Scott Lake and Shelp Lake

Scott and Shelp Lake features two scenic spring-fed wilderness lakes with remnant stands of pine and hemlock. The northern mesic forest is dominated by hemlock with a few supercanopy white and red pines. Associated canopy species include sugar maple, yellow birch, basswood, and white spruce. The generally sparse shrub layer contains mountain maple, fly honeysuckle, beaked hazelnut, and red elder while the groundcover includes Canada mayflower, wood sorrel, bunchberry, and narrow beech fern. The spring-fed Shelp Lake drains south to Scott Lake, which is itself drained by Scott Creek and flows to the Eagle River. Both are shallow soft water lakes and are completely undeveloped. Wetlands adjacent to the lakes include stands of swamp conifers dominated by black spruce and tamarack, open bog of sphagnum moss, sedges and heaths, and a shrub swamp composed mainly of speckled alder. Characteristic nesting birds are blackburnian and black-throated green warblers, solitary vireo, gray jay, and olive-sided flycatcher. Osprey and bald eagles use the lakes for foraging. Scott Lake and Shelp Lake is owned by the U.S. Forest Service and was designated a State Natural Area in 1974.