Prairie above, forest below: Tawas Lake is home to Michigan’s largest wild rice bed

EAST TAWAS, MI – Tawas Lake’s surface resembles a prairie with tall grasses blowing in the breeze, while beneath the water lies a forest-like ecosystem.

The 1,600-acre inland lake not far from Lake Huron is home to Michigan’s largest bed of native wild rice, called manoomin in the Native Anishinaabemowin language. The rice growing tall above the water’s surface was among the vast biodiversity scientists documented this summer at the Northern Michigan lake.