Seney Wilderness

The Seney Wilderness is part of the 95,238-acre Seney National Wildlife Refuge. At first glance the entire Refuge appears wild, but in fact much of it is carefully managed to provide habitat for a diversity of wildlife. If you keep looking, you will notice the western one-third of the Refuge contains no roads or man-made structures. This is the Wilderness area, the second largest in the state of Michigan. Once the land of Seney lay beneath an ancient lake. When the lake disappeared, winds swirled sand from its bottom into dunes. Eventually these became covered with trees and brush to form a string of islands in the midst of a vast bogland. Today most of the Seney Wilderness is string bog, punctuated with pine islands. The bogs support unusual vegetation such as the carnivorous pitcher plant, and on the islands you will find large red and white pines that have survived countless fires and the logger's axe. Here you may see a bald eagle perched in a giant pine tree, or glimpse the reclusive gray wolf. The area is also home to moose, black bear, coyote, bobcat, white-tailed deer, fox, mink, marten, fisher, otter, beaver, and muskrats. Birds include the yellow rail, sandhill crane, spruce grouse, and a variety of songbirds. Seney Wilderness is open during daylight hours only. No camping is allowed and no established trails exist, and horses are not allowed on any portion of Seney National Wildlife Refuge.