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ELEVATION: 602 to 1,300 feet (185 to 395 m).

AREA: 228 square miles (590 sq km).

STATES: Michigan.

CLIMATE: Minimum temperatures are moderated along Lake Superior, ranging from -28 to 32½F; but they are -38½F at the inland edge. Growing season ranges from 140 days along Lake Superior to less than 100 days along the inland margin. Average precipitation is 32 to 34 inches, and annual snowfall ranges from 120 to 140 inches.

BEDROCK GEOLOGY: The bedrock knobs along the eastern edge are 100 to 200 feet high and have steep sides and relatively flat tops. Exposed at the surface or underlying the glacial drift are Cambrian-age Munising and Jacobsville sandstones (Dorr and Eschman 1984, Hamblin 1958). Most of the bedrock is covered with a veneer of sand or rocky till. However, bedrock is occasionally exposed in roadcuts, or more dramatically, in steep ravines, such as the one at Laughing Whitefish Falls.

LANDFORMS: The eastern part of the sub-subsection has large, rounded, sandstone knobs typically covered with a mantle of sandy glacial drift. Drainage conditions, which range from well to poorly drained, are poor where bedrock is near the surface. The western part has irregular, steep sand ridges that have been deeply eroded by postglacial streams so that steep stream valleys, only 300 to 400 feet wide, are up to 150 feet deep.

Along the Lake Superior shoreline, at the western edge of the sub-subsection, there is also a narrow band of outwash and sand lake plain. The lake plain consists of a broad complex of low beach ridges and adjacent swales, extending more than a mile inland.

LAKES AND STREAMS: Only two lakes, Deer Lake and Howe Lake; both in the east where bedrock is near the surface. Several streams originate in this sub-subsection, including the Rock, Laughing Whitefish, Sand, and Chocolay Rivers. Waterfalls and rapids occur in the east. The streams flowing off the steep sand ridges in the west are small, but have eroded steep ravines.

SOILS: Where glacial drift is thick, as in the west, soils are well drained; where drift is thin, as in the east, drainage is poor, and large swampy areas occur. The drift is very rocky. West of Munising, large boulders, several feet in diameter, are common on the surface.

The soils on the lake plain and outwash are sands. In the complex of dunes and swales, both the dunes and swales are prone to drought.

PRESETTLEMENT VEGETATION: Cedar, spruce, and hemlock dominated many of the small swamps associated with these thin soils over bedrock. Hemlock was especially common on many of the poorly drained bedrock ridgetops and in the steeper ravines. Well-drained sand ridges were occupied by northern hardwoods forests of sugar maple, hemlock, yellow birch, and white pine. Beech was generally absent from the steep ridges.

The long, narrow complex of beach ridges and swales in the west along Lake Superior mostly had dry swales dominated by red pine and jack pine. Inland from these complexes, however, there were extensive swamps of black ash, alder, elm, and northern white-cedar along the Chocolay River.

The western extreme of this sub-subsection included an outwash plain that supported forests of jack pine and red pine, mixed with aspen.

NATURAL DISTURBANCE: No major natural disturbances recorded.

PRESENT VEGETATION AND LAND USE: The dominant land use in this sub-subsection has included logging and, more recently, recreation and intensive residential development, especially along the shoreline.

The impact of logging-era activities probably decreased the relative dominance of hemlock and white pine in upland forests. Several small rivers were dammed, affecting wetlands in their drainage. Urban development and road construction along the shoreline have significantly altered upland and wetland vegetation in the area.

RARE PLANT COMMUNITIES: None identified to date.

RARE PLANTS: None identified to date.

RARE ANIMALS: None identified to date.

NATURAL AREAS: The Nature Conservancy Preserves: Laughing Whitefish Lake.

PUBLIC LAND MANAGERS: State Forests: Escanaba River, Lake Superior; State Scenic Sites: Laughing Whitefish Falls; National Forests: Hiawatha.

CONSERVATION CONCERNS: