Copper Country State Forest is a state forest in the west-central Upper Peninsula of Michigan. It is operated by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
Like other Upper Peninsula state forests, Copper Country is made up of clear cut parcels of forest land in thinly settled portions of counties such as Baraga County and Dickinson County. The state of Michigan acquired these land parcels after they had been stripped of their old growth trees in the late 19th and early 20th centuries; today, the state manages the land for reforestation. In many cases, the second-growth trees that have sprouted throughout Copper Country land are pulpwood trees such as aspen and birch.
In addition to pulpwood logging, the Copper Country land is valuable for active recreation, such as camping, fishing, and hunting. Many of the towns and cities of the Upper Peninsula have an active culture of whitetail deer hunting.
Famous quotes containing the words copper, country, state and/or forest:
“He had put, within his reach,
A box of counters and a red-veined stone,
A piece of glass abraded by the beach,
And six or seven shells,
A bottle with bluebells,
And two French copper coins, ranged there with careful art,”
—Coventry Kersey Dighton Patmore (1823–1896)
“Lars Jorgensen: It’s this country killed my boy. Yes, by golly, I tell you Ethan—
Mrs. Jorgensen: Now Lars. It just so happens we be Texicans. A Texican is nothing but a human man way out on a limb, this year, and next, maybe for a hundred more. But I don’t think it’ll be forever. Someday this country’s going to be a fine good place to be. Maybe it needs our bones in the ground before that time can come.”
—Frank S. Nugent (1908–1965)
“It is almost never when a state of things is the most detestable that it is smashed, but when, beginning to improve, it permits men to breathe, to reflect, to communicate their thoughts with each other, and to gauge by what they already have the extent of their rights and their grievances. The weight, although less heavy, seems then all the more unbearable.”
—Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–1859)
“Our democracy, our culture, our whole way of life is a spectacular triumph of the blah. Why not have a political convention without politics to nominate a leader who’s out in front of nobody?... Maybe our national mindlessness is the very thing that keeps us from turning into one of those smelly European countries full of pseudo-reds and crypto-fascists and greens who dress like forest elves.”
—P.J. (Patrick Jake)