An Overview of the Plant, Animal and Cultural History
Of the Antrim Creek Natural Area

By Dr. Chuck Cleland

(Presented in Partnership with Norwood Area Historical Society)

Saturday August 12, 10am

Antrim Creek Natural Area

9890 Old Dixie Hwy, Ellsworth, MI

$10.00 suggested donation, Meet at the Old Antrim Schoolhouse

Old Dixie Highway

For thousands of years before the arrival of Euro Americans in northern Michigan, native people, ancestors 

of the modern Ojibwe and Odawa residents of the region today, lived along the shores of Lake Michigan including 

the Antrim Creek Natural Area in peace and prosperity. During these years they learned how 

to care for and manage its natural resources for the benefit of all.

Today as we are faced with climate change, it is necessary for those of us who are now

 in possession of the same shoreline to preserve the natural resources of the land which has 

been inherited by its modern residents. This aboriginal knowledge of the previous residents may lie at 

the core of being able to pass this example to future generations. Doctor Cleland, who is both an archaeologist 

and a zoologist, will present an overview of the plant, animal, and cultural history of 

Antrim Creek Natural Area and suggest a means to preserve the area through education and curation.

Charles E. Cleland is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Anthropology, and a Curator Emeritus of Great Lakes Archaeology 

and Ethnology at Michigan State University. He earned a B.A. in Biology from Denison University in 

Granville, Ohio (1958), a M.S. in Zoology from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville (1960), 

a M.A. in Anthropology from the University of Michigan (1964), and a Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Michigan (1966). 

He began his career at Michigan State University in 1966, and retired in 2000.