Established Research Natural Areas

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Note designations: * located inside wilderness area; ** designated by Congress

Illinois

Shawnee National Forest (5,384 acres)

RNA	Date	Size (acres)	Description
Atwood Ridge	1990	955	Dry, mesic forest; barrens; hill prairies
Barker Bluff	1990	60	Glade and glade / forest complex; escarpment
Burke Branch	1991	206	Dry to mesic oaks; mesic barrens; juncture of Mississippi Embayment/Shawnee Hills
Cave Hill	1990	465	Xeric to dry-mesic oak forests; barrens; sandstone glades, cliffs; aquatic and terrestrial cave habitat
Dennison Hollow	1989	205	Xeric and dry oak forests; barrens; sandstone glades, cliffs
LaRue-Pine Hills/Otter Pond	1991	2,585	14 natural communities (bottomland forest; ponds; swamps; bluffs; upland forests)
Ozark Hill Prairie	1991	535	Bluff ridge; hill prairie; dry, dry-mesic oaks; beech-maples, sassafras-persimmon forests
Panther Hollow	1989	180	Sandstone hollows, cliffs; dry, dry-mesic oaks; beech-maple forest
Stoneface	1990	176	Sandstone cap of thrust fault, cliffs, glades; loess hill prairie; xeric to dry-mesic oak forest
Whoopie Cat Mountain	1990	17	Limestone cedar glade; dry oak forest; rugged hills

Indiana

Hoosier National Forest (88 acres)

RNA	Date	Size (acres)	Description
Pioneer Mothers Memorial Forest	1944	88	Mixed mesophytic forest; walnut grove

Michigan

Hiawatha National Forest (2,357 acres)

RNA	Date	Size (acres)	Description
Dukes	1974	233	Upland and swamp conifers and hardwoods on glacial till plain
Grand Island	1977	59	Northern hardwoods; sandstone cliff; lakeshore; creek bottomland
* Horseshoe Bay	1996	2,065	Cobble beaches, wooded dunes, northern fens, interdunal wetlands, rich conifer swamps, Great Lakes marshes, and hardwood-conifer swamps
Little Waiska Basin	2020	496	High-quality example of mesic northern forest dominated by red maple and a rich conifer swamp dominated by Northern white cedar (Thuja occidentalis), Eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis), and other lowland conifers
Nahma	2020	867	This unique ecosystem along the Great Lakes shoreline does not exist anywhere else in the world. Nahma RNA encompasses shoreline, a dune and swale complex, a large Great Lakes marsh, upland forests, and a northern white cedar (Thuja occidentalis) swamp.
* Point Aux Chenes	2020	4,266	Interdunal wetland and a coastal marsh with swales and dunes that include some critically important rare plant populations; contains excellent examples of unique northern fens with microsites adapted to alkaline soil conditions that allow many calciphiles (plants that grow well on lime rich soil) to flourish
* Rock River Canyon	2020	83	Virgin northern hardwood stands containing sugar maple (Acer saccharum), American basswood (Tilia americana), and some American beech (Fagus grandifolia). This forest surrounds a 200-foot-deep, ¼ mile wide canyon with nearly vertical sandstone cliffs which are soft and easily eroded.
* Scott’s Marsh	2020	1,538	Consists of a large complex of wetlands, rivers, and lakes that flow through the Shingleton area and branch both south and north toward the Great Lake;Scott’s Marsh also represents a vital resting stop for rare and globally declining neotropical migratory birds
* Shingleton Bog	2020	3,336	an outstanding example of the Shingleton Fen Landtype Association, which is a large wetland complex formed in outwash sand reworked by Lake Algonquin. The RNA includes areas of mixed hardwood forests, patterned fens, and open bogs with associated conifers, northern dry forest, and riparian areas.
St. Martin Peninsula	2020	518	A matrix of swamp with “islands” of higher ground supporting dry-mesic northern forest (MNFI n.d.). The wetland depression lake is completely surrounded by an extensive, dense, rich conifer swamp dominated by northern white-cedar (Thuja occidentalis). The dry-mesic northern forest consists of balsam fir, white spruce (Picea glauca),paper birch (Betula papyrifera), balsam poplar (Populus balsamea), aspen (Populus spp.) and northern white cedar.
Upper Eighteenmile Lake	2020	447	Provides a relatively unmodified example of a wetland ecosystem associated with northern white cedar (Thuja occidentalis) swamp, northern fen, the Whitefish River stream system, and an upland hardwood forest. The wetlands in Upper Eighteenmile Lake RNA support two rare plant species, Orchis rotundifolia (small round-leaved orchid) and Juncus stygius(moor rush).
Weden’s Bay	2020	147	The undisturbed nature of the upland and wetland ecosystems offers a rich species diversity and the opportunity to study fresh water transition zones. Also, the relatively pristine remnants of pre-European settlement lakeshore to upland transitional ecosystems are uncommon in the region, providing great biological significance.

Huron-Manistee National Forests (1,363 acres)

RNA	Date	Size (acres)	Description
Hayes Tower	1997	388	High-quality pine-oak forest type; aspen
Newaygo Prairies	1988	180	Dry sand prairie; oak, pine forests
* Nordhouse Dunes	1987	795	Sand dunes; jack pine interdunal wetlands; swamps; hardwood dune forests

Ottawa National Forest (3,675 acres)

RNA	Date	Size (acres)	Description
* McCormick	1971	3,675	Northern hardwoods and conifers; conifer swamp; lakes
* Sturgeon River Gorge	2012	351	Gorge is deep V-shaped valley containing terraces, oxbow lakes and other landscape features.

