The protected areas of Michigan come in an array of different types and levels of protection.

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

has five units of the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propert ...

system. There are 14 federal

wilderness area Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plural), are natural environments on Earth that have not been significantly modified by human activity or any nonurbanized land not under extensive agricultural cultivation. The term has traditionally re ...

s; the majority of these are also tribal-designated wildernesses. It has one of the largest

state forest A state forest or national forest is a forest that is administered or protected by some agency of a sovereign or federated state, or territory. Background The precise application of the terms vary by jurisdiction. For example: * In Australia, a ...

systems as well having four national forests. The state maintains a large state park system and there are also

regional park A regional park is an area of land preserved on account of its natural beauty, historic interest, recreational use or other reason, and under the administration of a form of local government. Definition A regional park can be a special park distri ...

s, and county, township and city parks. Still other parks on land and in the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lak ...

are maintained by other governmental bodies. Private protected areas also exist in the state, mainly lands owned by land conservancies.

Federal level

Michigan contains a number of different types of federally managed lands. There is one national park,

Isle Royale National Park Isle Royale National Park is an American national park consisting of Isle Royale – known as Minong to the native Ojibwe – along with more than 400 small adjacent islands and the surrounding waters of Lake Superior, in the state of Michigan ...

as well as two national lakeshores,

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore is a U.S. National Lakeshore in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, United States. It extends for 42 miles (67 km) along the shore of Lake Superior and covers . The park has extensive views of the hilly sho ...

and

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore is a United States National Lakeshore located along the northwest coast of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan in Leelanau and Benzie counties near Empire, Michigan. The park covers a stretch of Lake Michiga ...

. There is also

River Raisin National Battlefield Park The River Raisin National Battlefield Park preserves the site of the Battle of Frenchtown as the only national battlefield marking a site of the War of 1812. It was established as the 393rd unit of the United States National Park Service under ...

, the

Keweenaw National Historical Park Keweenaw National Historical Park is a unit of the U.S. National Park Service. Established in 1992, the park celebrates the life and history of the Keweenaw Peninsula in the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. As of 2009, it is a pa ...

and the Father Marquette National Memorial, although the latter is managed by the Michigan state park system for the national government. Michigan has four national forests: two in the

Lower Peninsula The Lower Peninsula of Michigan – also known as Lower Michigan – is the larger, southern and less elevated of the two major landmasses that make up the U.S. state of Michigan; the other being the Upper Peninsula, which is separated by the S ...

, Huron National Forest and

Manistee National Forest The Manistee National Forest is a national forest located in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. It has a total area of . It was established in 1938, and combined with the Huron National Forest in 1945 for administrative purposes, creating the Hur ...

as well as two in the

Upper Peninsula The Upper Peninsula of Michigan – also known as Upper Michigan or colloquially the U.P. – is the northern and more elevated of the two major landmasses that make up the U.S. state of Michigan; it is separated from the Lower Peninsula by ...

Ottawa National Forest The Ottawa National Forest is a national forest that covers in the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. It includes much of Gogebic and Ontonagon counties, as well as slices of Iron, Houghton, Baraga, and Marquette counties. The ...

and

Hiawatha National Forest Hiawatha National Forest is a National Forest in the Upper Peninsula of the state of Michigan in the United States. Commercial logging is conducted in some areas. The United States Forest Service administers this National Forest; it is physical ...

. The U.S. Forest Service owns 2.8 million acres (11,000 km²) in these forests out of the designated areas which total 4.8 million acres (19,000 km²) when including private

inholding An inholding is privately owned land inside the boundary of a national park, national forest, state park, or similar publicly owned, protected area. In-holdings result from private ownership of lands predating the designation of the park or fores ...

s. Several areas in the forests are designated wilderness and one area, Grand Island is a National Recreation Area. All sixteen

National Wild and Scenic River The National Wild and Scenic Rivers System was created by the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968 (Public Law 90-542), enacted by the U.S. Congress to preserve certain rivers with outstanding natural, cultural, and recreational values in a free- ...

s in Michigan are managed by the Forest Service. (See List of National Wild and Scenic Rivers#Michigan) 250px, Sleeping Bear Dunes and South Manitou Island from Empire Bluff Fifteen federal wildernesses in Michigan cover 249,218 acres (1,009 km²): *One is almost congruent with Isle Royale National Park *One, Beaver Basin, is managed by the National Park Service and is located within Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. *Three are managed by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service: ** Michigan Islands Wilderness ** Huron Islands Wilderness ** Seney Wilderness *Ten are located in National Forests and are managed jointly by the U.S. Forest Service and the

Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission The Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission (GLIFWC) is an intertribal, co-management agency committed to the implementation of off-reservation treaty rights on behalf of its eleven-member Ojibwa tribes. Formed in 1984 and exercising authorit ...

of Chippewa Indians: ** McCormick Wilderness ** Sturgeon River Gorge Wilderness ** Sylvania Wilderness **

Big Island Lake Wilderness Big Island Lake Wilderness is a remote protected area in the Munising Ranger District of the Hiawatha National Forest in the Upper Peninsula in the state of Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lake ...

