Ketchum Creek Pines

State Natural Area (No. 243)

Location: Within the Black River State Forest, Jackson County. T20N-R2W, Sections 11-14. 160 acres.

Access: From the intersection of I-94 and County Highway O in Millston, go east on Highway O 4.2 miles, then north and west on Smrekar Road 1.2 miles to the right-angle corner. Park along the road and walk south into the site.

Description: Ketchum Creek Pines slopes gently from north to south with a dry, sandy upland containing jack pine and oak forest grading rapidly into a northern wet-mesic forest of white pine and red maple. The site becomes increasingly wetter moving toward the south end of the property and the wet-mesic forest gives way to a tamarack black spruce bog and eventually an open sedge meadow. Thin muck soils overlay wet sand and sphagnum moss covers much of the forest floor. Scattered across the forest floor is a tangle of raised tree roots filled with pockets of cold, dark water. Two rare plants, Massachussetts fern (Thelypteris simulata) and northern long sedge (Carex folliculata), are common in these root pockets. A sparse to moderate shrub layer is dominated by winterberry with smaller amounts of mountain holly and huckleberry. The understory is a dense sea of 3-4 foot high cinnamon ferns. Resident avifauna includes the common raven, veery, and Canada, pine, and black-throated green warblers. Northern flying squirrel and porcupine also inhabit the forest. Ketchum Creek Pines is owned by the DNR and was designated in 1991.