Cedarburg Beech Woods is comprised of a southern mesic forest on rolling topogrpahy dominated by beech and maple.  The site is located on Saint Augustine Road just southwest of the UWM Field Station and pulling to the side of this gravel road is your only parking option.  First and foremost, however, permssion to visit this site is required beforehand and is obtained by contacting the Field Station.

My original plan to visit this site was to stop here after my field trip to the Cedarburg Bog SNA earlier in the spring.  That trip, however, lasted quite a bit longer than scheduled and postponed this visit to the tail end of astronomical summer.  The leaves of the beech and maple had not yet begun to assume their vibrant autumnal hues, but no matter, the brilliant green was a verdant substitute.  I have found that sites such as this with its rolling topography tend to have a lot of “character” and photogenicity.  Though a paucity of light was available beneath the canopy, it provided some opportunities for different types of photographs.  To this day, one of these beech woods photos remains my most popular photo on Flickr.  This site is reported to have a fairly nice spring ephemeral display and groundlayer, so perhaps a spring revisit is in order and a fall tour through the trees would not disapoint either.

Forest

Forest

Forest

Forest

Forest

Forest

Forest

More of my photos (and full-res) from Cedarburg Beech Woods can be viewed here.

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