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Find a great trail experience near you - whether you want to hike, bike, snowmobile or ride an ORV. From long, paved linear trails to rugged forest terrain, Michigan offers trail opportunities for all abilities and interests.
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We administer grants that enable our local partners to promote the lifestyles we all enjoy by providing recreational opportunities, enhancing wildlife habitat and ensuring public safety. Visit the grants home page by clicking on the button above, or view a specific area of interest below:
Recreational Safety and Hunter Education
Learn about Michigan's diverse range of fish, plants, trees, reptiles, amphibians, insects and mammals. Click the box above to see all species, or click the species group below.
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The moose (Alces alces) is the largest member of the deer family and is found across Europe, Asia and North America. In Michigan, moose are primarily found in the Upper Peninsula.
Adult moose range from 6.5 to 9 feet long and can weigh between 725 and 1,100 pounds. Their coloration varies, from grayish-brown or reddish-brown to, on rare occasions, all black.
Moose thrive in boreal forest environments, favoring areas with young trees and dense shrubs. Common moose habitats in Michigan include cedar swamps, marshes, and alder-willow thickets near lakes, rivers or streams.
Despite their large size, moose are strong swimmers and can run up to 35 miles per hour. While they have poor eyesight, they compensate with keen hearing and a highly developed sense of smell.
Moose are herbivores and feed mainly at dawn and dusk. In spring and summer, they browse on young leaves and twigs of aspen, birch and maple. During the warmer months, they often feed on aquatic vegetation, including water lilies, horsetails, arrowheads and rushes.
An adult moose consumes approximately 44 pounds of vegetation per day to meet its nutritional needs.
The moose breeding season, or rut, takes place from September through October. Calves are born in late May or early June, usually one or two per cow.
Newborn calves weigh around 25 to 35 pounds and are reddish-brown in color, without spots. Calves are unsteady at birth but can stand by the fifth day and begin following their mothers by about two to three weeks old.
Most females do not breed until age three, while males typically breed for the first time around age six.
In Michigan, wolves are the only predator capable of killing an adult moose, although mortality studies show wolf predation is not a major factor in overall moose deaths.
Young calves, however, are more vulnerable and may be preyed upon by bobcats and black bears. In the wild, moose can live an average of up to 27 years.
