4-H EOE: Michigan Resources Game

Mapping Michigan Game

Learn More About Michigan's
Major Natural Resources / Points of Interest

Inland and Great Lakes

The five Great Lakes (Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie and Superior, or HOMES) contain the largest supply of freshwater on earth. Michigan borders four of the five Great Lakes (all but Lake Ontario). Wherever you go in Michigan, you’re never more than 85 miles from one of the Great Lakes. Michigan also has more than 11,000 inland lakes. Houghton Lake is the largest inland lake in the state at 31.3 square miles. Lake Gogebic is the largest inland lake in the Upper Peninsula.

Watersheds

Michigan has 57 major watersheds, with more than 36,000 miles of rivers and streams and more than 120 major rivers. The Saginaw River and its tributaries form the largest drainage system in the state. The Grand River is the state’s longest river and has the second largest watershed. Wherever you go in Michigan, you’re never more than 6 miles from a stream or lake.

Fruit Belt

Michigan is a national leader in growing a variety of fruits, including red tart cherries and blueberries (both first in the nation), apples (third) and peaches (fourth). The Leelanau Peninsula and southwestern lower Michigan are sometimes called the state’s “Fruit Belt,” though fruit is grown all over Michigan.

Mining

Copper ore was mined in the western Upper Peninsula for hundreds of years, first by Native Americans, then by European settlers. Other resources that are mined or drilled for in Michigan include iron ore, gypsum, oil and natural gas, rock salt, gold, limestone, sand and gravel.

Rock Salt

A working salt mine under the city of Detroit taps into some of the largest salt deposits in the world, formed when what is now Michigan lay under a saltwater sea. The mine is about 1200 feet deep, covers more than 1400 acres and has more than 50 miles of roads! The salt from the Detroit mine is used to clear highways of snow and ice.

Forests

About half of Michigan is covered with forests. While that isn’t as much forest land as was here before major logging operations began in the 1800s, the amount of forest land in Michigan has increased every year for the last 50 years. Today the Michigan lumber industry directly employs about 63,000 people.

Wildlife

Michigan is home to an abundance of wildlife – large and small – including white-tailed deer, black bears, elk, moose, wolves, foxes, coyotes, rabbits, squirrels, opossums, mink, otters, raccoons, muskrats, fish, porcupines, skunks, snakes, turtles, frogs, toads, lizards and insects. More than 350 species of birds live in or fly across the state on their migration routes. One winged Michigan resident is the endangered Kirtland’s warbler, which nests only in the jack pine forests of Oscoda and Crawford counties.

Dunes

A belt of sand dunes lines the Lake Michigan shoreline along much of Michigan’s west coast. Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore is a favorite tourist destination. Sand dunes provide habitat for many plants and animals. Inland dunes (from ancient lakebeds) have been mined for sand to be used for industrial purposes.

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