Spring Brook Drumlins

State Natural Area (No. 458)

Location: Within the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest. Ashland and Sawyer Counties. T40N-R3W, Sec. 1-4, 10, 11, 12; T41N-R3W, Sec. 25, 26, 27, 33-36. 3,162 acres.

Access: The site is located 12 miles west of Park Falls, WI. Access to the site is via Forest Roads 161 and 163. From Park Falls, go west on County E 11 miles, then north on FR 161 5 miles. The site lies north of the road.

Description: Spring Brook Drumlins represents the largest tract of closed canopy mesic hardwood forest on the National Forest outside of the Penokee Range. Located on drumlinized ground moraine with a silt loam surface, the forest is predominantly rich upland sugar maple-basswood forest with scattered pockets of hemlock and lowland black spruce-tamarack. Other mesic forest canopy trees include white ash, black ash, and occasionally yellow birch and red oak. Ironwood and sugar maple poles and saplings make up the majority of the midstory. The shrub layer is poorly developed and consists primarily of gooseberry and leatherwood. The forest supports a diverse forb population including several spring ephemerals uncommon on the Forest. Characteristic species on drumlin ridges include spring beauty, dwarf ginseng, downy yellow violet, rattlesnake fern, wood anemone, large-flowered trillium, and toothwort. Richer, moister inclusions along drainage swales, side slopes, and shallow depressions support such species as Dutchman’s-breeches, bloodroot, wild leek, blue cohosh, wild ginger, maidenhair fern, and lady fern. The best areas have a mature stand structure with large diameter trees with broad canopies and an open park-like understory. Den trees are common although snags and coarse woody debris is mostly absent, except for dead elm. Hemlock-dominated wet-mesic forest occupies perched wetland areas while the black spruce-tamarack bogs and cedar swamps are found in inter-drumlin areas. On level and somewhat poorly drained drumlinized ground moraine is rich, northern hardwood swamp forest dominated by 16-18 inch black ash with red maple and yellow birch. American elm snags and downed logs killed from Dutch elm disease are common throughout. The herb layer is diverse with spring ephemerals in wet-mesic areas and cinnamon fern, jewelweed, marsh marigold, horsetail and sedges in seasonally inundated areas. Another key feature is Spring Brook meadows, a high quality sedge meadow dominated by blue-joint grass and sedges along the border of Spring Brook. Included is a small stand of relatively old-growth northern white cedar. Rare and uncommon species found within the site include butternut (Juglans cinerea), northern goshawk (Accipiter gentilis), and moose. Perhaps the attribute that best typifies this site is its expansive size. Few places on the Forest afford one the opportunity to walk for several miles through unbroken canopy cover in an older, maturing hardwood forest. Spring Brook Drumlins is owned by the US Forest Service and was designated a State Natural Area in 2007.