Tuttle Marsh

Tuttle Marsh Wildlife Area sits just west of Oscoda, where the Huron National Forest opens into one of the largest wetlands on the Sunrise Side. Channels catch the sun, grasses turn to gold, and the dikes give walkers a front-row seat to all of it.

It is a place for quiet looking. Osprey nest above the water, herons work the shallows, and in spring and fall the migrations fill the sky. Walk the dikes at the edge of day and the whole marsh seems to hold its breath.

This five-minute film follows that visit — the path in, the overhead light, the quiet water, the crossing, and all the late gold. Come for the birds. Stay for the light.

What the marsh carries

5,500 acres holding water, birds, and turtles — and one invasive enemy.

Tuttle Marsh is a 5,500-acre wetland complex — a key nesting area for threatened Blanding’s turtles and an important stopover site for migratory birds along the Lake Huron coastal flyway. This wetland also filters contaminants from stormwater runoff before they ever reach Tawas Lake and Lake Huron.

The site includes a large impoundment of about 380 acres, a low-head dam with water-control structures, miles of dikes and ditches, and roughly 35 earthen nesting islands created for nesting waterbirds. Visitors typically watch migratory birds and nesting turtles from roadside pullouts or by walking short stretches of the dike network.

Among the biggest threats to Tuttle Marsh is phragmites — a tall invasive plant that severely disrupts the native ecosystem, hinders the movement of wildlife, and impairs views and recreational access. Seasonal mowing maintained visibility along the access road but impacted native milkweed populations during critical monarch breeding periods.