Eighteen Mile Creek

State Natural Area (No. 426)

Location: Within the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest, Bayfield County. T44N-R6W, Sections 5, 6, 8, 17, 18, 19, 30. 1,595 acres.

Access: From the town of Grand View, go south on Highway D about 4 miles, then west on FR 213 about 3.5 miles to where Eighteenmile Creek crosses the road. Follow the stream north or south into the site.

Description: The focus of this site is Eighteen Mile Creek and its associated tributary Porcupine Creek. These high quality, mostly closed canopy, trout streams originate from Diamond Lake and Porcupine Lake respectively. Porcupine Lake is a relatively undisturbed drainage lake within a designated Wilderness Area. The stream banks are forested with excellent to good quality stands of hemlock dominated forest with a significant upland cedar, yellow birch, and super-canopy white pine component and occasional patches of Canada yew and hemlock saplings. A shaded cliff community towers over Eighteen Mile Creek as it flows from its headwaters south of the Penokee-Gogebic range to Lake Superior. The granite cliffs rise from ten to over fifty feet in a series of steps from the creek bottom. The different aspects represented support unique vegetation with south-facing cliffs having a drier, younger overstory while north-facing cliffs are more mesic with an older overstory. Herbaceous cliff species include common polypody, fragile fern, intermediate wood fern, common oak fern, maidenhair fern, pale corydalis, and zig-zag goldenrod. Uncommon species present are fragrant fern (Dryopteris fragrans) and purple clematis (Clematis occidentalis). Uplands include a relatively large stand of hemlock hardwood forest near the headwaters of Porcupine Creek and on the shoreline of Porcupine Lake as well as pockets of old growth hemlock-hardwoods near the headwaters of Eighteenmile Creek, south of Coburn Lake, and west of Sage Lake. Small stands of northern dry-mesic forest dominated by red and white pine occur on isolated bedrock outcrops along the stream corridor and near Deer Lick Lake. Red oak is occasionally present. Mature, mixed northern hardwoods with scattered residual stems comprise the balance of the uplands on the site. A large portion of this site lies within the Porcupine Lake Wilderness Area and includes a small stretch of the North Country Scenic Trail. Also of primary importance is the shared boundary with the Lake Owen complex along the Great Divide-Washburn District boundary. These two sites, when combined with the Porcupine Lake Wilderness Area form one of the largest blocks of mature hardwood forest remaining on the Forest. Eighteen Mile Creek is owned by the US Forest Service and was designated a State Natural Area in 2007.