Beaver Brook Wildlife Area

Beaver Brook Wildlife Area is a 1,964 acre property located in south central Washburn County. Beaver Brook is one of the areas premiere Class I brook and brown trout streams, fed along its course by 10 spring ponds and many bank seeps. Beaver Brook flows into the Yellow River Flowage on the north end of the property. The mouth and a section of Randall Creek are also part of the Beaver Brook property. Seventeen acre Harrison Lake lies in the north end of Beaver Brook and 18 acre Lutz Lake on part of the south end. Numerous wetlands associated with the brook, springs and lakes can be found throughout the property. Red oak stands, aspen, mixed hardwoods, upland and lowland brush, swamp hardwood and conifer, tamarack, pine, old fields and openings make up the other habitats of the wildlife area.

Find Beaver Creek Wildlife Area less than one mile southeast of the city of Spooner. Numerous access points exist including: Wildlife Road off Hwy. 253, Randall Lake Road off Hwy. 70 in Spooner, Cranberry Road and Wildcat Road off Hwy. 53 and from Hwy. B.

Management

Property History

The Beaver Brook Wildlife Area was born in 1951 through an acquisition of 680 acres from Washburn County to protect and manage this great fishery and surrounding wildlife habitat. Ten more purchases over the years, including the 2003 addition of the Badger Cranberry Marsh, has brought the total acreage to its present 1,964 acres. Remnants of several homesteads can be found on the property, and remnants of an old logging dam built in 1870 and removed in 1910 are still visible near the mouth of Beaver Brook.

Management Objective

Presently, eagle and osprey nests can be found on and near the property. Osprey platforms have been erected on the property by DNR wildlife personnel.

The Badger Cranberry Marsh purchase in 2003 by the DNR and WIDOT as a wetland mitigation site added 560 acres to the property. The cranberry beds and associated flowage will soon be restored to stream and wetlands.

Periodic aspen clear cuts and oak management prescribed burns and timber sales are administered to benefit man and wildlife. Old fields are managed for grassland habitat by conducting periodic prescribed burns.

Many instream trout habitat improvements and surveys have been conducted on the trout stream over the years.

A railroad grade which is now the Wild River Recreation Trail for running, hiking, biking, horseback riding, dog sledding, ATV’ing, snowmobiling and cross country skiing parallels the west side of wildlife area. The wildlife area is also home to five miles of cross country ski and hiking trail, accessible from a parking lot on Cranberry Road, as well as many miles of other gated trails for quiet, quality recreational experiences.

Recreation

The following recreational opportunities exist at Beaver Brook Wildlife Area:

Hunting

Trapping

Hiking

Berry picking

Cross country skiing

Wildlife viewing

Fishing

Bird watching

Snow-shoeing

Notable Feature - A very popular artesian well site with the best water in the area can be found on the south end of the property, accessible by a boardwalk on the north side of Hwy. B.

Map

Download [PDF 315KB] a map of this property.

Useful Links

Hunting in Wisconsin
Hunting and Trapping Regulations
Season Dates
Washburn County Information [Exit DNR]
Plan your trip to Washburn County [Exit DNR]

For more information on Beaver Brook Wildlife Area contact the property manager.

Questions for Wildlife Management

Last Revised: Wednesday October 28 2009