Editing Otsego County, Michigan (section)

==Geography==
According to the [[United States Census Bureau]], the county has a total area of {{convert|526|sqmi}}, of which {{convert|515|sqmi}} is land and {{convert|11|sqmi}} (2.1%) is water.<ref>{{Cite web |date=August 22, 2012 |title=2010 Census Gazetteer Files |url=https://www.census.gov/geo/maps-data/data/docs/gazetteer/counties_list_26.txt |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131113024015/http://www.census.gov/geo/maps-data/data/docs/gazetteer/counties_list_26.txt |archive-date=November 13, 2013 |access-date=September 27, 2014 |publisher=United States Census Bureau}}</ref> It is the fifth-smallest county by total area in Michigan. Although it is located on Michigan's Lower Peninsula, Otsego County is considered to be part of [[Northern Michigan]].

Otsego County has more than 370 lakes, mostly in the southern part of the county. Otsego Lake is the county's largest and has a surface area of {{convert|1972|acre|km2}}. Other large lakes in the southern part of the county include Big Lake, Big Bear Lake, Buhl Lake, Crapo Lake, Dixon Lake, Douglas Lake, Guthrie Lake, Heart Lake, Lake Tecon, Manuka Lake, Opal Lake, Pencil Lake, and Turtle Lake. The larger lakes in the northern part of the county are Five Lakes, Hardwood Lake, Lake Twenty Seven, and Pickerel Lake. Many of these are so-called 'kettle lakes,' formed by the melting of blocks of glacial ice, left as the glacier retreated, which created a depression in the soil.<ref name=DA/>

Glaciers shaped the area, creating a unique regional ecosystem. A large portion of the area is the Grayling outwash plain, a broad outwash plain including sandy ice-disintegration ridges; jack pine barrens, some white pine-red pine forest, and northern hardwood forest. Large lakes were created by glacial action.<ref>{{Cite web |title=NPWRC :: Regional Landscape |url=http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/habitat/rlandscp/s7-2-2.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130625181556/http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/habitat/rlandscp/s7-2-2.htm |archive-date=June 25, 2013 |publisher=United States Geological Survey}}</ref>

Headwaters of the Au Sable, Black, Manistee, Pigeon, and Sturgeon Rivers are in Otsego County. The Au Sable River watershed is the county's largest watershed.<ref name=DA/>

===Adjacent counties===
{{div col|colwidth=18}}
* [[Cheboygan County, Michigan|Cheboygan County]] - north
* [[Montmorency County, Michigan|Montmorency County]] - east
* [[Oscoda County, Michigan|Oscoda County]] - southeast
* [[Crawford County, Michigan|Crawford County]] - south
* [[Kalkaska County, Michigan|Kalkaska County]] - southwest
* [[Antrim County, Michigan|Antrim County]] - west
* [[Charlevoix County, Michigan|Charlevoix County]] - northwest
{{div col end}}