Bear Lake Sedge Meadow State Natural Area

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Bear Lake Sedge Meadow occupies a large embayment on the southern shore of Bear Lake, a hard water drainage lake. The sedge meadow is quite open, with scattered islands of bog birch, alder, black spruce and tamarack close to the lake. Much of the meadow is dominated primarily by woolly fruit sedge intermixed with three-fruited sedge, marsh cinquefoil, cotton-grass, and blue-joint grass. The wetland has a distinctly bog-like character, with sphagnum moss, round-leaved sundew, pitcher plant, , rose pogonia, northern bog goldenrod, and the rare dragon’s-mouth orchid (Arethusa bulbosa). Several species of bog shrubs including leather-leaf, bog-laurel, bog-rosemary, and Labrador-tea are scattered throughout. A small northern wet forest of tamarack and black spruce borders the lake and a fringe of alder-willow thicket lies along the remainder of the shoreline. This area is important habitat for rare birds including LeConte’s sparrow (Ammodramus leconteii), American bittern (Botaurus lentiginosus), and the yellow rail (Coturnicops noveboracensis). Bear Lake Sedge Meadow is owned by Barron County and the Village of Haugen and was designated a State Natural Area in 1997.