Jung Hemlock-Beech Forest

State Natural Area (No. 129)

Location: Shawano County. T27N-R14E, Section 23 E½NW¼. 80 acres.

Access: From the intersection of County Highways A and G in Gresham, go south on A about 2 miles, then south on County U 1 mile, then east on Winkle Road 0.3 miles to a small parking area south of the road.

Description: Jung Hemlock-Beech Forest is a remnant of the once extensive northern mesic forest that once covered millions of acres in northeastern Wisconsin. The woods contain old-growth hemlock, American beech, and sugar maple with yellow birch and scattered white pine. Beech reaches the eastern limit of its range here. Tree size indicates the stand is between 150 and 200 years old. The outstanding features of the site are its uniformity and the presence of hemlock seedlings and saplings, which is unlike most sites where the young hemlocks are heavily damaged by browsing deer. Shrubs include American fly honeysuckle, eastern leatherwood, and maple-leaved viburnum with sharp-lobed hepatica, common oak fern, yellow bluebead-lily, Indian cucumber-root, wintergreen, American starflower, and beech-drops, a root parasite of beech trees. Within the site are several small sedge-sphagnum bogs with scattered tamarack and black spruce. Also present are bog-laurel, leather-leaf, bog rosemary, and mountain holly with cotton grass, small cranberry, blueberry, pitcher plant, and sundew. At the south end is abandoned agricultural land now succeeding naturally to forest. Common nesting birds include wood thrush, red-eyed vireo, ovenbird, eastern wood pewee, and rose-breasted grosbeak. Jung Hemlock-Beech Forest is owned by the DNR and was designated a State Natural Area in 1976.