To reach the forest, students once took the street car from Jackson Avenue to what is now Stadium Boulevard and walked the remaining 1.5 miles to the property. Learn more about how you can enjoy the forest today.

Some of the studies performed on Third Sister Lake in the early part of the century include such catchy titles as “A limnological study of the profundal bottom fauna of certain fresh water lakes,” “Life history studies on two frog lung flukes, Pneumonoeces medioplexus and Pneumobites parviplexus,” and the”Life history of Schistosomatium douthitti (Cort).”

As per Regent Hill’s vision for the property, U-M forestry students made the first plantings.

The forest is full of unexpected wonders.

An English garden slug makes its way through the greenery.

Pops of color delight the senses.

A well-worn sign struggles to withstand the ravages of time.

In the early part of the 20th century, crews planted 40 species on 55 acres. Some 28 of those species were not native to southeastern Michigan; 10 were non-native to the United States.

Planting commenced in 1904 and continued until 1937.

Each October SNRE hosts an annual Homecoming Campfire, complete with log splitting contests and wader races.

The site features several miles of established trails, deer paths, and deep-woods walking.

“Tweet me.”

There is no other site within 50 miles of Ann Arbor, on either public or private land, that offers as much diversity of aquatic, wetland, and upland ecosystems as the Saginaw Forest.

The M. Jerome Rieger Saginaw Forest Enrichment Fund was created through a $250,000 gift from Richard O. Rieger, AB ’79, to honor his father (AB ’40/MBA ’41). The fund is bolstering the impact of Regent Hill’s early philanthropy by helping implement a contemporary stewardship plan for Saginaw Forest.

The property is an ideal living laboratory for U-M students of “Forest Ecology,” “Forest Soils and Hydrology,” and other courses.

Birdwatchers will find many delights in the forest.

This stone cabin, built in 1915, now serves as the caretaker’s residence.

The forest is open to the public from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily.

A memorial stone celebrates Filibert Roth, “father” of the School of Forestry from 1902-23.

A wild turkey explores the woods.

Shaw Lacy, PhD candidate in SNRE, is current caretaker of the Saginaw Forest. Read Lacy’s blog about his experiences.

Many research projects and field courses grew out of the Saginaw Forest, including “Woody Plants,” “Forest Ecology,” “Freshwater Ecology,” and “Soil Properties and Processes.”

Forestry was recognized as a field of instruction at U-M in spring 1901.

Third Sister Lake is of glacial origin, like numerous small lakes in Michigan. It covers about 11 acres.

U-M signed a co-operative agreement with the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) in January 1906, designating 20 acres of the Saginaw Forest as the “Ann Arbor Forest Experiment Station.” The goal was to determine, by experimental planting, the species and cultural methods best suited to southern Michigan.

At the time of deeding, almost all the land had been cleared of trees and used for agriculture, but the wetlands around the lake had good growth of elm, aspen, willow, and maple trees.

The “Saginaw Forestry Farm” was renamed “Saginaw Forest” in 1919. This weather-beaten sign connotes its relationship to U-M’s School of Natural Resources and Environment.

The forest surrounds Third Sister Lake, covered here in a colorful array of plants.

Regent Arthur Hill, a lumberman who hailed from Saginaw, and his wife, Louise, deeded the property to the University in 1904 with the stipulation that it be used as a demonstration area.

Ann Arbor’s Saginaw Forest consists of about 55 acres of plantations, the 11-acre Third Sister Lake, and six acres of wetland surrounding the lake. The forest is located five miles west of the U-M campus, on Liberty Road.