The National Park Service has designated eleven National Natural Landmarks in Massachusetts. Most of these are bogs, swamps, wetlands and old-growth forest.
Name | Image | Date | Location | County | Ownership | Description |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Acushnet Cedar Swamp | June 1972 | New Bedford | Bristol | state | One of the state's largest, wildest and most impenetrable swamps, and an outstanding example of the diversity of conditions and species in the glaciated section of the oak-chestnut forest. [1] | |
Bartholomew's Cobble | October 1971 | Ashley Falls | Berkshire | private (The Trustees of Reservations) | Contains over 800 plant species, including North America's greatest diversity of ferns. [2] | |
Cold River Virgin Forest | April 1980 | Mohawk Trail State Forest | Berkshire, Franklin | state | Probably the only virgin hemlock-northern hardwood forest in New England, with the hemlocks and sugar maples exceeding 400 years in age. [3] | |
Fannie Stebbins Refuge | June 1972 | Longmeadow | Hampden | municipal | The area contains the only sizeable example of Connecticut River flood plain under preservation, exhibiting many successional stages including upland and flood plain forest, swamp, marsh, ponds, and meadows. [4] | |
Gay Head Cliffs | October 1975 | Aquinnah | Dukes | native lands (Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head) | An unusual cross section of Raritan and Magothy sediments of Cretaceous age and fossil-bearing sands of Miocene and either Pliocene or Pleistocene ages that rise as much as 150 feet (46 m) above sea level, resting on the continental shelf and detached from the mainland. The center of Wampanoag native culture. [5] | |
Hawley Bog | May 1974 | Hawley | Franklin | private | Unspoiled cold northern boreal sphagnum-heath bog occupying an old shallow glacial lake basin which demonstrates bog succession from the central open water pond to the surrounding spruce-fir forest. [6] | |
Mt. Greylock Old Growth Spruce | November 1987 | Adams | Berkshire | state | This site contains three separate stands of undisturbed old growth red spruce on the northwest slopes of Mount Greylock, the highest mountain in Massachusetts. These stands have been undisturbed for at least 150–180 years, and may be virgin. No other old growth red spruce stands are known in southern New England, while only a few comparable or better sites occur in northern New England. [7] | |
Muskeget Island | April 1980 | west of Tuckernuck and Nantucket Islands | Nantucket | municipal, private | The only known locality where the Muskeget beach vole is found, and southernmost station where the gray seal breeds. The area supports an enormous nesting population of herring gulls and black-backed gulls. [8] | |
North and South Rivers | May 1977 | Norwell | Plymouth | state, municipal, private | Classic examples of drowned river-mouth estuaries, supporting at least 45 species of fish and many species of birds. The site contains salt marsh, brackish marsh, and freshwater marsh areas. [9] | |
Poutwater Pond | June 1972 | Holden | Worcester | state | An undisturbed sphagnum-heath bog in southern New England, illustrating ecological succession from open water in a glacial depression to upland forest. [10] | |
Reedy Meadow (was Lynnfield Marsh) | June 1972 | Between Wakefield and South Lynnfield | Essex | municipal, | The largest freshwater cattail marsh in Massachusetts. The area preserves the habitat requirements of many bird species and serves as a breeding ground for the king rail and least bittern, rare species in the region. [11] | |
Saukville is a town in Ozaukee County, Wisconsin, United States. The Village of Saukville is located in the town's southeast quadrant. The population was 1,755 at the 2000 census.
Mount Greylock is a 3,489-foot (1,063-meter) mountain located in the northwest corner of Massachusetts and is the highest point in the state. Its summit is in the western part of the town of Adams in Berkshire County. Technically, Mount Greylock is geologically part of the Taconic Mountains, which are not associated with the abutting Berkshire Mountains to the east. The mountain is known for its expansive views encompassing five states and the only taiga-boreal forest in the state. A seasonal automobile road climbs to the summit, topped by a 93-foot-high (28 m) lighthouse-like Massachusetts Veterans War Memorial Tower. A network of hiking trails traverses the mountain, including the Appalachian Trail. Mount Greylock State Reservation was created in 1898 as Massachusetts' first public land for the purpose of forest preservation.
Picea mariana, the black spruce, is a North American species of spruce tree in the pine family. It is widespread across Canada, found in all 10 provinces and all 3 territories. It is the official tree of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador and is that province's most numerous tree. The range of the black spruce extends into northern parts of the United States: in Alaska, the Great Lakes region, and the upper Northeast. It is a frequent part of the biome known as taiga or boreal forest.
