09/24/2026
We're pretty sure this is one of the most exciting finds of the week! So much to uncover in the UP....
Michigan researchers just found something almost erased from the state during the lumber boom: a surviving stand of old-growth red pines near Lake Superior, with some trees estimated to be more than 400 years old.
The forest sits on state-owned land near the Two-Hearted River in the Upper Peninsula, and scientists say some of the pines were already growing long before Michigan became a state.
Researchers used core samples to age some trees at more than 200 years old. Others are estimated to be more than 300 years old, with some potentially topping 400.
That makes this discovery especially remarkable because Michigan’s red and white pine forests were hit hard during the logging boom of the 1800s. Vast stretches were clear-cut, leaving old-growth pine stands extremely rare compared with what once covered much of the state.
Mary Parr, an ecologist and fire science expert with the Michigan Natural Features Inventory, called it the biggest concentration of old-growth red pine she has seen in her career.
Think about what those trees have outlasted.
Some may have been standing before the lumber camps, before railroads pushed across Michigan, before the state’s modern cities took shape, and before generations of Michiganders ever knew this forest was still there.
And somehow, along the Lake Superior shoreline near one of the U.P.’s most recognizable rivers, this patch survived.
Michigan is famous for its forests, but most of what we see today grew after the logging era reshaped the landscape.
These red pines are different.
They are not a recreation of Michigan’s past.
They are part of the original story still standing.
