In 1871 much of it was destroyed by a forest fire.
The smoke from a forest fire can drift hundreds of miles, carry pollutants as it drifts, darken the sky, and spread to create poor air quality.
One of the first disasters that the American Red Cross addressed was a forest fire in Michigan.
A joint field trip is being planned for 2007, supported by a NERC grant on Forest Fire Intensity Dynamics.
The destruction of considerable portions of the forests by cattle, goats, insects, fire and cutting has been followed by reforesting, the planting of hitherto barren tracts, the passage of severe forest fire laws, and the establishment of forest reserves, of which the area in 1909 was 545,746 acres, of which 357,180 were government land.