| Michigan Islands National Wildlife Refuge | |
|---|---|
IUCN category IV (habitat/species management area) | |
 Interactive map of Michigan Islands National Wildlife Refuge | |
| Location | Lake Michigan:Gull,Hat,Pismire, andShoe islands Lake Huron:Charity,Little Charity,Scarecrow, andThunder Bay islands |
| Area | 744.39 acres (3.0124 km2)[1] |
| Established | 1943 |
| Governing body |  U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service |
| Website | Michigan Islands National Wildlife Refuge |
TheMichigan Islands National Wildlife Refuge is a designation for nineMichigan islands in the North AmericanGreat Lakes. Owned by the United States federal government, they were set aside forecosystem protection purposes by PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt 1943.
Charity,Little Charity,Scarecrow,Crooked, andSugar islands form theLake Huron division of the refuge.Gull,Hat,Pismire, andShoe islands, which are part of theBeaver Island archipelago, form theLake Michigan division.
No single one of them is large enough to rate a full-time site staff from theU.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and they are widely separated from each other in two separate Great Lakes. In an unusual administrative decision, the Fish and Wildlife Service, as of 2007[update], has divided up management responsibilities over the Michigan Islands NWR between two larger, full-time-staffed wildlife refuges. The four Lake Huron islands are managed byShiawasee National Wildlife Refuge, based inSaginaw, Michigan, and the four Lake Michigan islands are managed bySeney National Wildlife Refuge, based inSeney, Michigan. Scarecrow and Thunder Bay islands were also designated part of theThunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary.
The Michigan Islands National Wildlife Refuge islands were set aside as resting places formigratory birds flying over the Great Lakes, but have drawn increased attention in the following decades for their Great Lakes ecosystem plant life, including theDwarf Lake Iris, thestate wildflower of Michigan, andPitcher's thistle, both classified asthreatened species within the United States.
There are automatedlighthouses onCharity andThunder Bay Islands.
Pismire, Scarecrow, and Shoe islands were designated as wilderness in 1970. The three islands totaling 12.5 acres (0.05 km2) make up the Michigan Islands Wilderness Area.[2]
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