Riveredge Creek & Ephemeral Pond State Natural Area encompasses a portion of the Riveredge Nature Center, including a stream and pond, near Newburg in Ozaukee County. Primarily recognized for its diverse aquatic/invertebrate life, this natural area eventually connects with the Milwaukee River to the northwest. I often feel that having an SNA embedded within a…
Tag: Pond
Enterprise Hemlocks (325/693)
Enterprise Hemlocks State Natural Area protects a mature mesic forest, predominantly composed of hemlocks and associated ephemeral ponds and boggy areas. The site is located south of Rhinelander in the southeast portion of Oneida County. There are 3 parcels, the northernmost of which can be accessed from Zimmer Rd, west of CTH G, and two…
Alvin Creek Headwaters (306/687)
Alvin Creek Headwaters encompasses several natural communities centered around, appropriately enough, Alvin Creek and its headwaters in north-central Forest County. The site lies southwest of the intersection of STH 70 and STH 55. Access can be made directly from west on FR 2175 and from the east on FR 2427. Both lightly traveled (and lightly…
Kieper Creek (305/687)
Kieper Creek includes a variety of natural communities in northwestern Florence County, sandwiched between the two previous blog posts, directly east of Lauterman Lake and just west Fox Maple Woods. A few possible access routes exist for this site. FR 2154 forms a joint border between Lauterman Lake and Kieper Creek SNA’s. Lauterman Creek crosses beneath…
Upper Buckatabon Springs (302/687)
Upper Buckatabon Springs encompasses a variety of wetland habitats including springs, ponds, alder thickets, northern sedge meadow, fen, and tamarack swamp across two parcels in central Vilas County. Access to the western parcel is available directly from CTH K on the south side or 3 Springs Road on the west side. The eastern parcel appears…
Brockway Ponds (291/681)
Brockway Ponds consists of 5 separate ponds and associated wetlands within the Jackson County Forest. The ponds can be reached via Funmaker Road, just south of STH 54. From there, sandy trails, more or less, lead to the ponds. On my visit, water covered the road adjacent to the northernmost pond, which precluded access to…
Upper Fox Headwaters (245/679)
Upper Fox Headwaters is comprised of a wide array of natural communities in 5 parcels of land divided amongst 3 units spanning 9 miles, 2 counties, and a total of 195 acres. The Upper Chaffee Creek Meadow unit (formerly known as the Chaffee Creek unit) is accessible from a wayside off of southbound I-39/USH 51…
Border Lakes (193/675)
Border Lakes, or the Catherine Wolter Wilderness Area as The Nature Conservancy calls it, encompasses 15 undeveloped lakes in northwestern Vilas County. A parking area is located on East Bay Road, southeast of Presque Isle. Numerous trails that are more like access roads, loop through the site. As my mother and I pulled into the…
Coffey Swamp, SNA #276 (180/675)
Coffey Swamp features a seepage pond surrounded by a fen and northern wet-mesic forest on Washington Island in Door County. As mentioned in prevous posts on Detroit Harbor and Jackson Harbor Ridges, the most common access to the island is via ferry. This natural area consists of two parcels, one of which is found along…
Kettle Hole Woods, SNA #254 (93/674)
Kettle Hole Woods features southern mesic and southern dry-mesic forests on a hillside with numerous ephemeral ponds scattered throughout. Continuing with the theme, this is one of 11 SNA’s found within the Northern Unit of the Kettle Moraine State Forest. This is your standard park on the road (Forestview Road) and ‘jump in’ site, though…
State Natural Areas of Wisconsin 