Pismire Island

{{Short description|Island in Charlevoix County, Michigan, United States of America}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}}

{{Infobox islands

|name = Pismire Island

|image_name =

|image_caption =

| map = Michigan

| map_caption =

|native_name =

|native_name_link =

|location = Lake Michigan

|coordinates={{coord|45|46|06|N|85|26|43|W|type:isle_region:US-MI|display=inline,title}}

|archipelago =

|total_islands =

|major_islands =

|area_m2 = 10000

|coastline_m =

|highest_mount =

|elevation_ft = 581

|country = United States

|country_admin_divisions_title = State

|country_admin_divisions = Michigan

|country1_admin_divisions_title = County

|country1_admin_divisions =Charlevoix County

|country2_admin_divisions_title = Township

|country2_admin_divisions =St. James Township

|population = Uninhabited

|population_as_of =

| density_km2 =

|ethnic_groups =

}}

Pismire Island is a small island in Lake Michigan of approximately {{convert|2.5|acres}} in size.{{cite web |title=Feature Detail Report for: Pismire Island |url=https://geonames.usgs.gov/apex/f?p=138:3:::NO::P3_FID,P3_TITLE:635045,Pismire%20Island |website=USGNIS |publisher=U.S. Department of the Interior |access-date=30 December 2020}} It is part of the Beaver Island archipelago, the Michigan Islands National Wildlife Refuge, and the Michigan Islands Wilderness Area. It is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as a satellite of the Seney National Wildlife Refuge. It is located in St. James Township, Charlevoix County, Michigan.{{cite book

| year = 2002

| title = Michigan Atlas and Gazetteer (10th ed.)

| publisher = DeLorme

| location = Yarmouth, Maine

| id =

| page = 93

}}

Lying approximately {{convert|4|mi}} northeast of the harbor of St. James on Beaver Island, Pismire Island is a tiny triangle of glacial gravel. It contains almost no permanent vegetation and is best known as a breeding place for Lake Michigan birds. The island was preserved for public use as part of the creation of the Michigan Islands NWR in 1943, and was designated as wilderness in 1970.

The word pismire means ant,Entry for pismire. The Oxford English Dictionary, Second Edition. John Simpson and Edmund Weiner (editors). Clarendon Press, 1989. {{ISBN|0-19-861186-2}}. referring to the island's tiny size.