Oxbo Pines State Natural Area

Oxbo Pines features an extensive stand of natural origin dry-mesic forest on hilly, steep-sided pitted outwash and esker deposits. Found along the North Fork of the Flambeau River, the forest is dominated by mature 24-30 inch white and red pines with white spruce and fir important associates. Groundlayer species include early low blueberry, northern bush honeysuckle, bracken fern, rough-leaved rice grass, big-leaf aster, false melic grass, and wood anemone. The pine stands are imbedded within a mature aspen-birch forest which features scattered pines in the canopy, dense pole-sized white pine, and a very dense layer of beaked hazelnut. Oxbo Lake, a small bog lake at the north end of the site, is surrounded by an acidic black spruce/tamarack forest with inclusions of muskeg and poor fen. These wet areas grade into hemlock/white pine forest and a narrow zone of floodplain forest with swamp hardwoods that extends along the river corridor. The southern portion of the site is dominated by medium-rich northern mesic hardwoods with numerous small wetland depressions. These perched wet pockets support a significant concentration of ephemeral ponds. Small, intermittent streams interconnect and drain down to the river. Notable bird species include bald eagle, magnolia warbler, pine warbler, scarlet tanager, and black-throated blue warbler. Oxbo Pines is owned by the DNR and was designated a State Natural Area in 2010.