Jay Creek Pine Forest

State Natural Area (No. 241)

Location: Jackson County. T20N-R1W, Sections 28, 33. 360 acres.

Access: From the intersection of I-94 and County Highway O in Millston, go east on Highway O 6.5 miles, then south on Arrow Road 2.8 miles, then east on E. Starlight Road 0.8 mile to a parking area north of the road. Walk north along an old access lane.

Description: Jay Creek Pine Forest is a diverse mix of dry to wet pine woods lying in the flat, poorly drained bed of former Glacial Lake Wisconsin. The uplands are northern dry-mesic forest of white and red pine, red maple, and white oak. Most significant is the excellent white pine-red maple swamp on gently sloping wet sand along Jay Creek, an unusual community found only within the bed of former Glacial Lake Wisconsin. Winterberry dominates the shrub layer with some blueberry, huckleberry, and alder present. The understory is dominated by chest-high expanses of cinnamon fern on a dense mat of sphagnum moss with three-leaved gold-thread, American starflower, Canada mayflower, and yellow bluebead-lily. Two rare plant species, northern long sedge (Carex folliculata) and the Massachussetts fern (Thelypteris simulata), disjunct here from its nearest population in Pennsylvania, are also common. Jay Creek is a fast, cold soft water stream inhabited by brook trout with plant species including American eelgrass and floating-leaved bur-reed. Black spruce is a common component near the stream with paper birch, yellow birch and occasional tamarack. Bird life includes northern goshawk (Accipiter gentilis), broad-winged hawk, pileated woodpecker, veery, ovenbird, red-breasted nuthatch, and pine, Canada, and black-throated green warblers. Jay Creek Pine Forest is owned by the DNR and was designated a State Natural Area in 1990.