Cedarburg Bog

State Natural Area (No. 2)

Location: Ozaukee County. T11N-R21E, Sections 20, 21, 28-33. 1600 acres.

Access: From the intersection of County Highway Y and State Highway 33 in Newburg, go east on 33 2.6 miles to a parking area on the south side of the road. A trail leads to a pier on Watts Lake. For access to Mud Lake and the heart of the bog, go south on Y 4.2 miles, then east on Cedar-Sauk Road, 0.75 miles to a pull-off on the north side of the road. Walk north along a boggy, unimproved trail to the lake. A kayak or canoe is required to reach the interior. Access to UW-Milwaukee land is available to groups by contacting the UWM Field Station on Blue Goose Road at (262)675-6844.

Description: Cedarburg Bog is the most intact large bog in southeastern Wisconsin and composed of a mosaic of vegetation types. Once part of a large glacial lake, the bog is a relict community - a southern example of the type more commonly found in northern Wisconsin. There are six lakes remaining within the bog, all with varying sizes and depths. The 245-acre Mud Lake is the largest, followed by the 34-acre Long Lake. Surrounding the lakes are areas of emergent aquatic vegetation while just outside this zone is a successional shrub-carr area. Most unusual is a string or "patterned" bog, unique here because it lies far south of its usual range in North America. It is composed of ridges of stunted cedar and tamarack that lie in an open flat sedge mat. The meadow vegetation consists of narrow-leaved sedges, pitcher plant, bogbean, water horsetail, arrow-grass, orchids, and the insectivorous sundew and bladderwort. A conifer-swamp hardwood forest is adjacent to the bog. There is a very diverse flora and fauna; many that are more common in northern boreal forests and that are at their southern range limit here. Cedarburg Bog is owned by the DNR and University of Wisconsin and was designated a State Natural Area in 1952.