Bass Lake Fen

State Natural Area (No. 178)

Location: Waushara County. T18N-R10E, Sections 23, 26. 77 acres.

Access: From the intersection of State Highways 22 and 73 in Wautoma, go south on 22 4.4 miles, then east on County Highway YY 0.9 mile to a parking area south of the road. Walk south on the access lane 0.75 mile to the north shore of lake.

Description: Bass Lake features a 20-acre calcareous fen located on the undeveloped shore of Bass Lake. The fen is exceptionally diverse with many small springs, openings, and ponds providing a calcium-rich habitat that supports 125 species of plants. Several rare species adapted to the alkaline conditions grow here including false asphodel (Tofieldia glutinosa), common bog arrow-grass (Triglochin maritima) and slender bog arrow-grass (T. palustris). Several scattered shallow, marl-bottom ponds are dominated by needle spike rush, small bladderwort, grass-leaved pondweed, and Smith’s bulrush. To the east, the fen grades into sedge meadow and the two communities are bordered on the north by tamarack swamp and on the south by shrub-carr. The five-acre Bass Lake is a clear fertile lake, some 27 feet deep, with a sandy marl bottom and a population of fern pondweed, a species not usually found in south or central Wisconsin. The lake’s outlet stream is a small tributary to Little Lunch Creek and the Fox River drainage. The lake has a good warm water fishery and is an important waterfowl area. Sandhill cranes, which nest nearby, use the area extensively. Bass Lake is owned by the DNR and was designated a State Natural Area in 1983.