Bay City State Park, formerly known as Bay City State Recreation Area, is a state park covering 2,389 acres (967 hectares) located along the shore of Saginaw Bay near Bay City in Bay County, Michigan, United States. The park includes the Tobico Marsh, which is one of the largest remaining freshwater wetlands near the coast in the Great Lakes region. The park provides an important habitat for migratory birds and other wetland wildlife. Additional natural features of the park include a mile of sandy beach, over 2,000 acres (810 hectares) of wetland woods, meadows, oak savanna prairies, and cattail marshes.
History
The park was started in 1922 when the Michigan Conservation Commission received a piece of land from Bay City along the shore of Saginaw Bay, with the condition that the area become a state park. It was called Bay City State Park from 1923 until 1994. In 1994, when 1,900 acres (770 ha) called the Tobico Marsh were added to the park, the park was renamed Bay City State Recreation Area. This change confused people and the media, who kept using the original name. The name Bay City State Park was changed back in 2017.
Activities and amenities
The park provides swimming, a spray park, paths for walking, biking, and skiing, picnic areas, a playground, and camping spaces. Activities at the park include fishing, hunting, trapping, and observing wildlife from towers, boardwalks, viewing platforms, and special scopes near the water. The park's Saginaw Bay Visitor Center, which is 10,000 square feet, has a hall with interactive displays about nature, a room that holds 100 people, and programs about the environment that happen all year long.
Beach pollution
Pollution on the beaches near Saginaw Bay, which includes decaying plant and animal material, has been a major problem for people who visit the park and those who own land along the waterfront in recent years. While beach grooming has been used to clean the beaches, much of the shoreline along the bay is covered in thick, muddy material.
Much of the pollution along the bay's shore is caused by waste from farms in the Saginaw River watershed, problems with wastewater treatment systems, and leaking septic systems. These sources add extra nutrients to the water, leading to excessive algae growth.