HOUGHTON — Visitors and residents of the western Upper Peninsula this weekend can get an inside, close look at a historic site tied to Ford Motor Co.
It’s been 60 years since the automaker gave its Alberta sawmill and industrial village, located along US-41 in Baraga County, to Michigan Technological University.
Michigan Tech has used the buildings and surrounding forests of what is now called the Ford Center to train thousands of foresters, applied ecologists, environmental scientists, wildlife ecologists and natural resources managers. And they, in turn, are managing millions of acres of private and public lands.
On Saturday, Aug. 9, a free public program at the Ford Center features a car show, tours of the mill museum and historic village of Alberta, and one-hour forest field trips. Events begin at 11 a.m. and end at 5 p.m.
Speakers will include Ford Motor Co.’s corporate historian and manager of creative services, as well as four past and present deans of Michigan Tech’s School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science.
The Society of American Foresters will give continuing forestry education credit for the forest field trips.
For more information, call (906) 524-6181 or visit http://www.mtu.edu/forest/fordcenter.