Bloch Oxbow

State Natural Area (No. 234)

Location: Marinette County. T29N-R23E, Sections 3, 4, 9, 10. 614 acres.

Access: From the junction of U.S. Highway 41 and County Highway B in Peshtigo, go south on B 1.3 miles, then south on County Highway BB 2.8 miles to a parking area east side of the road. The best pines are east of BB.

Description: Bloch Oxbow and Pines lies on a level sandy upland a few feet above the floodplain of the Peshtigo River, 2 miles upstream of its confluence with Green Bay. Iprotects one of the best remaining examples of northern dry-mesic forest - a type that was formerly widespread in northeastern Wisconsin, but is now reduced to small, often degraded remnants. Canopy dominants are red oak and red maple with supercanopy white pine to 36 inches d.b.h. Characteristic shrubs include hazelnut, witch hazel, huckleberry, blueberry and witherod, an uncommon shrub species. Prevalent herbaceous plants are bracken fern, interrupted fern, Canada mayflower, wild sarsaparilla, and large-leaved aster. Bordering the Peshtigo River is a floodplain forest at the extreme northeastern edge of its range in Wisconsin. Dominants include silver maple with green ash, elm, basswood, bitternut hickory, cottonwood, and black willow. Shrubs, emergent aquatic, and wet meadow vegetation, including sedges, rushes, and bluejoint grass, dominate the adjacent wetlands. Pockets of more mesic forest with hemlock and American beech are found in the southern portion of the site, while in the north is a xeric woodland dominated by Hill’s, red, and white oaks, bigtooth aspen, and white, red, and jack pines. The groundlayer is primarily bracken fern with ericaceous species and Pennsylvania sedge. Widely scattered, very old, charred stumps are evident in the area and may remain from the historic Peshtigo fire of 1871. Recent bank slumping along the river exposed another historical marker: a skeleton of an American bison dated at 2000-years-old was found on this site. The natural area is critical habitat for several sensitive bird species including bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus), Caspian (Sterna caspia), and Forster’s terns (S. forsteri), red-shouldered hawk (Buteo lineatus) and osprey (Pandion haliaetus). A great blue heron rookery and a large colony of bank swallows are also found here. Bloch Oxbow and Pines is owned by the DNR and was designated a State Natural Area in 1990.