Valuing Wilderness in the Great Lakes - Huron National Wildlife Refuge Turns 110!
October 10, 2015 marks the 110th birthday of Huron National Wildlife Refuge, the oldest refuge in the Midwest Region. This collection of eight small islands is off of the southern shores of Lake Superior, in Marquette County, Michigan. President Theodore Roosevelt set aside this bird sanctuary as a breeding ground for migratory birds and other wildlife in 1905. Because of early conservation efforts like this, many bird populations that had been over-harvested by plume hunters and egg collectors in the 1800s and early 1900s, returned to healthy populations levels. While several of our national wildlife refuges have wilderness areas, all of Huron National Wildlife Refuge is distinguished by this Congressional designation. The concept of wilderness involves more than biological integrity. Lands designated as wilderness also have an intangible sense of solitude and isolation. Historic structures from Lighthouse Island. Photo courtesy of Seney Natural History Association. The grani...