Menominee River

The Menominee River runs about 116 miles through northwestern Michigan and northeastern Wisconsin and drains a rural, forested area of northern Wisconsin and Michigan's Upper Peninsula into Lake Michigan. Its basin covers about 4,070 square miles. The river forms about 10 miles northwest of Iron Mountain, where the Brule and Michigamme rivers meet. Its whole length, together with the Brule, makes up part of the border between the two states. It flows southeast past Kingsford, Michigan, and Niagara, Wisconsin, then turns generally south in broad meanders. Along the way it picks up the Pine, Sturgeon, Pemebonwon and Pike rivers. It enters Green Bay between Marinette, Wisconsin, and Menominee, Michigan. Dams along its course have turned parts of the river into a series of large reservoirs. One is the Quinnesec Falls dam at river mile 94.8, which holds back a 270-acre impoundment and is licensed to Wisconsin Electric Power Company.

Most public ramps on the Michigan side are run by the Michigan DNR, including Bodelin, Koss Landing, Sturgeon Landing, Gerald Welling Memorial, Faithorn, Old Menominee River and Sixty Islands. Cemetary and Mystery Ship/River Park are municipal ramps in Menominee. Michigan and Wisconsin jointly manage the Menominee River State Recreation Area, a 17-mile undeveloped stretch of river. Its Piers Gorge and Pemene Falls units have Class II-III rapids, and the Pemene Falls unit has a launch open to motorized and non-motorized boats.

The Michigan DNR describes the river as a world-class smallmouth bass fishery. It is also one of the few Michigan waters with a lake sturgeon possession season. The river's name comes from an Ojibwe term meaning "wild rice."