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Northern Michigan

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Northern Michigan - or more properly Northern Lower Michigan - is a region of the U.S. state of Michigan, popular as a tourist destination, resort area, and vacation area. It is home to several small- to medium-sized cities; extensive state and national forests; lakes and rivers; and the Great Lakes shoreline. The region has a significant seasonal population much like other regions that depend on tourism as their main industry.
Northern Michigan is distinguished from the Upper Peninsula.
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Northern Michigan is distinguished from the Upper Peninsula.

Contents

Geography

The region is not precisely defined, with residents in the far southern part of the state tending to include areas just north of Flint and Grand Rapids, but more northern residents restricting it to the area north of Mount Pleasant: the "fingers" of the mitten-like shape of the Lower Peninsula. People from Northern Michigan generally use the term "downstate" to refer to people and places south of the region.

Across the Straits of Mackinac, to the north and west, lies the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (the "U.P."). Despite its geographic location as the most northerly part of Michigan, the Upper Peninsula is not usually included in the definition of Northern Michigan (although Northern Michigan University is located in the U.P. city of Marquette), and is instead regarded by Michigan residents as a distinct region of the state. The two regions are connected by the Mackinac Bridge.

Summer destinations

Many city dwellers from "downstate" and nearby areas (notably Chicago) have summer vacation homes in Northern Michigan. The largest resort cities in Northern Michigan are in the west on Lake Michigan, with its sandy beaches and warm bays. Popular tourist towns in Northern Michigan include Traverse City, Charlevoix, Petoskey, Frankfort, Harbor Springs, Leland, Mackinaw City, and Mackinac Island (which lies between the Lower and Upper Peninsulas in the Straits of Mackinac). Boating, golf, and camping are leading activities.

Non-summer destinations

Some of the ski resorts located on the western side include Boyne Mountain, Boyne Highlands, Crystal Mountain Resort and Nubs Nob. Some of these also serve as summer golf resorts.

Fall activities include harvest festivals, and driving around in the woods to watch the colorful fall leaves. Hunting in Northern Michigan is a popular fall pastime. There are seasons for bow hunting as well as for using guns. The opening day of deer season is often an unofficial local holiday, so important that a number of area high schools close on that day.

In winter, a variety of sports are enjoyed by the locals which also draw visitors to Northern Michigan. Snowmobiling, also called sledding, is popular, and with hundreds of miles of interconnected groomed trails cross the region. Icefishing is also popular. Tip-up Town on Houghton Lake is a major ice-fishing, snowmobiling and winter sports festival, and is unique in that it is a village that assembles out on the frozen lake surface.

History and local culture

Northern Michigan was inhabited by Native American tribes well before English settlers founded a fort on Mackinac Island. Later, industry depended on natural resources such as lumber and fur trading which contributed to the rise of Traverse City. When the railroads connected Northern Michigan to the large cities through Kalamazoo, some wealthy urbanites established summer home associations in Charlevoix and Bay Shore. As railroad usage declined in the 1960s and 1970s because of increased automobile travel, aggressive promotion of Northern Michigan by local chambers of commerce led to many of the festivals and attractions that bring visitors north even today.

The area was populated by a many different ethnicities, including groups from New Englander, Germany, and Poland. Native American reservations exist at Mount Pleasant and on the Leelanau Peninsula.

Economy

Historically, lumbering and commercial fishing were among the most important industries. Logging is still important but at a mere fraction of its heyday output. Commercial fishing is a minor activity.

Agriculture is limited by the climate and soil conditions compared to southern regions of the state. However, there are significant potato and dry bean farms in the east. Wine grapes, vegetables and cherries are produced in the west in the protected microclimates around Grand Traverse Bay. The Grand Traverse Bay area is listed as one of the most endangered agricultural regions in the U.S. as its scenic land is highly sought after for vacation homes.

Large industries are sparse; cement-making and the mining of limestone and gypsum on the Lake Huron shore are the major exports of the area. Much of Michigan's natural gas extraction is from wells in Northern Michigan. A small number of men work on the Great Lakes freighters.

