Many of you may share in my love of Autumn in Michigan, or Autumn and Michigan. It is widely considered to be one of the most beautiful seasons of the year with all the majestic color changes in foliage, especially when combined with our splendid shorelines!
Autumn also makes for a beautiful transition from Summertime to the Holiday Season. You might be one of the thousands of people who participate in a Fall Color Tour up north, or locally. It certainly is a popular time of year for all ages to get out and enjoy all that Fall has to offer in the Mitten.
Hopefully, you will be able to experience some of the cool C’s…. the crisp air, crunchy leaves, cascading colors, and charming Cider Mills! If not, just take a drive and enjoy some of nature’s best artwork on display.
Did you know that our beloved state is home to the 12th largest forest area among U.S. States, at 20.3 million acres, covering about 54 percent of the state? This is according to the USDA Forestry Service Resource Update FS-153.
Here are some additional interesting facts about our state and its trees:
- We have over 14 million live trees.
- Michigan’s current area of forest land is at its highest estimate since the 1930s.
- Timberland accounts for 95 percent of this forest land or 19.3 million acres.
- Nearly 4 percent of forest land is reserved for timber production.
- The most common tree by volume is the Sugar Maple and the most common tree by count is the Balsam Fir, which is at least one inch in diameter.
- Forest industries directly employ nearly 35,000 people with a direct product value of $10.2 billion per year. Indirectly and directly, the numbers are nearly 100,000 people and 20 billion dollars.
- If you’d like to help save some trees, be sure to sign up for client access and choose electronic delivery for your documents.
Although (unfortunately), money doesn’t grow on trees, here are a few fun facts about money:
- Money is recycled when worn out. Worn out coins are melted down and used to make new coins. Worn out bills are shredded, recycled, and then made into roof shingles or fireplace logs.
- Pennies in your garden are said to deter pests. Pennies buried in a garden will repel slugs, which get electric shocks from touching copper and zinc.
- It’s reported that a penny costs more to manufacture than it is worth. It costs the government roughly $0.02 to make a single penny. No wonder we’re in debt!
- Loose change really does add up. In 2015 the TSA collected $765,759.15 in loose change at airport security checkpoints across the country. And if you’re wondering what happened to the loose change the TSA collected, they kept all of it!
- Have you ever been curious where piggy banks originated from? In Old English, “pygg” was a type of clay that was used for making jars and dishes that held money. Over the generations, the word eventually morphed into “piggy bank.”
- If you have $10 in your pocket and you have no debt, you are wealthier than 25% of Americans. In other words, you are wealthier than close to 81 million people.
