Location: Oconto County

Area protected: 320 acres

Protection strategy: conservation easement

Hidden Lake property encompasses a 36 acre, clear, kettle lake, rated "high quality" by the Wisconsin Department of Natural resources.

Some unique characteristics include:

• drumlins, plains and moraines
• Northern Hardwood Forests
• Aspen/Birch Forests
• Spruce/Fir and Hemlock Forests
• two small spruce bogs
• large quartzite erratics
• one-quarter mile stretch of the Oconto River, a high quality trout stream

Completely surrounded by the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest, this property is being managed to: retain and promote large diameter trees, provide wildlife habitat for game and non-game species, practice land stewardship that is compatible with the surrounding landscape and which protects and restores biological diversity through land management based on ecological relationships.

Hidden Lake is a haven for numerous species. These — and dozens of other species — have chosen the Hidden Lake Conservancy as their home:

• Trout
• Pygmy Shrew - endangered in this area
• Northern Blue Butterfly - endangered in this area
• Showy Lady's Slipper - endangered in this area
• Canada lynx
• Bald Eagle
• Cerulean Warbler - threatened
• Wood Turtles
• Black Bear

"Nature is not a place to visit, it is home"
- Gary Snyder