The Huron Islands are a group of eight small, rocky islands in

Lake Superior Lake Superior in central North America is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface areaThe Caspian Sea is the largest lake, but is saline, not freshwater. and the third-largest by volume, holding 10% of the world's surface fresh wa ...

, located about off the mouth of the

Huron River The Huron River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed November 7, 2011 river in southeastern Michigan, rising out of the Huron Swamp in Springfield Township in north ...

in northwestern Marquette County,

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

, United States. Together they comprise the Huron National Wildlife Refuge, which was established by President

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

in 1905. The refuge is also known as the Huron Islands Wilderness and is a unit of the

Seney National Wildlife Refuge The Seney National Wildlife Refuge is a managed wetland in Schoolcraft County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It has an area of 95,212 acres (385 km2). It is bordered by M-28 and M-77. The nearest town of any size is Seney, Michigan. The ...

. The underwater area around the islands is part of the Huron Islands unit of the

Marquette Underwater Preserve The Marquette Underwater Preserve was established in 1990 to promote conservation of the submerged historical resources in Lake Superior near Marquette, Michigan. The Preserve is composed of two separate units, the Marquette Unit and the Huron Isla ...

and several

shipwreck A shipwreck is the wreckage of a ship that is located either beached on land or sunken to the bottom of a body of water. Shipwrecking may be intentional or unintentional. Angela Croome reported in January 1999 that there were approximately ...

s can be visited by

divers Diver or divers may refer to: *Diving (sport), the sport of performing acrobatics while jumping or falling into water *Practitioner of underwater diving, including: **scuba diving, **freediving, **surface-supplied diving, **saturation diving, a ...

. Only one of the islands, known as Lighthouse Island or West Huron Island, is open to the public, and is accessible only by private boat for day use. This island is the site of the historic

Huron Island Light Huron Island Light is a lighthouse on Lake Superior near Big Bay, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Huron Islands Lighthouse in 1975. It is on one of the Huron Islandsbr>Wilderness.lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid, for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Lighthouses mar ...

still operates, but is now fully automated. There is a walking path from the boat landing site on the south end of the island to the lighthouse. The path continues beyond the lighthouse to the structures and cliffs on the far north end of the island. The entire path is just over long. The path from the lighthouse to the north end of the island is quite rustic and is often overgrown with brush. The larger islands are sparsely forested with pine and birch. The smaller islands are bare granite outcroppings, and home to a large colony of

herring gulls Herring gull is a common name for several birds in the genus ''Larus'', all formerly treated as a single species. Three species are still combined in some taxonomies: * American herring gull (''Larus smithsonianus'') - North America * European he ...

Bald eagle The bald eagle (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), which occupies the same niche as ...

s also nest here.

References

External links

Huron National Wildlife Refuge

at Seeing the Light

at NPS Inventory of Historic Light Stations
Huron Islands Wilderness
{{authority control Protected areas of Marquette County, Michigan National Wildlife Refuges in Michigan Wilderness areas of Michigan Uninhabited islands of Michigan Islands of Lake Superior in Michigan Protected areas established in 1905 1905 establishments in Michigan Islands of Marquette County, Michigan