island archipelago
ErasEarly American era
On this page
Dataset
Coordinates
45.4130° N, 85.8449° W
Eras
Early American era
Concepts
environmentland-surveyforests
Within
Beaver Island archipelago

Summary

This record represents polygon 36589 in Michigan’s Land Cover Circa 1800 reconstruction. Its source label is BEECH-SUGAR MAPLE-HEMLOCK FOREST, and its computed footprint is approximately 11,840,796.0 m² in EPSG:3078. The polygon is a data record in the environmental baseline, not a claim that the entire area had a uniform stand or that the reconstruction observes every plant community.

Evidence and limits

The layer was reconstructed from original GLO surveyors’ section-line notes. That makes it valuable for environmental history and for comparison with the survey grid, while also imposing limits: the source is a generalized historical classification, not a modern field inventory. The geometry should therefore be used with the dataset-wide caveats in Pre-settlement landscape and environmental history.

Open questions

  • Which original survey-line observations support this polygon’s classification?
  • How did later logging, farming, drainage, fire, or regrowth alter this unit?
  • Can the polygon be related responsibly to a named modern wetland, dune, or forest stand without treating a generalized boundary as an exact one?

See also

Sources

  1. Michigan Department of Natural Resources / Michigan Natural Features Inventory, Land Cover Circa 1800, retrieved 2026-07-28.
    Land-cover polygon OBJECTID 36589; source cover type 'BEECH-SUGAR MAPLE-HEMLOCK FOREST'; computed area 11,840,796.0 m² in EPSG:3078. The layer is a reconstruction from original GLO surveyors' section-line notes, not a parcel or species census. The identical polygon layer is also present in the consolidated /data1 archive.
    state · michigan · land_cover_circa_1800