The Chequamegon–Nicolet National Forest is a 1,530,647-acre (6,194.31 km2) U.S. National Forest in northern Wisconsin in the United States. Due to logging in the early part of the 20th century, very little old growth forest remains. Some of the trees that grow there today were planted by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s. The national forest lands contain trees and vegetation corresponding to the North Woods Ecoregion that is prevalent throughout the upper Great Lakes region.
Muskeget Island is a low sandy island to the west of Tuckernuck Island and Nantucket, in the town of Nantucket, Massachusetts, United States.
The Monongahela National Forest is a national forest located in the Allegheny Mountains of eastern West Virginia, USA. It protects over 921,000 acres of federally managed land within a 1,700,000 acres proclamation boundary that includes much of the Potomac Highlands Region and portions of 10 counties.
The National Natural Landmarks (NNL) Program recognizes and encourages the conservation of outstanding examples of the natural history of the United States. It is the only national natural areas program that identifies and recognizes the best examples of biological and geological features in both public and private ownership. The program was established on May 18, 1962, by United States Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall.
Big Bog State Recreation Area, a recent addition to the Minnesota state park system, is located on Minnesota State Highway 72, north of Waskish, Minnesota. It covers 9,459 acres (38.3 km2), primarily swamps, bogs, and upland "islands".
Bartholomew's Cobble is a 329-acre (1.33 km2) National Natural Landmark, open space preserve, agricultural preserve, and bio-reserve located in southwest Massachusetts in the village of Ashley Falls abutting Canaan, Connecticut. The preserve contains more than 800 plant species, including North America's greatest diversity of ferns and the greatest overall biodiversity in Berkshire County, Massachusetts; it also contains Massachusetts' highest populations of ground nesting bobolinks. It was declared a National Natural Landmark in October 1971.
Cedar Bog State Nature Preserve is a fen left behind by the retreating glaciers of the Wisconsin glaciation about 12,000-18,000 years ago. A protected area of about 450 acres (180 ha) of fen remains from the original area of approximately 7,000 acres (28 km2).
The Au Sable State Forest is a state forest in the north-central Lower Peninsula of Michigan. It is operated by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
Keeley Creek Natural Area is a Research Natural Area and a National Natural Landmark that is protected by the United States Department of Agriculture, specifically through the branch of the Forest Service. It is located in Stony River Township, in Lake County, Minnesota, and is part of the Superior National Forest.
The Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve is an ecological research site located primarily in East Bethel, Minnesota in the counties of Anoka and Isanti on the northern edge of the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metropolitan area.
The Nantucket forests have an unusual history. Continual salt saturated wind and nutrient poor soils set severe limits upon tree growth and the wood products that might be accessed by both indigenous peoples and colonial settlers.
Acushnet Cedar Swamp is a 1,100-acre (450 ha) swamp located in Bristol County, Massachusetts. It is managed by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection. In 1972, Acushnet Cedar Swamp was designated as a National Natural Landmark by the National Park Service. The New Bedford Regional Airport borders the swamp to the south.
Cold River Virgin Forest a virgin hemlock-northern hardwood forest in northwestern Massachusetts. Believed to be the only stand of its type in New England, it was designated a National Natural Landmark by the National Park Service in April 1980.
Rice Creek is a Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources-designated State Natural Area that features a large, high-quality wetland complex of conifer swamps, fens, and sedge meadows along a two-mile stretch of Rice Creek. The creek contains dense, lush beds of emergent and submergent aquatic vegetation, including wild rice. White cedar, balsam fir, black spruce, and tamarack are the dominant trees in the conifer swamp. Several stands of old-growth hemlock/hardwood forest can be found in the site, each with a supercanopy of large white pine. Two fens, fed by groundwater seepages and of exceptional floristic diversity, are found near the creek. Overall, the site supports a high concentration of rare plants and animals. At least seven species of orchid are found here: showy lady slipper, heart-leaf twayblade, swamp pink, striped coralroot, blunt-leaf orchid, northern bog orchid, and boreal bog orchid. Other notable plant species include: bog arrowgrass, naked miterwort, marsh cinquefoil, purple clematis, and downy willowherb. Notable animal species present include: barred owl, Canada jay, pine siskin, winter wren, and bog copper.