Lake Owen Hardwoods

State Natural Area (No. 425)

Location: Within the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest, Bayfield County. T44N-R7W, Sections 1, 2, 11, 12, 13. T45N-R7W, Section 36. 1,535 acres.

Access: The site is 3 miles southeast of Drummond on Forest Road 213. Parts of the site are accessible via Forest Roads 214, 217, and 371.

Description: Located along the north side of Lake Owen is a mile-wide peninsula that supports several high quality stands of old-growth hemlock-hardwoods in a large tract of unfragmented, maturing mesic and dry-mesic forest near the Lake Owen shore. Hemlock is reproducing under the fire-origin paper birch. The good quality mesic to dry-mesic hardwoods are dominated by sugar maple and red oak (18-24 inches) with scattered white pine and smaller amounts of paper birch, big-toothed aspen, and red maple. Common groundlayer species include sweet cicely, big-leaved aster, Pennsylvania sedge, Canada mayflower, sessile-leaved bellwort, downy Solomon’s-seal, and shining club-moss. Several small seepage lakes and ponds also occur within the site. These are associated with communities of black ash swamp, muskeg/open bog, emergent and floating leaved aquatics, and red maple-cinnamon fern swamp with iris swales. Mature, rich sugar maple-basswood forest is scattered throughout. Also present is a small inclusion of bedrock controlled landscape (Gogebic-Penokee Range) with shaded wet and dry cliffs that support a remnant red pine community and two state special concern plant species- fragrant wood fern (Dryopteris fragrans) and purple clematis (Clematis occidentalis). The cerulean warbler (Dendroica cerulea) is known to nest here. Moose have been seen in this part of Wisconsin in past years. The site represents one of the longest stretches of Federal land ownership on Lake Owen and maintains its wild character. With its rich mosaic of varied landscape, mature forest types, old-growth fragments, remoteness and little evidence of recent disturbance, Lake Owen is one of the better examples of a large block of relatively undisturbed northern forests on the Chequamegon-Nicolet. Lake Owen is owned by the US Forest Service and was designated a State Natural Area in 2007.