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)
“It is almost as safe to assume that an artist of any dignity is against his country, i.e., against the environment in which God hath placed him, as it is to assume that his country is against the artist.”
—H.L. (Henry Lewis)
“In his sleeves, which were long,
He had twenty-four packs,—
Which was coming it strong,
Yet I state but the facts;
And we found on his nails, which were taper,
What is frequent in tapers,—that’s wax.”
—Bret Harte (1836–1902)
“I perceive that in these woods the earliest settlements are, for various reasons, clustering about the lakes, but partly, I think, for the sake of the neighborhood as the oldest clearings. They are forest schools already established,—great centres of light.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)