The Hiawatha National Forest Service will celebrate the centennial of the forest Saturday, July 25, at Soldiers Lake Campground at 11 a.m. Congressional tributes by Representative Bart Stupak and Senator Debbie Stabenow, a history exhibit, and an awards ceremony for partners and volunteers who have served the forest are among activities planned at the public celebration. The campground is 30 miles west of Sault Ste. Marie on M-28.

The 20,834-acre forest is extensively used now, but few people had interest in it when it was first established.

The Hiawatha National Forest was originally a swath of sandy land that contained sparse nutrients and experienced frequent fires. Houses were rarely built upon it, and private land owners demonstrated little interest in obtaining it, according to Forest Service records. The government acquired the land in 1836, and it was named the Marquette National Forest in 1909 by President Theodore Roosevelt.

Fire prevention efforts were set in place, and reforestation began on the newly obtained land. In 1928, the government established the Mackinac Purchase Unit, whose goal was to obtain more national forest land in the Chippewa County area.

Foresters who owned land there were eager to sell what they had after cutting down what they wanted. Other loggers used what they needed and then left the land, allowing it to become tax delinquent and eventually taken over by the government, said Martha Sjogren, timber management assistant ranger in St. Ignace.

By 1929, the United States experienced the Great Depression, The corps would prove to be the but the newly expanded Marquette Forest was used to help soften the blow of the downturn. The Civilian Conservation Corps was established in President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal. Establishing the CCC would create much-needed jobs and help the national forest recover from the damage caused by heavy logging. most important group in the forest's history. Hundreds of people were employed in the CCC who worked on replanting trees, preventing fires, developing trails throughout the forest, and constructing campgrounds.

Some of the conservation corps campsites are still used today. The Clear Lake Education Center, 20 miles south of Munising, was originally built and used by the CCC. The area is now used to educate visitors about the forest, archeology, and the aquatic life of the lake.

The improvements to the forest also helped the natural wildlife, Mrs. Sjogren said. The newly planted trees and foliage helped increase the deer population, providing them with food and cover from predators.

While the Marquette National Forest was experiencing heavy development, an expanse of forest in the west covering in Alger, Delta, and Schoolcraft counties was obtained by the government. Like the Marquette National Forest, the western spread was heavily forested by loggers, burned by fires, and abandoned. The newly acquired land was designated the Hiawatha National Forest in 1931, and the two separate forests were combined in 1962 into what is known today as the Hiawatha.

In 2009, visitors use the forest for hunting, fishing, and gathering blueberries and morel mushrooms, Mrs. Sjogren said. Trees are still harvested from the forest, but regulations have been set to ensure its maintenance and quality are upheld.