Hog Island

IslandGNIS 628388

Coordinates

45.7925° N, 85.3637° WGoogle Maps: Hog IslandDownload KML

Concepts

environmentforestsvegetationtreeswildlifebirdssoilsgeologymaritimewetlandsconservationhydrologyplantsanimalsstewardshipinvasive-species

Within

Beaver Island archipelago

Media

Access and infrastructure of the Beaver Island archipelago · Coasts, harbors, and navigation context of the Beaver Island archipelago · Geology and landforms of the Beaver Island archipelago · Hog Island access and infrastructure · Hog Island coasts, harbors, and navigation context · Hog Island geology and landforms + 9 more

Summary

Hog Island is the fourth-largest island in the Beaver Island archipelago at 10.41 km², lying east of Beaver Island. It is entirely state-owned land managed by the Michigan DNR Wildlife Division, valued for its wetlands and as spawning ground for perch and small-mouth bass. A charted shoal off its southeast end, Hog Island Reef, was a recorded hazard to 19th- and early-20th-century shipping in the approach to Beaver Island Harbor. The December 1961 Beaver Beacon places the 1883 stranding of the J. I. Case on that reef, a retrospective location claim. By contrast, a contemporary November 1886 Charlevoix Journal report says a schooner printed as Lafrinier was wrecked on Hog Island, while leaving its exact site unresolved.

History

Hog Island appears in the documentary record almost entirely as a navigational landmark rather than a settlement. Elizabeth Whitney Williams’ 1905 memoir names it among the islands visible from “Mount Pisgah” above Beaver Island’s harbor, placing it “off nine miles to the east.”¹ No source read describes a settled community, school, church or post office on Hog Island of the kind documented for Garden Island and High Island; its 20th- and 21st-century history, per the 2023 Beaver Island Master Plan, is that of undeveloped state wildlife land.

Geography

At 10.41 km², Hog Island lies east of the main island and northeast of Whiskey Island. Hog Island Reef, charted immediately off its southeast end in Scott’s 1902 Coast Pilot, extended roughly three-eighths of a mile east-west and 220 yards north-south, with a shoalest depth of 6 feet; it was marked by a buoy and figured in the standard 1902 sailing directions between Beaver Island Harbor and the Straits of Mackinac. The island today holds extensive wetlands supporting rare plants and animals, and its shallows are recorded as spawning grounds for perch and small-mouth bass; it draws migratory birds. The whole island is state-owned, managed by the Michigan DNR Wildlife Division.

The original GLO general description for the part of Hog Island in fractional T39N R9W, dated 10 July 1849, calls it nearly level, with some slight ridges parallel to its outside, and says it appeared to have been “washed up in ridges, one after another.” That is a surveyor’s observation made at the time, and it gives context for the modern wetland description. It is neither a current geomorphic assessment nor a complete inventory of the island.²

A separate 1849 GLO description covers the north end of Hog Island in the adjacent fractional township. It records elevation of about 4–12 feet above Lake Michigan, nearly level ground with slight ridges parallel to the outside, stone, gravel, sand, a thin vegetable soil, and observed trees and ground cover. It is an additional time- and area-bounded survey observation, not a whole-island or current ecological inventory.³

Ecological profile

The Hog Island mapped-dune, forest, shoreline, vegetation, and wildlife evidence adds a modern profile for the northwest side of the island. EGLE’s MDC 101 is a 69.5-acre, low-relief wooded dune-and-swale complex with Great Lakes marsh, a low foredune, and limestone cobble shore. The mapped complex contains mature-to-old-growth mesic northern forest and a limestone-cobble-shore occurrence, while the broader island remains an undeveloped state wildlife landscape.

The forest canopy is led by red oak, with white pine, red maple, white ash, basswood, white-cedar, and paper birch. Stands were estimated at approximately 146–203 years old. Large trees, snags, coarse woody debris, pit-and-mound topography, and 80–100 percent overstory cover create cavity-nester, interior-forest, canopy, and detritus-food-web structure. Younger pockets are linked in the source to historic selective logging and a stand-leveling fire.

The limestone shore has wave-worked cobbles, thin calcareous soils, and patchy vegetation including Baltic rush, silverweed, Ohio goldenrod, Kalm’s lobelia, bird’s-eye primrose, white-cedar, and tamarack. Water-level fluctuation, storms, and ice shear continually rework the shore. The report connects the forest, shore, and wetland mosaic to fish, waterfowl, shorebirds, songbirds, bats, insects, and herptiles; these are habitat functions and source examples, not a complete Hog Island species inventory.

The MNFI Report 2017-11 records six additional occurrence-level communities on Hog Island. Together they provide a more granular soil, vegetation, tree-age, hydrology, and management baseline than the broader mapped-dune summary.

The companion Beaver Island Archipelago wildlife and bird species evidence index, 2017–2024 currently preserves 10 linked wildlife/bird evidence records spanning 12 taxa for Hog Island. Those records include management history and distribution marks as well as habitat context; they do not constitute a complete fauna inventory or population estimate.

Coastal water-level gradient

The 60-acre coastal fen (EO 3734, rank A, G1G2/S2; p. 32) is backed by rich conifer swamp and boreal forest and grades lakeward into Great Lakes marsh and limestone cobble shore. Its margins shift with Great Lakes water levels. Shallow 5–20-centimeter alkaline peats (pH 7.8–8.0), marl around pH 8.0, wet alkaline gravelly sands, and cobble produce a fine-scale mosaic. Numerous marl pools, crayfish burrows, sphagnum hummocks, and 5–20 centimeters of August 2017 inundation were recorded. Hummock tops can be strongly acidic around pH 4.5.

