Hook Lake Bog

State Natural Area (No. 242)

Location: Dane County. T6N-R8E, Section 28, 29, 32. 380 acres.

Access: From the junction of Highways 14 and 138 in Oregon, go east on 138 1.8 miles, then north on Sunrise Road 0.85 miles, then east on Rutland Dunn Town Line Road 0.3 mile, then north on McManus Road 0.1 mile to a small parking area.. Walk north 1 mile into the site.

Description: Hook Lake Bog ranks as one of the highest quality wetlands in Dane County. It is a soft bog lake, which is unusual for southern Wisconsin. The lake, located in a glacial pocket, is nearly extinct with only 50-70 acres of open water remaining. The rest is covered by a floating sedge mat and emergent aquatic vegetation with tamarack swamp forest, open bog, and southern sedge meadow communities. The bog mat harbors plant species that are rare in Dane County including the insectivorous round-leaved sundew, seven-angled pipewort, and bogbean. Other Dane County rarities are pickerel weed, watershield, leather-leaf, and large-fruited star sedge. The tamarack swamp contains paper birch, cranberry, and spinulose wood fern and a dense ring of bog birch surrounds the tamaracks with cotton grass. Other species include steeplebush, buttonbush, American woolly-fruit sedge, rushes, and spike-rush. A cat-tail dominated moat with water plantain, swamp loosestrife, wool-grass, and arrowhead surrounds the bog. An upland island of dry-mesic forest is also present and is rich with spring wildflowers such as Dutchman’s-breeches and bloodroot. The natural area also contains restored prairie and oak savanna along the western edge of the lake. The diversity and structure of the vegetation offers a variety of habitat and cover for wildlife, including open water, reed beds, sedge, cat-tails, shrub, deciduous and coniferous forest areas. Nesting birds include common snipe, woodcock, sora rail, green heron, wood duck, and pied-billed grebe. Great blue herons also use the area for foraging. Hook Lake Bog is owned by the DNR and was designated a State Natural Area in 1991.