Deer Fly Swamp State Natural Area | park

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Situated within uneven end moraine, Deer Fly Swamp is a high quality white pine swamp in a perched, shallow depression occupying the headwaters of Fish Pole Lake. This natural community type - a white pine/red maple swamp is rare in Wisconsin and even rarer within this morainal landscape. Most are concentrated in and around the bed of extinct Glacial Lake Wisconsin in the Central Sand Plains Ecological Landscape. White pine and tamarack are the canopy and subcanopy dominants with red maple, yellow birch, and black spruce as associates. Trees range from 8-24 inches in diameter. The shrub / sub-shrub layers are diverse and moderately dense with winterberry, mountain-holly, and huckleberry most prevalent. The stand has fair development of structure with coarse woody debris, snags and tip-ups, and microtopography; the site goal is to encourage old-growth characteristics. About 25% of the area is mucky water filled hollows and the remainder Sphagnum-dominated hummocks. Cinnamon fern and three-leaved false solomon's seal are the dominant herbs. Deer Fly Swamp is owned by Chippewa County and was designated a State Natural Area in 2010.