Comstock Bog-Meadow

State Natural Area (No. 123)

Location: Marquette County. T16N-R10E, Sections 10, 11, 14, 15. 537 acres.

Access: From the intersection of State Highways 23 and 22 in Montello, go north on 22 4.8 miles, then east on County Highway J 1.0 mile, then north and east on Edgewood Road 1.0 mile to a parking lot north of the road. Alternatively, from the junction of 22 and J, go north 0.6 mile to an access lane on the east side of the road, then east 0.25 mile to a parking area.

Description: Lying within a 1000-acre natural basin in the glaciated Central Plain, Comstock Bog-Meadow features a large, quaking sedge meadow marsh with a high diversity of unusual plants. The undisturbed marsh is permanently wet and relatively free of water fluctuations. The south end lies on a drainage divide and is dominated by narrow leaved sedges with many acid bog plants occurring on the quaking, rhizomatous mat. Of particular interest is the unique assemblage of plants with many characteristic calcareous wetland species growing in association with bog species including twig rush, grass-of-Parnassus, marsh fern, pitcher plant, bladderworts, and sundews. Northward and westward the species composition changes to more closely resemble a sedge meadow. Except for a small area of tamarack, poison sumac, and bog birch, the entire tract is treeless. The marsh is used by a variety of small mammals, muskrat, mink, reptiles and amphibians. Sandhill cranes nest in the marsh and use the area as a fall staging site. Rare breeding bird species include Le Conte's sparrow (Ammodramus leconteii), Henslow's sparrow (Ammodramus henslowii), and state-endangered yellow rail (Coturnicops noveboracensis). In 1851, the original land surveyors described the area as a wet, quaking marsh, "over which we crossed with not a little danger to our lives." Comstock Bog-Meadow is owned by the DNR and was designated a State Natural Area in 1975.