Delirium Wilderness Delirium Wilderness is a wilderness area in Chippewa County, within the Hiawatha National Forest in the U.S. state of Michigan.

Horseshoe Bay Wilderness The Horseshoe Bay Wilderness is a wilderness area in the U.S. state of Michigan. It borders ''Horseshoe Bay'', a shallow bay that is part of the extreme northwest corner of Lake Huron adjacent to the Straits of Mackinac. The wilderness area is o ...

Mackinac Wilderness The Mackinac Wilderness is a unit within the Hiawatha National Forest. It is located in Mackinac County, Michigan. The wilderness is accessible from M-123 (Michigan highway), M-123, which borders the unit. The nearest town is Moran, Michigan. ...

** Rock River Canyon Wilderness ** Round Island Wilderness **

Nordhouse Dunes Wilderness The Nordhouse Dunes Wilderness is a listed wilderness area within the Manistee National Forest. It is located north of Ludington, Michigan, and is best known for its 4 miles (6.4 km) of undeveloped Lake Michigan shoreline. Geology The la ...

There are eight National Wildlife Refuges covering 113,639 acres (460 km²) in the state. These include the first international refuge between the United States and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, the

Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge The Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge is the only international wildlife refuge in North America. Established in 2001 and managed jointly by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and the Canadian Wildlife Service, it is located in ...

. (See List of National Wildlife Refuges#Michigan) The Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary and Underwater Preserve preserves an area of 448 square miles (1160 km²) with 120 shipwrecks in Lake Huron and is managed jointly by the state and the

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (abbreviated as NOAA ) is an United States scientific and regulatory agency within the United States Department of Commerce that forecasts weather, monitors oceanic and atmospheric conditio ...

State level

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources manages state protected areas. These include 78 state parks; 19 state recreation areas, 6 state forests, and 5 state scenic sites. They also manage the Father Marquette National Memorial for the federal government. The MIDNR owns 4.5 million acres (18,000 km²) of land, 6 million acres (24,000 km²) of mineral rights, and manages 25 million acres (101,000 km²) of Great Lakes' bottomlands. Most of the protected lands, almost 4 million acres (16,000 km²) are in the state forest system. State parks range in size from 31 acres (0.25 km²) ( Tricentennial State Park) to 60,000 acres (243 km²) (

Porcupine Mountains State Park The Porcupine Mountains, or Porkies, are a group of small mountains spanning the northwestern Upper Peninsula of Michigan in Ontonagon and Gogebic counties, near the shore of Lake Superior. The Porcupine Mountains were named by the native O ...

). The state manages 66 state game areas primarily for

hunting Hunting is the human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products ( fur/ hide, bone/tusks, horn/antler, ...

. Other areas include state wildlife areas, state wildlife research areas, and wildlife research stations. These cover approximately 340,000 acres.MICHIGAN’S PUBLIC LAND BASE AND OUTDOOR RECREATION
Michigan's 2008-2012 Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan (SCORP), Michigan Department of Natural Resources *

List of Michigan state parks This is a list of Michigan state parks and related protected areas under the jurisdiction or owned by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Parks and Recreation Division. A total of 106 state parks, state recreation areas and trai ...

* List of Michigan state forests *

List of Michigan state game and wildlife areas The following is a list of Michigan state game and wildlife areas found throughout the U.S. state of Michigan. The state has a system of publicly owned lands managed primarily for wildlife conservation, wildlife observation, recreational activit ...

* List of U.S. state and tribal wilderness areas

Local levels

A number of different local government bodies operate parks and protected areas. These include city parks which may be no more than a green space in a city to large

systems like the 24,000 acre (97 km²) Huron-Clinton Metroparks. Michigan has county parks, township parks and at least one soil conservation district park among other types. Two state parks, Van Buren Trail State Park and Kal-Haven Trail are managed on the county level. Other protected areas include nature study areas owned by several colleges and universities throughout the state. The University of Michigan, for example, has the Matthaei Botanical Gardens, Nichols Arboretum, Stinchfield Woods, and the

University of Michigan Biological Station The University of Michigan Biological Station (UMBS) is a research and teaching facility operated by the University of Michigan. It is located on the south shore of Douglas Lake in Cheboygan County, Michigan. The station consists of 10,000 acres ...

with at Douglas Lake and on Sugar Island. Michigan State University has the Kellogg Biological Station.

Private protected areas

A number of areas in Michigan are owned by private, non-profit land conservancies. These organizations sometimes donate or exchange land with government units and also purchase development rights from the owners of private lands. A large number exist, often with overlapping areas of operation. Many of these are open to public use, generally for nature study and some include hiking trails. According to the 2014 Protected Lands Survey conducted by Heart of the Lakes Center for Land Conservation Policy, its 27-member land conservancies have protected 588,000 acres of land in Michigan.

References

External links

National Park ServiceMichigan Department of Natural Resources Heart of the Lakes Center for Land Conservation Policy
{{Michigan state parks