Festivals

A number of annual festivals occur in Northern Michigan including: The Chicago to Mackinac Boat Race and Port Huron to Mackinac Boat Race both end on Mackinac Island. The Au Sable Canoe Marathon, one of the few pro-am canoeing events in the U.S., occurs on the Au Sable River, where winning times may be as long as 21 hours.

Flora and fauna

Northern Michigan has many tree types including maple, birch, white cedar, aspen, pine, and beech. Ferns, milkweed, Queen Anne's lace, and chickory grow in the open fields and along roadsides. Forest plants include wild leeks, morel mushrooms, and trilliums. Marram grass grows on beaches. Several mosses cover the land.

Common animals in Northern Michigan include white-tailed deer, fox, and rabbits. Black bear, elk, coyote, and bobcat are also present. Fish include whitefish, yellow perch, trout, bass, northern pike, walleye, muskie, and sunfish.

Common birds are ducks, seagulls, wild turkey, blue herons ,cardinals, blue jays, black-capped chickadees and ruffed grouse. Canada Geese may be seen flying over head in spring and fall. Less well known birds that are unique in Michigan to the Northern Lower Peninsula are spruce grouse, sharp-tailed grouse, red-throated loon,Swainson's hawk, and the boreal owl. [link] [link].

Insects populations are similar to those found elsewhere in the midwestern United States. Lady bugs, crickets, dragonflies, mosquitoes, ants, house flies, and grasshoppers are common, as are several kinds of butterflies and moths (for example, monarch butterflies and tomato worm moths). Notable deviations in insect populations are a high population of June bugs during June as well as a scarcity of lightning bugs because of the lower average temperatures year round and especially in the summer.

There are no poisonous snakes native to Northern Michigan. The poisonous Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake lives in Michigan, but it is not common, and its range does not usually extend as far north as Northern Michigan. Snakes present include the eastern hog-nosed snake, brown snake, common garter snake, eastern milk snake and the northern ribbon snake. The only common reptiles and amphibians are various pond frogs, toads, salamanders, and small turtles.

Media

Northern Michigan is in the Designated Market Areas of "[[Template: Northern Michigan TV| Traverse City-Cadillac]]" (113), "[[Template: Alpena TV|Alpena]]"(208), and some portions of the "[[Template: Flint-Saginaw-Bay City TV|Flint-Saginaw-Bay City]]"(65) .

Newspapers

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Broadcast Television

See also

External links

State of Michigan
Capital Lansing
State Government Governor - Legislature - Supreme Court
Regions Upper Peninsula: Copper Country | Keweenaw Peninsula
Lower Peninsula: Central Michigan | Metro Detroit | Michiana | Northern Michigan | The Thumb | Southern Michigan | Western Michigan
Counties Alcona | Alger | Allegan | Alpena | Antrim | Arenac | Baraga | Barry | Bay | Benzie | Berrien | Branch | Calhoun | Cass | Charlevoix | Cheboygan | Chippewa | Clare | Clinton | Crawford | Delta | Dickinson | Eaton | Emmet | Genesee | Gladwin | Gogebic | Grand Traverse | Gratiot | Hillsdale | Houghton | Huron | Ingham | Ionia | Iosco | Iron | Isabella | Jackson | Kalamazoo | Kalkaska | Kent | Keweenaw | Lake | Lapeer | Leelanau | Lenawee | Livingston | Luce | Mackinac | Macomb | Manistee | Marquette | Mason | Mecosta | Menominee | Midland | Missaukee | Monroe | Montcalm | Montmorency | Muskegon | Newaygo | Oakland | Oceana | Ogemaw | Ontonagon | Osceola | Oscoda | Otsego | Ottawa | Presque Isle | Roscommon | Saginaw | Sanilac | Schoolcraft | Shiawassee | St. Clair | St. Joseph | Tuscola | Van Buren | Washtenaw | Wayne | Wexford
Largest Urban Places Ann Arbor | Battle Creek | Bay City | Canton | Clinton Township | Dearborn | Detroit | Flint | Grand Rapids | Kalamazoo | Lansing | Livonia | Midland | Pontiac | Rochester Hills | Saginaw | Shelby | Southfield | Sterling Heights | Taylor | Troy | Warren | West Bloomfield | Westland

 

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