Aurora Lake

State Natural Area (No. 127)

Location: Within the Northern Highland-American Legion State Forest, Vilas County. T41N-R8E, Sections 18, 19. 250 acres.

Access: From the north junction of State Highway 155 and County Highway N in Sayner, go west on N 2.1 miles, then north on Razorback Road 3.8 miles, then west on Aurora Lake Road 0.3 mile to a boat landing on the east side of the lake. The area is best seen by canoe.

Description: Aurora Lake is a 94-acre undeveloped, shallow, soft water drainage lake located in an elongated pitted outwash basin. The bottom is primarily muck with a maximum depth of only 4 feet. The fertile water is dominated by wild rice and supports a diversity of submerged and floating leaved aquatic plants including common bladderwort, water-milfoil, pondweeds, waterweed, white and yellow water-lilies, and small bur-reed. The northern half of the lake consists of a quaking bog mat of sphagnum and sedges and contains the rare boreal bog orchid (Platanthera dilatata), a species of concern in Wisconsin. Several islands of tamarack with spruce and red maple occur in the lake while the surrounding wet forest consists of tamarack and black spruce swamp and second-growth white birch. The fishery is northern pike, perch, and sunfish but is subject to winterkill. Bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) use the lake along with muskrat, beaver, and waterfowl. Aurora Lake is owned by the DNR and was designated a State Natural Area in 1976.