Of Michigan's great wealth of natural resources, few have been more important in the past or are more highly valued today than our forests and the trees which compose them. Not only are they a continuous source of raw materials for industry and agriculture but they affect the climate, water resources, and soil, purify our air, furnish food and shelter for wildlife and are indispensable to our vast recreational and scenic areas. They form a basic part of our diverse natural environment - our ""biodiversity."" Their protection and management are vital to the state's wellbeing. Industries which depend upon trees for their existence are major employers and rank high in the state's economy. The annual production and manufacture of forest products is measured in billions of dollars. The recreation ""industry,"" including vacation travel, resorts, food, lodging, hunting, fishing, and camping, is likewise a multi-billion dollar a year business. Equally important is the intangible wealth which trees bring to us through sheer enjoyment of beauty and love of nature. Whether in field, fencerow, woodlot or forest, or along highways, rural roads, urban streets, or greenbelts, this bounty is ours for the taking. We have only to picture ourselves without trees to appreciate this value.

An illustrated chapter on the renowned Michigan map expert Louis Karpinski opens this volume, following a comparative introduction by the noted cartographic historian David Buisseret. Twelve chapters tell particular stories. Often these narratives extend well beyond the limits of today's state of Michigan. American Indian mapmakers sought to give directions and convey cosmological meanings and political relationships; only gradually did they adopt the geometric framing and uniformity of European maps, which reflected a different set of cultural attitudes. Would-be colonial governors mapped to promote their dreams. Boundary commissioners surveyed and mapped to settle contested claims and lay the foundations for peace along the U.S.-Canadian border. On the Canadian side, surveyors drew maps to build up the new British colony against American influences and encroachments. Mapmakers were also ambitious entrepreneurs, peddling illustrated county atlases to proud farm owners, bird's-eye views to show off towns, and plat and insurance maps to aid property development. In describing how people produced and used maps, contributors tell a larger story of one region's peoples and cultures--and of a nation's zeal for exploration.

A revised and updated guide to reptiles and amphibians in the Great Lakes region