By the close of the 19th century, efforts were underway to reestablish the vast pine forests of northern Michigan that had been leveled by the logger's axe and cross-cut saw. The State Forestry Commission was formed in 1899 to set aside state holdings for reforestation and, in 1904, the first state nursery was opened at Higgins Lake.

Within just a few decades, Michigan's pine forests were making a dramatic comeback. By 1921, the year the Department of Conservation (predecessor of the DNR) was established, there were eight forest reserves with 170,000 acres under management.

So successful were the nursery workers' efforts that in 1933, more than 140,000 acres of state forest lands had been planted to native pines, and the Higgins Lake Nursery was capable of turning out 20 million trees annually for planting.

Much of the planting of those trees was carried out by the Civilian Conservation Corps. During its existence from 1933 to 1942, the CCC "boys" planted 134,000 acres of trees and, in 1935, built the Conservation Department's Hardwood Nursery near Wolverine in Cheboygan County.

Two years before, the CCC also constructed a nursery for the U.S. Forest Service on land obtained from the city of Manistique. It was named after Thomas B. Wyman, who is known as the father of forest conservation in Upper Michigan.

The Forest Service continued to operate the Wyman Nursery until fall 1943, when a lack of available manpower caused the nursery to close for the duration of World War II. The Forest Service never reopened it. Following the war, the Forest Service was able to obtain sufficient planting stock from its other two nurseries near Wellston and in Watersmeet.

But the state Conservation Department expressed interest in using the nursery for growing tree seedlings for planting on state forest lands in the U.P.

In December 1949, the Conservation Commission approved leasing the Wyman Nursery from the federal government, and the first crop of tree seedlings was sown the following May under the direction of nursery manager Carlton Hollister. Red pine, white pine, jack pine, white spruce and black spruce were the tree species sown. The DNR later acquired the nursery through land exchanges in 1969.

"Today, the Wyman State Forest Nursery is the sole operating forest seedling nursery for the DNR," said Richard Mergener, manager of the nursery.

The Higgins Lake Nursery is now a CCC museum and part of North Higgins Lake State Park. The old Hardwood Nursery was closed in the mid-1960s. A fourth seeding nursery, the Southern Michigan Nursery near Brighton is now the State Forest Tree Improvement Center where tree seed is grown and processed.

"When the DNR discontinued the sale of tree seedlings to the public in 1983, all nursery production for state use was concentrated here at Wyman," Mergener said.

The nursery annually produces 5 million to 7.5 million tree seedlings to reforest state lands in Michigan.

"To put this in perspective, 5 million seedlings are enough to plant roughly 5,000 acres of land," Mergener explained. "A lot of those trees planted by the CCC are at maturity and are being cut, so we're working hard to replant those areas as quickly as possible."

Since 1950, the Wyman State Forest Nursery has produced more than 208,107,000 tree seedlings for reforestation use throughout Michigan.

The major species sown at the Wyman Nursery are jack, red and white pines. At various times, aspen, cedar, red oak, white spruce, black spruce, and Norway spruce have been grown.

In recent years the majority of seedling production has been in support of the Kirtland's Warbler management program. Each year between 2.5 million and 4 million jack pine seedlings are produced and planted to provide critical nesting habitat for this endangered species.

The seed for growing the conifers comes from cones that field staff purchase from local collectors or from cones harvested from the seed orchards at the Tree Improvement Center.

The cones are heated and tumbled to extract the tree seed from the cones. The seed is dewinged, to make it easier to sow, and cleaned on specialized seed cleaning equipment at the Tree Improvement Center.

The seed then is sown at Wyman Nursery in furrows, six rows in four-foot-wide irrigated beds in late May each year. The seedlings are grown for two or three years, depending on the species and desired size. A set schedule of watering, fertilization and pesticide applications is instituted to ensure high quality, vigorous seedlings.

At harvest time, usually starting around mid-April, the tree seedlings are undercut and lifted with specialized nursery machines. The soil is shaken from the roots and the seedlings are packed in tubs in the field. The tubs of seedlings are brought to the packing and storage facility where the seedlings are counted into bundles of 50; root pruned and packed 500 to 1,000 into seedling storage bags. The bags of seedlings are stored in coolers or refrigerated vans until they are transported to the planting sites. The goal is to have all seedlings planted by the first of June.

"The Wyman State Forest Nursery has consistently produced high-quality seedlings for planting on state lands for about one-half the cost of seedlings available on the open market," Mergener said. "The nursery and staff also provide support for other department programs, including timber sales, forest recreation, forest regeneration and wildfire suppression."

The Wyman State Forest Nursery is located at 480N Intake Park Road in Manistique. The facility is open to the public weekdays from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., and guided tours are available by appointment. For more information, contact the nursery at (906) 341-2518.