About Nahma Township

What about Nahma Township?

wild cranberriesNahma Township is located within the Hiawatha National Forest.  Much of the area now owned by the US Forest Service was at one time owned by the Bay de Nocquet (lumber) Company. The 75,000 acres of National Forest is an excellent place to hunt, hike, bike, snowmobile, take a dog sled ride, horseback, camp or just observe the beautiful Upper Peninsula at its best.

There is 14 miles of Big Bay de Noc Lake frontage in Nahma Township. There are 3o named inland lakes totaling 2177 acres; 35 unnamed lakes covering over 114 surface acres and 157 miles of streams in the township. The fishing and boating opportunities abound in the area.

History & the burner

The Bay de Noquet Company (sawmill company) was built in Nahma in 1881 on the banks of Big Bay de Noc on Lake Michigan. This mill moved lumber by ships and barges to mainly Chicago and New York.  Due to the sheer volume of lumber sawn, the slab and sawdust from the mill created a massive volume to dispose. In 1899, the Company built a waste burner to deal with the magnitude of sawdust and slabs from the operation. The burner is a silo design measuring 100 feet in circumference and rising 125 feet. It was manufactured of steel and brick with its top covered by steel grill and mesh. Conveyors took wood waste from the saw mill directly to the waste burner. The burner provided the necessary method of waste disposal until the lumber company ceased to saw lumber in 1951. The burner has become the only thing remaining of the original saw mill operation and its by-gone era. The waste burner is a remaining link to the past, it represents the blood, sweat and tears of the pioneers of logging in the Upper Peninsula.

Many years after the fires were extinguished; the burner has continued to serve as a long loved icon of the area.  At one time K.I. Sawyer Air Force base near Marquette utilized the burner as a land mark for pilots training out of the base. To the recreational fishing members, it is the landmark that gets them home safely after a day on the unpredictable waters of Lake Michigan. It marks the channel that leads to the Michigan DNR public access. The Nahma Burner is an icon of a state that has a rich history of timber resources that continue to shape the future of people in Michigan.

Learn more about the history by visit our local museum.

Bay de Nocquet Company

Did you know about that?

Did you know Nahma Township has:

  • 109, 936 acres in land area
  • 14 lineal miles of Big Bay de Noc frontage
  • 75,000 acres of Hiawatha National Forest Land
  • 30 named lakes totaling 2,177 acres and 35 unnamed lakes totaling 114.4 acres
  • 152 miles of streams
  • 230.3 miles of forest roads for driving for pleasure
  • 57 miles of primary county roads and 24 miles of local county roads
  • 20 miles of federal Highway 13
  • Sturgeon River,  a  wild and scenic river
  • MDNRe Boat Launch which accesses Big Bay de Noc which covers 107, 230 acres
  • Has a beautiful township park at Nahma with a soccer field & children’s playground
  • The Largest Labor Day Celebration in Delta County
  • 9-hole golf course
  • Miles of groomed snowmobile trails
  • Big Bay de Noc snowmobile trail (Trail #2 – 10.7 miles)
  • Nahma Grade snowmobile trail (Trail #411 – 20.4 miles)
  • Moss Lake single track off-road motorcycle trail – 26.5 miles
  • Nahma Marsh hiking trail and viewing platform – 0.3 miles
  • Pole Creek Lake Public Access Site
  • Dana Lake Public Access
  • Flowing Well Campground and picnic area
  • Waco Lake Dispersed Campsite
  • Ramsey Lake Dispersed Campsite
  • Round Lake Boat Launch
  • Lake Michigan on its south border and is only 19 miles from Lake Superior on its northern border