Anvil Lake Trail State Natural Area

Anvil Lake Trail features a large, mature contiguous block of northern hardwood forest with inclusions of hemlock and scattered mature hemlock nearly throughout. Other natural communities are northern wet forest and soft-water springs. Hemlock regeneration is significant. On nearly level topography to hummocky with steep slopes, a large majority of forest is dominated by sugar maple with sizable stands dominated by white pine, hemlock, red oak, or older aspen. The pines date from 1888 and some hemlock is older. The best stands have many large hardwoods and hemlock in the 22-28 inch diameter range. Super-canopy white pine is also present through much of the site. Yellow birch and basswood are also common. The understory varies from open and park-like to dense hazelnut thickets. A number of large snags and tip-ups are common and coarse woody debris is occasional. The groundlayer supports Canada mayflower, intermediate wood fern, lycopods, and rough-leaved rice cut grass. Birds include veery, pine siskin, evening grosbeak, ruby-crowned kinglet, Nashville warbler, black-throated blue warbler, and yellow-bellied flycatcher. Numerous trees of all types and size classes, large snags, and the open character of the understory contribute to the developing old growth structure of this site. Anvil Lake Trail is owned by the US Forest Service and was designated a State Natural Area in 2007.