Emmons Creek Barrens

State Natural Area (No. 365)

Location: Within Emmons Creek Fishery Area and Hartman Creek State Park, Portage County. T21N-R10E, Section 12. 45 acres.

Access: From the junction of Highways 10 and 54 in Waupaca, go west on 54 4.5 miles, then south on Hartman Creek Road to the State Park office and get a park map. Continue south on Hartman Creek Road, then go west on W. Windfeldt Lane to one of two parking areas. Follow the Ice Age Trail south into the natural area. One portion is within the State Park, the other within the Fishery and Wildlife Area.

Description: Located on sandy glacial outwash, Emmons Creek Barrens supports a semi-open oak savanna with scattered open-grown bur and white oaks. The dense patches of wild lupine, which dominates the groundlayer, provides favorable habitat for the federally endangered karner blue butterfly (Lycaeides melissa samuelis). Wild lupine is the only known larval food plant of the karner blue. Other species include Pennsylvania sedge, little blue-stem, silky aster, cream wild indigo, prairie coreopsis, western sunflower, June grass, slender beard-tongue, and showy goldenrod. Emmons Creek Barrens is owned by the DNR and was designated a State Natural Area in 2002.