Vegetation – Presettlement

This data layer depicts the presettlement vegetation of Minnesota. It was developed by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources from Marschner's original analysis of Public Land Survey notes and landscape patterns. Presettlement vegetation patterns are useful for the purpose of determining natural community potential, productivity indexes, and patterns of natural disturbance. Surveyors laying out Minnesota's public land survey system from 1848 to 1907 recorded the size and species of the larger trees they used as markers (bearing trees), as well as general descriptions of the physical geography of the landscape they traversed. Although not a complete vegetation survey, the General Land Office records provide valuable details about how the state looked at the time of European settlement.