Minnesota

Chippewa National Forest (1,905 acres)

RNA	Date	Size (acres)	Description
Battle Point	1991	329	Sugar maple - basswood forest
Clustered Bur Reed	1991	79	Open and forested bog; shrub swamp; marsh
Pine Point	1932	1,239	Red, jack, and white pines
Stony Point	1991	404	Wet-mesic northern hardwoods

Superior National Forest (2,093 acres)

RNA	Date	Size (acres)	Description
Keeley Creek	1942	640	Black spruce, jack pine forests; sedge meadows; lake; streams
* Lac La Croix	1942	973	Red, white pines; river; cliffs
Marble Lake Lookout	1988	120	Northern hardwoods
Schroeder	1973	360	Northern hardwoods; ash swamp; white cedar swamp

New Hampshire

White Mountain National Forest (1,995 acres)

RNA	Date	Size (acres)	Description
Alpine Gardens	1989	100	Alpine tundra
Nancy Brook	1991	1,385	Old-growth red spruce and balsam fir; virgin forest; includes the summits of three mountains
The Bowl	1931	510	Many trees are 400 years old or older; contains virgin forests with all of the principle timber types of the region.

Ohio

Wayne National Forest (96 acres)

RNA	Date	Size (acres)	Description
Buffalo Beats	2000	19	Remnant prairie surrounded by mixed-oak forest.
Reas Run	1975	77	Mature stands of Virginia pine which originated naturally following abandonment of agricultural land in the approximate period 1915-1920.

Pennsylvania

Allegheny National Forest (2,113 acres)

RNA	Date	Size (acres)	Description
Tionesta	1940	2,113	One of the few remaining examples of the virgin hemlock-beech climax forest of the Allegheny Plateau.

Vermont

Green Mountain National Forest (290 acres)

RNA	Date	Size (acres)	Description
The Cape	1993	290	Steep slopes; mesic northern hardwood forest, dominated by yellow birch, sugar maple and red spruce larger than 24 in (62 cm) in diameter

Wisconsin

Chequamegon National Forest (13,539 acres)

RNA	Date	Size (acres)	Description
Bear Creek	2014	1,034	Old-growth hemlock; stream
Bearsdale Creek and Hyatt Spring	2014	495	Bur oak, basswood, black ash bottomland hardwood forest; spring-runs and ponds; exposed dry bedrock outcrops
Brunsweiler River and Mineral Lake	2014	962	Old-growth hemlock-yellow birch-sugar maple forest; rocky river gorge; Mineral lake; stream
Brush Creek	2014	272	Super-canopy white pine, mixed conifer and hardwood swamps in kettle depressions, a forested reach of Brush Creek, a small ice-walled-lake-plain.
Camp Nine Pines	2014	872	Red, White, Jack Pine
Chequamegon Hardwoods	1988	80	Northern and swamp hardwoods; stream; exposed gabbro bedrock
Dry Lake	2015	359	Upland hemlock-hardwoods; lake; open wiregrass sphagnum bog and tussuck sedge meadow; cedar-black ash and tamarack-black spruce
** Fairy Land		32	Mature hemlock-hardwood forest lakeshore
Foulds Creek	2014	1,393	Black spruce-tamarack bog; northern white cedar; a prominent esker with hemlock, white cedar, red and white pine; spring runs; stream
Headwater Lakes	2015	779	Sugar maple-beech-yellow birch; hemlock; lowland black spruce; Wabasso, Cedar and Favil Lakes
McCarthy Lake and Cedars	1989	363	Lake; streams; white cedar swamp; pines
Memorial Grove Hemlocks	1989	64	Hemlock-hardwoods on pitted glacial moraine
Mondeaux Hardwoods	2014	755	Mesic hemlock-hardwood forest; super-canopy white pine; springs and spring runs
Moquah	1935	640	Jack pine - scrub oak barrens without fire
No-name Lake	2015	283	Sugar maple-basswood; black spruce-tamarack; soft water seepage lake
Richter Lake	2015	330	Sugar maple-basswood; black ash-american elm-red maple; stream
St. Peter's Dome	2015	2,268	Sugar maple-basswood; aspen; Long Lake; Morgan Falls; stream; gorge following a fracture in Keweenawan granite
Spider Lake	1989	94	Hardwood swamp
Tucker Lake Hemlocks	1991	158	Hemlock-hardwoods; conifer swamp; lowland brush; lakeshore; on glacial till
Twin Lakes Bog	1989	38	Conifer swamp; seepage lakes and bog
Wilson Lake	2015	2,268	Lowland black spruce-tamarack; Wilson Creek, Wilson Lake and Star Lake, mosaic of sedge meadow communities

Nicolet National Forest (6,167 acres)

RNA	Date	Size (acres)	Description
Atkins-Hiles Swamp	2014	2,360	Hiles Swamp, Atkins Lake, and upland drumlins
Battle Creek	2015	100	Northern mesic forest dominated by White Pine, Hemlock; river
Bose Lake	1992	81	Hemlock-hardwoods; lakeshore
Echo Lake	2014	478	Mature hemlock-yellow birch-sugar maple; white cedar, tamarack, balsam fir; Echo lake; bog mat; Ninemile creek
Grandma Lake Wetlands	1991	495	Lake and open bog; conifer swamp; hardwoods on glacial outwash
McCaslin Mountain	1992	524	Hardwoods; perched wetlands; xeric ridgetop
Rat Lake Swamp – Popple River Headwaters	2015	1,568	Black spruce-tamarack; northern white cedar; Popple river, Rat creek, and Rat lake; long, narrow esker
South Branch Beech Grove	2015	226	Mature beech and sugar maple forest
Waupee Lake Swamp	2015	335	White cedar, balsam fir, and black ash; headwaters for Little Waupee Creek; Waupee Lake

Research Natural Areas

Last Modified: August 20, 2021