Spruce Lake Bog in Wisconsin

[AndreaK]

Our visit to Spruce Lake Bog was amazing. We were slightly early to see the pink Lady Slippers in fully bloom. If you are near the area I would highly recommend a visit this week or next to see them. There were many along the trail in bud. We enjoyed seeing pitcher plant also. The kids had fun 'bouncing' on the vegetation mats od the quaking bogs. It was a unique experience that I hope they will remember for life.

Description

Spruce Lake Bog features an undisturbed shallow seepage bog lake situated in one of the many kettle holes characteristic of the inter-lobate glacial deposits scattered throughout the area. The 35-acre lake has moderately hard water with a pH of 7.5 and supports a dense, floating-leaved aquatic flora of water shield and water lilies. The site is particularly rich in plants more characteristic of northern Wisconsin sphagnum bogs and greatly resembles them in appearance. Black spruce, which is common in the swamp forest, is near its southern range limit in Wisconsin. Distinct vegetation zones encircle the lake with a floating sedge mat of cotton grass, three-fruited sedge, royal fern, pitcher plant, round-leaved sundew, moccasin flower, wintergreen, and small cranberry grading into a bog forest of tamarack and black spruce. An outer zone of swamp hardwoods includes tamarack, black ash, red maple, yellow birch, and white cedar and contains species more commonly associated with northern coniferous forests including three-leaved gold-thread, American starflower, partridgeberry, common winterberry, and yellow blue-bead lily. The diversity of shrubs on the sedge mat and in the forest is indicative of the area’s high quality. Species include speckled alder, black chokeberry, willow, round-leaved and red-osier dogwood, Labrador-tea, bog birch, leather-leaf, bog-rosemary, poison sumac, mountain holly, meadowsweet, huckleberry, cranberry, and blueberry. Several bird species with northern affinities nest here, including northern water thrush, Nashville warbler, Canada warbler, and white-throated sparrow. Spruce Lake Bog has been designated a national natural landmark by the US Park Service. Spruce Lake Bog is owned by the DNR and was designated a State Natural Area in 1968. (excerpt taken from: Spruce Lake Bog State Natural Area - Wisconsin DNR)

[AndreaK]

Sorry the pictures uploaded wrong. I will try to correct them when I get the chance. I only recently started having issues with the images posting sideways here. Ughhh.....

[estación seca]

Thank you! This is great!

[Pattywack]

Interesting and beautiful, such a nice vacation. Thank you for sharing.

[No-Pro-mwa]

What cool plants. Sounds like you had a great time.

[Tindomul]

Excellent review of the bog. Thanks for sharing. Great pic of the Equisetum.