Wiregrass sedge, threesquare, white beak-rush, beak-rush, twig-rush, Baltic rush, Kalm’s lobelia, bird’s-eye primrose, limestone calamint, false asphodel, sundews, bladderworts, grass-of-Parnassus, cranberries, and goldenrods occur in the fen. A 13.5-centimeter northern white-cedar was estimated at more than 175 years old. The occurrence appears to provide suitable habitat for Hine’s emerald dragonfly, a state and federally threatened species, but the report does not establish a confirmed population.

The adjacent 284-acre Great Lakes marsh (EO 2179, rank AB, G2/S3; p. 57) was surveyed during high-water years in 2015 and 2017. Emergent zones were usually 30–60 centimeters deep, with 90–120 centimeters in some areas. Hardstem bulrush, threesquare, Baltic rush, and twig-rush dominate emergent vegetation; the meadow zone adds sedges, blue-joint, Ohio goldenrod, Kalm’s lobelia, limestone calamint, grass-of-Parnassus, common bog arrow-grass, broad-leaved cattail, false asphodel, nodding ladies’-tresses, beak-rush, and Indian paintbrush. Narrow-leaved cattail was locally dominant in scattered clumps and was the only threat observed; MNFI recommends natural water-level processes, shoreline buffers, targeted control, and invasive monitoring.

The 60-acre limestone cobble shore (EO 20447, rank AB, G2G3/S3; pp. 74–75) occupies western and southern Hog Island. Shallow wet alkaline gravelly sands and organics occur among small cobbles and large boulders. Seasonal lake levels, seiches, storm surges, and longer cycles rework the shore, removing fine sediment and organic soil during high water and allowing vegetation and soil to develop during low-water periods. The shore grades locally into fen and marsh; driftwood and plant debris provide insect and herptile habitat and contribute organic matter. Cedar and paper birch stems were submerged during the high-water survey. Sparse vegetation includes silverweed, grass-of-Parnassus, Baltic rush, bog arrow-grass, beak-rush, Ohio goldenrod, Kalm’s lobelia, limestone calamint, bird’s-eye primrose, twig-rush, false asphodel, and wild strawberry. Canada bluegrass and spotted knapweed were recorded as non-native concerns.

Forest and interior wetland systems

The 895-acre mesic northern forest (EO 7843, rank B, G4/S3; pp. 83–84) occupies the northern and southern ends of Hog Island on former cobble and low-dune shoreline. Soils vary from acidic mull humus over medium-textured sands to a 10-centimeter A horizon around pH 5.5 over fine acidic dune sands around pH 4.5–5.0; fire-baked sandstone cobble occurs locally. The northern polygon is red-oak and white-pine dominated, while sugar maple dominates the southern polygon. White ash, red maple, basswood, paper birch, red oak, and cedar are associates. Canopy trees reach 60–100 cm DBH, supercanopy white pines reach roughly 90–100 feet, and the forest is mature to old-growth in places with coarse woody debris, snags, pit-and-mound topography, and moss-covered boles. Yew is locally dominant in the understory and may suppress regeneration; younger patches show likely selective logging, while a shared red-oak/white-pine cohort in the northern polygon suggests stand-leveling fire. Ground plants include blue cohosh, wild leek, jack-in-the-pulpit, bloodroot, maidenhair fern, and ostrich fern.

The 20-acre northern fen (EO 20446, rank AB, G3G5/S3; p. 100) consists of relatively young, graminoid-dominated fens likely formed as wiregrass-sedge mats invaded shallow ponds. Saturated circumneutral to alkaline peats range in depth and support wiregrass sedge, twig-rush, white beak-rush, pitcher-plant, bog buckbean, horned bladderwort, cranberries, native reed, and bog goldenrod. Fen margins include slender willow, sweet gale, green ash, tamarack, and northern white-cedar. MNFI observed no threats and recommends an intact buffer and invasive monitoring.

The 129-acre rich conifer swamp (EO 9639, rank AB, G4/S3; p. 137) occurs in two southern polygons inland from the coastal fen, marsh, and cobble shore and beside high-quality mesic forest and hardwood-conifer swamp. Shallow circumneutral organics around pH 7.0 overlie wet alkaline sands around pH 8.0. Northern white-cedar dominates; paper birch, balsam fir, mountain maple, green ash, tamarack, and yew add vertical structure. A 69-centimeter cedar was estimated at more than 300 years old. Sphagnum hummock-and-hollow microtopography, windthrow, tip-ups, and cedar layering create fine-scale moisture and age gradients; scattered cut stumps preserve logging evidence. The diverse ground layer includes starflower, Canada mayflower, twinflower, royal and cinnamon ferns, wild sarsaparilla, goldthread, blue-bead lily, and oak fern.

Across all six records, MNFI recommends allowing natural processes, maintaining buffers, and monitoring invasive plants and deer browse. The occurrences were surveyed during unusually high-water years where noted, and none should be treated as a current legal boundary, parcel, complete island-wide species inventory, or present-condition assessment.

Names

No former or variant name for Hog Island is recorded in GNIS.

Significance

Hog Island’s significance in the sources held is primarily maritime and ecological rather than settlement history: a recurring hazard-and-bearing reference point in 19th-century sailing directions, and today a wetland and wildlife reserve.

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Added 28 July 2026 · revised 3 August 2026. Recent changes