The history of Michigan, subsequent to the arrival of Europeans in North America, is inextricably linked to the value of its natural resources. The abundance of wildlife fostered by the varied landscapes found across the State and the surrounding Great Lakes set the stage for Michigan to become a crossroads for commercial trade in wildlife (e.g., beaver and muskrat pelts).

As early as 1658, French furtraders were exploring and developing trade routes in the Great Lakes region (DNR 1990). The fur trade drove early exploration and settlement of the State: ease of access for processing and shipping pelts determined the location of settlements like Sault Ste. Marie, Detroit, Mackinac City and St. Joseph. During this period, animal fur was an important basis for trade among Native Americans and settlers.

Michigan also gained prominence as a source of wild meat for large eastern and midwestern markets. Market hunters removed a wide variety of animals including deer, waterfowl, shorebirds, passenger pigeons and small game for meat. Other birds were taken for their plumage to adorn hats or for stuffing in bedding or pillows (Peterson 1979). By 1876, market hunters were killing approximately 70,000 white-tailed deer and untold numbers of birds each year.

Intensive commercial fishing on the Great Lakes began in 1820 on Lake Erie and quickly spread to the other lakes (Garling et al. 1995). By 1905, approximately 47.5 million pounds of fish were being removed each year. The catch was dominated by species such as lake herring, lake whitefish, lake trout and suckers. Noticeable declines in the Great Lakes fish harvest first began to occur around 1862. By the 1960s, many commercial fish stocks had crashed due to overexploitation and the introduction and population explosion of the parasitic sea lamprey.

The list of species in Michigan whose extinction can be partially linked to commercial exploitation, through intentional take and incidental capture, includes (with date of last record): passenger pigeon (1898), blue pike (1965), longjaw cisco (1957), blackfin cisco (1969) and deepwater cisco (1951). Many other species, including wild turkey and lake sturgeon, experienced severe population declines.

With the advent of the industrial age and modern agricultural methods, the reliance on wildlife for meat and revenue declined and, due to severe population declines, commercial harvest of some species was no longer economically viable. During the same time period, people began to recognize the importance of sustaining wildlife populations for other economic purposes.

Near the turn of the last century, sport hunting and fishing largely replaced commercial harvest. The monetary value of an animal no longer depended exclusively on its market price; the value became recreational, and could be measured by the amount of money expended for licenses, equipment and other amenities necessary for its pursuit. In 1955, the USFWS began measuring these expenditures. The 10th survey, conducted in 2001, found the total estimated annual value of sport fishing and hunting-related activities in Michigan by U.S. citizens (16 years old and older) to be $838,558,000 and $490,254,000, respectively (USFWS and U.S. Department of Commerce 2001).

Currently, bird watching, wildlife viewing and nature photography represent the fastest growing segment of all wildlife-related recreation. Surveys conducted in 1980 and 1990 indicated a 63% growth in trips related to these activities (Duda and Young 1994). Recent estimates place the annual value of these non-consumptive activities in Michigan at $692,757,000 (USFWS and U.S. Department of Commerce 2001).

Wildlife can still hold great value for people participating in neither consumptive recreation nor other outdoor recreation activities. A recent survey found that more than three-fourths of Michigan citizens strongly agreed with the statement 'whether or not I see wildlife, just knowing that wildlife exists in Michigan is important' (Koval and Mertig 2002). This result supports the premise that wildlife possesses intrinsic value. Intrinsic value is recognized as the worth of a resource for its own sake (Callicot 1986). In a national survey (Belden et al. 2002) respondents affirmed the intrinsic value of wildlife when they agreed with the following statements: 'one of the most important things to me, in my life, is living in a world with a wide variety of plants and animals' (90% agreed); and 'nature provides me with inspiration and peace of mind' (94% agreed).