Pere Marquette River

The Pere Marquette River is a river in the U.S. state of Michigan. The main stream of the river is approximately convert|67|mi|km long, running from Lake County just west of Reed City into Pere Marquette Lake, and from there to Lake Michigan.

The river is named after a french Jesuit missionary, Jacques Marquette, who explored the Great Lakes area in the 1600s.

National Wild and Scenic River designation

The upper portion of the Pere Marquette runs approximately 44 miles from the forks of the Little South and Middle Branches downstream to highway M-37. In 1978, 66 miles of the river was designated a National Scenic River. This section begins near Baldwin at the junction of the Little South and Middle Branches and continues until the river meets US Highway 31 in Scottville [http://www.rivers.gov/wsr-pere-marquette.html] .

Wildlife

The river has been stocked with rainbow trout since 1876. In 1884 it became the first U.S. river to be stocked with brown trout.

Other species in river

*Salmon, successfully introduced in the 1960s

*Brook trout

*Western Chorus Frog
*Bullfrog
*Crayfish
*Northern Leopard Frog
*Mudpuppy
*Eastern Tiger Salamander
*Several salamander species
*Northern Water Snake
*Red-bellied Snake
*Copper-bellied Water Snake
*Common Snapping Turtle
*Red-eared Slider
*Five-lined Skink
*Grayling trout are native, but extinct, due to logging (in the early 1900s) and overfishing