20 Gene's Pond

wildlife viewing  |  directions and facility information

This impoundment was built in the 1980s for flood control by Dickinson county. The large impoundment provides excellent habitat for waterfowl, shorebirds, and many other wetland-related wildlife. The site features a nice state forest campground, but the best wildlife viewing opportunities are found by canoe or small boat on the impoundment itself. This area is in the middle of a huge deer wintering complex -- a mixture of white cedar and other swamp conifer habitat with upland islands covering many square miles. Deer concentrate in this sheltered habitat during severe winter months, many migrating from as far away as 50 miles.

Wildlife Viewing

This site is a jewel for people who like to view large, unique birds. On the water’s surface, watch for loons and cormorants diving for fish. In the treetops near the campground, you can see a great blue heron rookery, or nesting colony. Herons and cormorants both raise their young in this colonial nesting site. Over two miles of open water, with flooded woodlands on the west end, offer a wide variety of viewing opportunities by canoe or boat. There are no motor restrictions on boating in this area, but remember that loud noise or disturbance can cause birds to abandon their nests. Watch for circling bald eagles and osprey high above the water. These aerial hunters will circle above or sit in trees on the shoreline scouting for fish near the surface. Then they fly down snatching fish from the water with their powerful talons.

Access roads offer one of the few sites where visitors can drive through a large cedar and swamp conifer complex, and get a sense of this special cool, moist habitat. A wide variety of songbirds plus bobcat, bear, fisher, martin, even the threatened gray wolf, are found in this lowland habitat and adjacent upland areas. The large, state-owned aspen habitat area south of Gene’s Pond has diverse aspen and hardwood age classes caused by scheduled timber harvests, and has been used by Northern Michigan University as a woodcock project research area since the early 1980s. This area offers a variety of forest songbirds living in the many different stages of aspen-hardwood habitats.