Rock Lake

State Natural Area (No. 475)

Location: Within the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest. Bayfield County. T43N-R6W, Sections 28-32. 1,181 acres.

Access: Rock Lake is located 8 miles east of Cable, WI. From Cable, go east on County M 8 miles, then south on FR 207 one mile to the northern edge of the complex.

Description: Located in a picturesque area of rolling glacial gravel hills, Rock Lake features a maturing northern dry-mesic forest dominated by red oak and sugar maple with super canopy white and red pine. The shrub layer varies from sparse to fairly thick with hazelnut and tree saplings. Understory herbs include lady fern, sessile-leaved bellwort, hog peanut, and sweet-scented bedstraw. The presence of a significant paper birch and red oak component, especially on mesic soils, are good indicators of the site’s past fire history. These turn-of-the-century fires also eliminated the pine component. However, significant pine inclusions today occur on the steep side slopes of kettle depressions where they may have been protected from fires. On the ground moraine, many of the former pine sites and areas which originally supported mesic, northern hardwoods are now forested with early successional species including aspen, birch, and balsam fir. However, several good quality stands of second-growth red and white pine are present. Most are found on mesic to dry-mesic outwash soils on lower topographic positions in the landscape, and many are associated with riparian areas, especially the small seepage lakes and peat bog communities that occur within this area. Characteristic ground flora include bracken fern, wintergreen, Canada mayflower, and narrow-leaved cow-wheat. Numerous non-motorized trails wind through the site. Common loons have been seen on most of the lakes in the complex. Rare plants include large round-leaf orchid (Platanthera orbiculata) and Farwell’s water-milfoil (Myriophyllum farwellii). Rock Lake is owned by the US Forest Service and was designated a State Natural Area in 2007.