No active resource management is currently occurring with the exception of cormorant control. Current emphasis is to preserve and maintain the islands’ habitats and resources while providing opportunities for compatible biological or ecological research. 

The double crested cormorant population has greatly increased in the Great Lakes starting in the early 1990s. As the cormorant population has increased, changes in the sport and commercial fishery populations and island vegetation have been documented. In 2003, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service established a Public Resource Depredation Order on cormorants. Since 2007, Seney NWR has issued a special use permit to Wildlife Services to control cormorants on Gull and Pismire Islands and offshore of Hat Island as part of a cooperative effort to control cormorant populations throughout Lake Michigan. 

Published Papers and Reports

O'Dell, S. 2012. Michigan Islands Wilderness: A Report on Wilderness Character Monitoring. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.