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History of Michigan Conservation

Michigan's conservation past is distinguished by the work citizens have done to protect and restore the land, water, air, and other natural resources.

In the mid-1800s, loggers, developers, market hunters and anglers began devouring the state’s natural resources without much thought for the future. It was not unusual for early Michigan conservationists to see and deplore the wasteful taking of thousands of fish, or the killing of thousands of birds, by sport or market hunters and anglers. 

In 1875, citizens formed the Michigan Sportsman’s Association, which fought a 12-year and ultimately successful fight in the legislature to create a force of state game wardens (now called conservation officers). This helped promote respect and enforcement of the early fish and game protection laws. Most destructive of all was the mining of the state’s forests. Plundering them for profit and replanting little, lumber barons who dominated decisions by the State Legislature helped eliminate 92% of Michigan’s forests by the 1920s, leaving ruined lands and logging wastes that resulted in murderous fires. 

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One of the state’s most important early conservationists, Charles A. Garfield of Grand Rapids, spent decades working to educate citizens on the need for conservation and the importance of creating a state forest system (which is now one of the biggest in the nation.) In 1901, the state’s citizen forestry movement convinced the legislature to create the first forest reserves, starting Michigan toward its nearly 4-million-acre state forest system.

In the 20th Century the foe was gross pollution. Raw sewage killed citizens who drank from or swam in contaminated waters across the state. Oil and chemicals killed fish and wildlife. When thousands of ducks died on the Detroit River in the winter of 1948, the Michigan United Conservation Clubs (MUCC) brought their carcasses to Lansing and dumped them on the walkway to the Capitol. 

These and other stories generated public indignation, and prompted the legislature to begin tightening pollution laws in the late 1940s. But the biggest changes came after 1968, when Michigan voters approved a $335 clean water bond. As citizen protests multiplied and a new generation of environmental organizations sprung up in the 1960s and 1970s, Governor William  Milliken and legislators responded with laws that became regional and national landmarks, including the Michigan Environmental Protection Act, the bottle deposit law, controls on phosphorus pollution and a wetland protection law. We see the benefits today in sparkling lakes and rivers and cleaner skies.

The challenges now are just as many and as tough. One of the most formidable natural resource challenges is the loss and fragmentation of farmland, forest, wetlands, shoreline and open space, and inadequate funding to protect and maintain our public lands. But our state history is characterized by examples of heroic leadership by determined, sometimes lonely citizens and their organizations. That kind of energy and vision will be equally important in the future to help us protect the land.


Heart of the Lakes strengthens the collective efforts of organizations dedicated to the conservation of Michigan’s environmentally and economically significant land and water. We provide leadership, innovative ideas, and advocate for smart public policy for the benefit of our communities and for generations to come.
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Heart of the Lakes
PO Box 1128
Bay City, MI  48706
Heart of the Lakes is a statewide organization that concentrates and strengthens the efforts of Michigan’s land conservation community. Founded by Michigan’s land conservancies, Heart of the Lakes does what no individual organization can do on its own-- unites them under the common goal of protecting Michigan’s land. 

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Heart of the Lakes
P.O. Box 1128 Bay City, MI  48706
989-292-3582

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