Stone Lake Pines State Natural Area

Stone Lake Pines features a series of five low islands of northern dry-mesic forest within an open bog. Each island, composed of unsorted rocky till and sandy soil, is about 2.5 acres and wooded with red pines up to 30" in diameter and a few white pine. Upland edges of several of the islands are densely forested with black spruce, balsam fir, and white spruce. In some areas, red pines are open-grown and range over many sizes. The islands have a typical groundlayer of large-leaved aster, yellow blue-bead-lily, Canada mayflower, partridge berry, and American starflower. The open bog is shrubby with alder, bog birch, leather-leaf, bog-laurel, and bog-rosemary being especially abundant. Stone Lake Pines is owned by the DNR and was designated a State Natural Area in 1983.