The Mammals of Warren Woods, Berrien County, Michigan Occasional Paper of the Museum of Zoology, Number 86

Set in a quiet, two‑hundred‑acre forest near the Galien River, this study paints a vivid picture of the natural habitats that once cradled Michigan’s native mammals. The author describes the rolling beech‑maple woods, flood‑plain swamps, and open clearings dotted with sedges, rushes and blackberry thickets, noting how the terrain’s gentle topography and network of ravines shape the animal communities that live there.

Fieldwork conducted over a summer in 1919 involved a modest camp on the woods’ edge and an intensive trapping program—hundreds of small‑mammal traps and dozens for larger species. The narrative details how pasturing cattle and selective logging have altered understory cover and reduced dead wood, affecting food sources and nesting sites. Despite these pressures, the northern forest remains remarkably pristine, offering a rare glimpse into the primitive distribution of mammals before modern disturbances reshaped the landscape.