Plum Lake Hemlock Forest State Natural Area

Plum Lake Hemlock Forest is a near virgin stand of old-growth, nearly 240 acres, on rolling topography between Star Lake and Plum Lake. Canopy trees include hemlock, yellow birch, sugar maple, basswood, and paper birch. Seedlings of birch and red maple are present, but hemlock reproduction is sparse due to overbrowsing by deer, which often use the area as a winter deer yard. The forest contains substantial numbers of snags and coarse woody debris strewn about the forest floor. Shrubs, though not dense, include mountain maple, American fly honeysuckle, and red elderberry. The understory includes a diversity of herbaceous species including Canada mayflower, shining club-moss, creeping-snowberry, bunchberry, American starflower, pipsissewa, lesser rattlesnake-plantain, and Indian-pipe. Nesting birds include red-eyed vireo, black-throated green warbler, blackburnian warbler, northern parula, winter wren, ovenbird, hermit thrush, and veery.