Rep. Mayes offered the following resolution:

            House Resolution No. 350.

            A resolution to urge the Michigan Department of Agriculture and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality to take whatever steps are necessary to help facilitate the expansion of the commercial cranberry industry in Michigan.

            Whereas, Cranberries are one of the few fruits that are native to Michigan and have grown in the marshes and wetlands of our state since long before the land that is now Michigan became inhabited by native people; and

            Whereas, Native Americans used a compressed mixture of cranberries and dried meat as a food staple known as pemmican, and early English settlers packed great numbers of cranberries in barrels to be used in the prevention of scurvy while at sea; and

            Whereas, Wild cranberries can be found in almost every section of Michigan, from the shores of Lake Superior at Whitefish Point, to the peat bogs in the Thumb, to the blueberry producing farmland in the southwestern counties; and

            Whereas, The first commercial sales of cranberries began in the late 1800s when Mr. J. Hunziger of Niles began harvesting the wild cranberries that grew along the banks of the St. Joseph River flowing through the family owned nursery. The cranberries were loaded on small sailing ships and sold in Chicago; and

            Whereas, Around the turn of the twentieth century, the House family began construction of actual cranberry beds in the Whitefish Point area in the Upper Peninsula. Sailors by trade, the Houses borrowed the design of the beds from cranberry farms they had seen while living in Massachusetts; and

            Whereas, Commercial harvesting of cranberries in Michigan began to decline during World War I and virtually disappeared as a result of the Great Depression. The industry survived in Wisconsin and Massachusetts, currently the leading producers of cranberries in the country; and

            Whereas, Today, the largest commercial producer of cranberries, Ocean Spray Incorporated, is short over 5,000 production acres, and has indicated that Michigan would be a possible location for expansion; now, therefore, be it

            Resolved by the House of Representatives, That we urge the Michigan Department of Agriculture and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality to take whatever steps are necessary to help facilitate the expansion of the commercial cranberry industry in Michigan; and be it further

            Resolved, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to the Office of the Governor, the Commission of Agriculture, and the directors of the Michigan Department of Agriculture and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.