Two Lakes Pine-Oak Forest State Natural Area

On the gently rolling, sandy terrain between three lakes and conifer swamp is a northern dry-mesic forest dominated by large to medium-sized white pine, red pine, and red oak. In the oldest and least disturbed stands a super-canopy stratum is developing. The forest appears to have established after blowdown and fire following the cut-over era but there has been little disturbance since that time. White pine saplings are common in scattered spots while elsewhere saplings are mostly red maple, sugar maple, and balsam fir. The shrub layer is composed of beaked hazelnut, maple-leaved viburnum with occasional American fly honeysuckle. The herb and low shrub layer is represented by early low blueberry, velvet-leaf blueberry, wintergreen, wild sarsaparilla, big-leaf aster, hog-peanut, northern tree club-moss, running club-moss, Canada mayflower, Pennsylvania sedge, and bracken fern. Within the drier forest, patches of mesic forest occur as inclusions, some with large hemlock, basswood, and yellow birch. There is good hemlock reproduction locally and scattered steep-sided kettles within the site. Breeding birds include pileated woodpecker, least flycatcher, veery, hermit thrush, yellow-rumped warbler, black-throated green warbler, pine warbler, ovenbird, Canada warbler, and scarlet tanager. Two Lakes Pine-Oak Forest is owned by the DNR and was designated a State Natural Area in 2007.