Twin Lakes Bog

State Natural Area (No. 297)

Location: Within Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest, Taylor County. T32N-R1W, Section 1 S½SE¼. 38 acres.

Access: From the intersection of State Highways 64 and 13 in Medford, go north on Highway 13 9.8 miles, then west on Cemetery Avenue 0.5 mile, then north on 4th Street 0.5 mile, then west on FR 102 (Quarter Lane) 2.9 miles, then north on FR 101 0.5 mile, then west again on FR 102 (Mondeaux Avenue) 4.2 miles, then south on FR 566 (Twin Lakes Road) 0.75 mile, then southeast on FR 1504 0.25 mile to the western boundary of the site.

Description: Twin Lakes Bog features an undisturbed conifer swamp occupying a depression between two kettle lakes in an area of morainal topography. The swamp is dominated by tamarack with black spruce, red maple, and yellow birch. The understory has an open aspect with characteristic bog shrubs and herbs scattered on a mat of Sphagnum moss. Dominant shrubs are Labrador tea, bog laurel, and leather-leaf with mountain holly, and winterberry. The sphagnum mat contains several sedge species including two-seeded bog sedge and American woolly-fruit sedge with twinflower, cinnamon fern, bunchberry, and buckbean. Insectivorous plants are well represented with bladderwort, sundews, and pitcher plants. The understory is also notable for large number of moccasin flowers. Three small bog lakes, surrounded by quaking bogs, compliment the site. Also present is a small stand of second-growth northern hardwoods dominated by sugar maple and red oak, which surrounds the uplands to the west. Leopard and wood frogs are common. Birds include blue-headed vireo, hermit thrush, black-and-white warbler, and white-throated sparrow. Twin Lakes Bog is owned by the USDA Forest Service and was designated a State Natural Area in 1996.