Vegetation circa 1800

Between 1816 and 1855 Government Land Office Surveyors mapped a one-mile grid across the entire surface of Michigan, starting in the southeast near Lake Erie and finishing along the Wisconsin border along Lake Superior. The surveyors’ maps opened the lands of Michigan to sale and settlement, and the grid was gradually transformed into our present road system.

The Land Office Surveyors were not only creating a grid for land sales, but they were also recording information about the land and its vegetation, describing the fertility of the soil, mapping bedrock exposures, and recording the size and species of the trees. Biologists from the Michigan Natural Features Inventory developed a methodology to translate the notes of the GLO surveys into a digital map that can be used by researchers, land managers, and the general public. The map allows you to retrace the surveyors’ paths across the unsettled landscape, seeing your neighborhood and the entire state as the surveyors saw it. The broad prairies surrounding Detroit, extensive forests of white pine and red pine along Saginaw Bay, oak savannas open enough for driving covered wagons near Kalamazoo, dense forests of sugar maple and American beech standing at the site of the capitol in Lansing, and many more forest types were described by the surveyors.

Map Viewer

This interactive tool allows users to explore vegetation as it existed in the 1800's across the Michigan landscape. The historical data can be viewed by moving the swipe tool side to side. Current aerial imagery is shown underneath including current roads and cities, you can also switch to the OpenStreetMap basemap in the bottom left. View the legend and layer list in the bottom right. Navigate around the map using your mouse or the zoom buttons on the top left. You can also use the search bar to search for a specific location. Click anywhere on the map to identify the cover type. There are three tools on the top right for you to use; measurement tool - measure area, distance or identify coordinates; a suite of sketching tools - Create points, lines, or polygons on the map; export - exports a PDF, JPG, or PNG of the current map.

View Map

County Maps

The vegetation circa 1800 data is also available for each county as a printable map in PDF format.

Choose a county Select Alcona Alger East Alger West Allegan Alpena Antrim Arenac Baraga North Baraga South Barry Bay Benzie Berrien Branch Calhoun Cass Charlevoix Cheboygan Chippewa Center Chippewa East Chippewa West Clare Clinton Crawford Delta North Delta South Dickinson Eaton Emmet Genessee Gladwin Gogebic East Gogebic West Grand Traverse Gratiot Hillsdale Houghton North Houghton South Huron East Huron West Ingham Ionia Iosco Iron East Iron West Isabella Isle Royale Jackson Kalamazoo Kalkaska Kent Keweenaw Lake Lapeer Leelanau Lenawee Livingston Luce Mackinac East Mackinac West Macomb Manistee Marquette NW Marquette SE Marquette SW Mason Mecosta Menominee North Menominee South Midland Missaukee Monroe Montcalm Montmorency Muskegon Newaygo Oakland Oceana Ogemaw Ontonagon North Ontonagon South Osceola Oscoda Otsego Ottawa Presque Isle Roscommon Saginaw Sanilac Schoolcraft North Schoolcraft South Shiawassee St. Clair North St. Clair South St. Joseph Tuscola Van Buren Washtenaw Wayne Wexford