Lulu Lake

State Natural Area (No. 138)

Location: Walworth and Waukesha Counties. T4N-R17E, Sections 1, 2, 3, 10, 11, 12. T5N-R17E, Sections 35, 36. 1,806 acres.

Access: From the intersection of County Highways N and J in Troy Center (4.5 miles northwest of East Troy), go east on J 1.1 miles to a parking area north of the road. Lulu Lake and the wetlands are best seen by canoe via the Mukwonago River or through the channel from Eagle Spring Lake. Deer hunting is allowed on Nature Conservancy property (see map) by permit. More...

Description: Lulu Lake is an assemblage of exceptionally high quality and diverse wetland and upland communities on glacial topography in the Kettle Moraine region. Many of the natural communities protected here have been virtually eliminated from southeastern Wisconsin. The focal point of the area is the 95-acre Lulu Lake, a 40-foot deep, hardwater drainage kettle lake fed by the Mukwonago River and situated at the base of glacial deposits. The clear waters harbor a diverse fish, amphibian, and reptile fauna including the threatened long-ear sunfish (Lepomis megalotis), pugnose shiner (Notropis anogenus), Blanding's turtle (Emydoidea blandingii), and pickerel frog (Rana palustris). A large wetland complex with patches of calcareous fen and shrub carr embedded within a sedge meadow matrix surrounds the lake on the north and west. An inlet stream contains many rare species such as beaked spike-rush (Eleocharis rostellata), slender bog arrow grass (Triglochin maritimum), Ohio goldenrod (Solidago ohioensis), lesser fringed gentian (Gentianopsis procera), Kalm's lobelia (Lobelia kalmii), and downy willow herb (Epilobium strictum). A small bog surrounded by tamarack forest is also present along with a good complement of other northern bog species including the uncommon dragon's mouth orchid (Arethusa bulbosa). Scattered patches of prairie grow within the oak opening and woodlands and harbor the state-threatened kitten tails (Besseya bullii). Other rare species include the dion skipper butterfly (Euphyes dion). Lulu Lake is owned by the DNR and The Nature Conservancy and was designated a State Natural Area in 1977.