Sand Creek Pines

State Natural Area (No. 376)

Location: Within Sand Creek Fishery Area, Monroe County. T19N-R5W, Section 34. 150 acres.

Access: From the junction of Highways 108 and 71 south of Melrose, go southeast on 71 3.0 miles, then southwest on Cambridge Road 0.6 miles, then south 0.5 miles on an access road.

Description: The primary feature of Sand Creek Pines is the undeveloped mile-long corridor containing Sand Creek, a cold, fast, sandy bottom soft water stream that supports native brook trout. An alder thicket borders the stream with fen-like seepages along its banks with angelica, purple avens, swamp aster, common rush, and skunk cabbage. Beds of Canadian waterweed are common in the stream. White pine is dominant on the north-facing slopes with red pine locally abundant as naturally occurring groves. Jack pine, oaks, and red maple are also present. The level uplands away from the stream are a mix of overgrown Jack pine-oak barrens with red cedar, pine plantations, and old field. The understory is dense with prickly-ash, and hazelnut. Scattered prairie species are found in areas with an open understory with such plants as prairie dropseed, Indian grass, prairie larkspur, lead-plant, smooth blue aster, short green milkweed, cream wild indigo, and sand evening-primrose. The feeder creek, Cascade Creek, has a 10-foot high cascading sandstone waterfall. The forest is more mesic here with second-growth red maple, basswood, bitternut hickory, and herbs such as maidenhair fern, yellow blue-bead-lily, and bishop's cap. The rare cliff goldenrod (Solidago sciaphila) and woolly milkweed (Asclepias lanuginosa) occur on the steep sandy bluffs on the north side of Sand Creek. Also present are big blue-stem, poverty grass, butterfly weed, showy goldenrod, field goldenrod, hairy goldenrod, and bracken fern. Sand Creek Pines is owned by the DNR and was designated a State Natural Area in 2002.