Camp Nine Pines

State Natural Area (No. 470)

Location: Within the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest. Bayfield County. T45N-R8W, Section 3. T46N-R8W, Sections 28, 32, 33, 34. 2,958 acres.

Access: From Drummond, go west on County Highway N for 6 miles, then north of FR 229 (Beck Road) about 5.5 miles to the Camba Bike Trail Trailhead. Trails provide access east and west into the site. Access from the north is provided by W. Delta Lake Road and Beck Road (FR 229).

Description: Camp Nine Pines contains one of the largest blocks of natural red pine and white pine on the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest. Other significant attributes include scattered frost pocket barrens, the opportunity to establish a connective corridor to the Rainbow Lake Wilderness Area, and the diversity of forest interior wood warblers. After the initial harvest followed by intense fires on the cutover land, the pine forest was allowed to re-develop and continue towards old-growth until harvest was again initiated on some portions of the site. A contiguous canopy of 75 to 100-year old pine and oak stretches over nearly 3,000 acres in total. The canopy is broken up only by natural open frost pockets and several recent clear-cuts. The forest is dominated by red pine and white pine with significant stands of red oak and jack pine. Associated species are paper birch, quaking aspen, and sugar maple. Red maple is ubiquitous in small numbers throughout the area. Shrubs include beaked hazelnut, American hazelnut, and American fly-honeysuckle. The herbaceous layer includes wood anemone, red baneberry, cinnamon fern, rough-leaved rice grass, round-lobed hepatica, and blunt-leaf orchid. Significant open or partially forested areas are dominated by widely spaced jack pine, bracken fern, and early low blueberry. Common understory species are harebell, smooth aster, big bluestem, and poverty oats. Typically these openings are in located in depressions and maintained by frost. Although recent activity has modified portions of the area, most exhibits the full range of local soil, topographic, and aspect variability. This area represents the best opportunity on the Forest and perhaps in Wisconsin to protect and restore a large block of future old-growth pine. Rare species include Connecticut warbler (Oporornis agilis), black-throated blue warbler (Dendroica caerulescens), large round-leaved orchid (Platanthera orbiculata) and rugulose grape-fern (Botrychium rugulosum). Camp Nine Pines is owned by the US Forest Service and was designated a State Natural Area in 2007.