Hog Island, an uninhabited 2,075-acre (8 km²)

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An isla ...

Lake Michigan Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that o ...

, is the fourth largest island in the Beaver Island

archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands. Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Arch ...

. It is owned by the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

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 t ...

as part of the

Beaver Islands State Wildlife Research Area The Beaver Islands State Wildlife Research Area is a networked set of insular properties of the U.S. state of Michigan. The Research Area is approximately 23,154 acres in size. Properties in the Research Area include much of the southern half ...

and is administered by the

Michigan Department of Natural Resources The Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is the agency of the state of Michigan charged with maintaining natural resources such as state parks, state forests, and recreation areas. It is governed by a director appointed by the Governor a ...

."Hog Island."
''www.michigan.gov.'' Retrieved May 16, 2017.

Geography

Hog Island is part of the Beaver Island

, a cluster of islands in the northern portion of Lake Michigan. These islands are composed of

erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is d ...

-resistant rock that protruded above the water after retreating

glaciers A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such as ...

had carved out the basin that holds Lake Michigan."Garden and Hog Islands, Michigan: Image of the Day."
''www.earthobservatory.nasa.gov'', August 25, 2013. Retrieved September 28, 2016. Hog Island is approximately 4 miles (6.5 km) long in a north-south direction, and lies off the shore of

Emmet County, Michigan Emmet County is a county located in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the northernmost county in the Lower Peninsula. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 34,112. The county seat is Petoskey. Emmet County is located at the top of the L ...

. Its low, swampy terrain is of significant interest to naturalists because it is one of the least-disturbed islands in Lake Michigan. Hog Island is very difficult to reach, even by boat. There is point access from Hog Island Point State Forest, which is located just off US Highway 2, seven miles from

Naubinway, Michigan Naubinway ( ) is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Mackinac County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population of the CDP was 147 at the 2020 census. The community is located within Garfield Township. As an u ...

."Hog Island Point State Forest Campground."
''

.'' Retrieved December 29, 2019."Hog Island Point State Forest Campground."
''www.michigan.org.'' Retrieved December 29, 2019.

Flora and fauna

The island's

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (Anoxic waters, anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in t ...

s are important spawning grounds for

yellow perch The yellow perch (''Perca flavescens''), commonly referred to as perch, striped perch, American perch, American river perch or preacher is a freshwater perciform fish native to much of North America. The yellow perch was described in 1814 by Sam ...

and smallmouth bass, as well as lake birds that feed on fish, such as the

common tern The common tern (''Sterna hirundo'') is a seabird in the family Laridae. This bird has a circumpolar distribution, its four subspecies breeding in temperate and subarctic regions of Europe, Asia and North America. It is strongly migrator ...

, listed as

threatened Threatened species are any species (including animals, plants and fungi) which are vulnerable to endangerment in the near future. Species that are threatened are sometimes characterised by the population dynamics measure of '' critical depe ...

within Michigan. Three endemic

riparian A riparian zone or riparian area is the interface between land and a river or stream. Riparian is also the proper nomenclature for one of the terrestrial biomes of the Earth. Plant habitats and communities along the river margins and banks a ...

plant species, Houghton's goldenrod, the Lake Huron tansy, and Pitcher's thistle, have been identified on Hog Island. All three plants are listed as threatened within Michigan. Old-growth northern

hardwood Hardwood is wood from dicot trees. These are usually found in broad-leaved temperate and tropical forests. In temperate and boreal latitudes they are mostly deciduous, but in tropics and subtropics mostly evergreen. Hardwood (which comes from ...

and boreal

softwood Scots Pine, a typical and well-known softwood Softwood is wood from gymnosperm trees such as conifers. The term is opposed to hardwood, which is the wood from angiosperm trees. The main differences between hardwoods and softwoods is that the s ...

groves also exist on the island.

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References

{{authority control Uninhabited islands of Michigan Protected areas of Charlevoix County, Michigan Islands of Lake Michigan in Michigan Islands of Charlevoix County, Michigan