30 years ago

MUNISING — When 130 Munising High School students planted 3,000 trees on school forest land near Melstrand recently, forestry experts and educators hoped more than seedlings would take root. Teacher Ted Williams has been working to develop a management plan for the 40-acre school forest plot. Williams plans to use the school forest, which includes an additional 80 acres near Wetmore, for hands-on demonstrations of the principles of forestry, biology and environmental science. Student forest management plan for the parcel will leave open spaces for wildlife and allow for a diversity of forest types. While many schools have state forests, most are not being used to their full potential. Aconference in 1929 organized by officials from the state Cooperative Extension Service resulted in the creation of the statewide school forest program. In 1925, the Negaunee School District became the first in the state to establish a school forest.

60 years ago

MARQUETTE — Marquette firemen were called out twice yesterday, once to extinguish a trash blaze and the other time to put out an acetylene tank fire. At 2:30 yesterday afternoon firemen were called to the Standard Oil Co. filing station in the 500 block of S. Front St., where fire from a trash barrel spread to a trash bin. Firemen used the booster hose off the No. 2 (1,000-gallon) pumper to put out the flames there was no damage. Three firemen answered the alarm and returned to the station at 2:55 p.m. The other alarm was sounded at 7:34 p.m, when some acetelyne which spilled over the tank caught fire, at the Upper Peninsula Gemerating CO. plant off Lake Shore Blvd. Fireman used a 20-pound chemical extinguisher and an 1 1/2 -inch line off a water hydrant to put out the flames. Damage was minor.