Pointe Mouillee Marsh

Pointe Mouillee provides a rich habitat for waterfowl and small game. Late Woodland Indians, attracted by the abundant wildlife resources, settled in this vicinity. The earliest white settlers in the area, French fur traders who sought beaver pelts, named the marsh “Pointe Mouillee,” which means “wet point.” In 1875 eight millionaire sportsmen organized the Big Eight Shooting Club, which was renamed the Pointe Mouillee Shooting Club in 1879. The marsh gradually receded over the years as Lake Erie’s fluctuating waters eroded the protective barrier islands. In 1945 the Michigan Department of Conservation purchased the land with revenue from the federal Pittman-Robertson excise taxes and the state Game and Fish Protection Fund. During the 1980s the department initiated a major wildlife habitat project to restore the Mouillee marshes.