THE
BEGINNING
Where Every Superior
Drop Begins
Before Superior Water becomes something you can hold in a bottle, it begins with sky, snow, rain, forest, earth, rock and time.
A Landscape Made for Water
In Michigan’s western Upper Peninsula, water is part of the landscape’s identity.
Winter arrives with extraordinary force. Across the Ottawa National Forest, the region receives an average of approximately 200 inches of snow each year — more than 16 feet.
When spring finally comes, that snow begins to melt, joining rain and surface water in a cycle that continually moves water through the northern forest.
SATELLITE VIEW — LAKE SUPERIOR WATERSHED, MICHIGAN
The landscape surrounding Marenisco is part of the immense Ottawa National Forest, a nearly one-million-acre expanse of forests, lakes, rivers and wetlands. More than 2,000 miles of streams run through the forest.
This is where the story begins.
The First Movement
Rain and snowmelt become part of the water cycle moving across and beneath the forest.
Marenisco lies along the Presque Isle River system, within the Lake Superior watershed. The Presque Isle River flows north toward Lake Superior, connecting this inland landscape to one of the world’s great freshwater systems.
A Watershed Measured in Trillions
Every year, approximately 11.7 trillion gallons of water run off the land surrounding Lake Superior and make their way toward the lake.
Rain. Snowmelt. Rivers. Groundwater.
All part of an immense freshwater system spanning nearly 50,000 square miles of drainage basin.
Our source exists within this extraordinary landscape — where water is not scarce, but constantly moving, cycling and being renewed.
But not every drop remains on the surface. Some of it begins another journey.
Marenisco is part of the network of rivers, streams and groundwater that ultimately feeds Lake Superior.
Where the Story Turns
Water enters the ground, moving through soil and the layers of sand, gravel and glacial material left behind by ancient ice.
What happens next cannot be seen from the forest floor. Gravity takes over.
The water begins moving downward, into a landscape that is dramatically older than the forest above it.
BENEATH THE FOREST — THE DESCENT