The Harbor Island National Wildlife Refuge is a 695 acres (281.3 ha) horseshoe-shaped island and National Wildlife Refuge

National Wildlife Refuge

National Wildlife Refuge is a designation for certain protected areas of the United States managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. The National Wildlife Refuge System is the world's premiere system of public lands and waters set aside to conserve America's fish, wildlife and plants...

 in Potagannissing Bay

Potagannissing Bay

Potagannissing Bay is a shallow, island-strewn bay that lies northwest of Drummond Island and northeast of De Tour Village in Chippewa County. It is part of the territorial waters of Michigan, with the adjacent waters of Canada forming the westernmost end of the North Channel...

 north of Drummond Island in the U.S. state of Michigan

Michigan

Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....

. The island was acquired in 1983 by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service

United States Fish and Wildlife Service

The United States Fish and Wildlife Service is a federal government agency within the United States Department of the Interior dedicated to the management of fish, wildlife, and natural habitats...

 from its previous owner, the Nature Conservancy, and set aside as a refuge.

Ecology and use

Potagannissing Bay is rich is freshwater fish

Fish

Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...

, including lake trout

Lake trout

Lake trout is a freshwater char living mainly in lakes in northern North America. Other names for it include mackinaw, lake char , touladi, togue, and grey trout. In Lake Superior, they can also be variously known as siscowet, paperbellies and leans...

 and whitefish

Lake whitefish

The lake whitefish , also called the Sault whitefish or gizzard fish, is a species of freshwater whitefish from North America. Lake whitefish are found throughout much of Canada and parts of the northern United States, including all of the Great Lakes. A valuable commercial fish, they are also...

. The island itself contains balsam, paper birch

Paper Birch

Betula papyrifera is a species of birch native to northern North America.-Description:...

, cedar, sugar maple

Sugar Maple

Acer saccharum is a species of maple native to the hardwood forests of northeastern North America, from Nova Scotia west to southern Ontario, and south to Georgia and Texas...

, and red oak

Northern Red Oak

Quercus rubra, commonly called northern red oak or champion oak, , is an oak in the red oak group . It is a native of North America, in the northeastern United States and southeast Canada...

.

There are no bridges to Harbor Island, and visitors arrive by boat. The protected harbor

Harbor

A harbor or harbour , or haven, is a place where ships, boats, and barges can seek shelter from stormy weather, or else are stored for future use. Harbors can be natural or artificial...

 is a well-known anchorage for small craft. The island and refuge are staffed from the Seney National Wildlife Refuge

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 . It is bordered by M-28 and M-77. The nearest town of any size is Seney, Michigan...

, also in northern Michigan.