Spider Lake

State Natural Area (No. 295)

Location: Within Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest, Ashland County. T43N-R4W, Sections 5, 6, 8. 287 acres.

Access: No direct public access. From the intersection of County Highway GG and 77 in Clam Lake, go north on GG about 1.9 miles, then north on FR 345 0.95 mile, then west on FR 193 2.4 miles, then north on FR 344 about one mile to a logging road on the east side of 344. Walk east following the logging road until it turns. Continue east using compass and topographic map to the south end of the ash swamp.

Description: Spider Lake features a high quality stand of swamp hardwoods dominated by black ash of various age and size classes with canopy associates of red maple, paper birch, white cedar, and white spruce. The shrub layer is well developed and dense consisting of speckled alder, mountain maple, red-osier dogwood, and winterberry. Characteristic herbs include cinnamon fern, marsh marigold, swamp saxifrage, creeping snowberry, and fringed, swollen, and three-fruited sedges. Cuckoo-flower (Cardamine pratensis), a species of special concern in Wisconsin, is also present. Mosses are also an important component of the herbaceous flora. Small pools of standing or slowly moving water are frequent within the ash forest including tip-up pools with 4-8" of water. Drainage patterns in this area of pitted moraine are rather poorly developed and lakes, kettle depressions, and swamps are abundant. The headwaters of the Chippewa and Marengo Rivers are in this area. Spider Lake supports a diverse array of bird species including the great-crested flycatcher, veery, black-and-white, northern parula, and black-throated green warblers, northern waterthrush, and the yellow-bellied flycatcher (Empidonax flaviventris), a species of special concern in Wisconsin. Spider Lake is owned by the USDA Forest Service and was designated a SNA in 1988.