Vermilion Point - Shiras Expeditions

Shiras Expeditions

In the early 20th century the University of Michigan conducted, over several years, a comprehensive series of ecological investigations in the Whitefish Point-Vermillion region, supported by George Shiras. Subjects included botany; ichthyology; ornithology; herpetology; and others, and provide nearly 100 years later a valuable set of baseline data for conditions at the time. The report of the flora, for example, includes in addition to a list of plants found and their habitats and locations, many photographs of the area around the Vermillion Station and the nearby wetlands. Many of the results were published under the general title "Results of the Shiras Expeditions to the Whitefish Point Region, Michigan", most by the University of Michigan (Occasional Papers series of several of the museums), the Reports of the Michigan Academy of Science, or the Michigan Geological and Biological Survey.