Bay City State Park

The Saginaw Bay Visitor Center, located in the Bay City State Park, helps visitors discover Tobico Marsh, one of the largest coastal wetlands on the Great Lakes.

Nestled under a canopy of sheltering hardwoods on the edge of the marsh, the modern visitor center stands on the site of the historic Jennison Nature Center, built in 1940 and named for George B. Jennison, a prominent local conservationist. Fifty-five years later in 1995, the aging nature center was given a $1 million makeover. A 10,000-square-foot building, which more than doubled the size of the original facility, reopened in 1996 with a 100-seat auditorium and new exhibit hall.

More than a thousand feet of sandy beach and over 2,000 acres of wetland woods, wet meadows, cattail marshlands and oak savannah prairies make it an ideal staging area for migratory birds. The park has long been known for its outstanding variety of bird life and as a haven for wetland wildlife and plants.