09161 - Gates Lake

The Gates Lake Roadless Area encompasses 5,255 acres of rolling lowland terrain within the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest, centered on Gates Lake at 1,480 feet elevation. The landscape drains northward through Deer Creek and Muskellunge Creek, which form the headwaters of the East Fork Chippewa River. Water moves through this terrain as a network of seepage and surface flow, originating in the wetland complexes that dominate the area's interior and concentrating into named streams that carry the drainage toward the larger watershed. The underlying Glidden Loamy Drift Plain creates conditions where water accumulates in depressions and moves slowly through organic soils, shaping the character of every forest community present.

Four distinct forest communities occupy different positions across the landscape, each defined by moisture and elevation gradients. Northern Hardwood Forest occupies the drier upland margins, while Hemlock-Hardwood Forest transitions into areas of greater moisture and shade. The wetland interior is dominated by Black Spruce-Tamarack Swamp, where tamarack (Larix laricina) and northern whitecedar (Thuja occidentalis) form an open canopy above a dense understory of eastern leatherwood (Dirca palustris), Canadian bunchberry (Cornus canadensis), and creeping snowberry (Gaultheria hispidula). Open Bog and Alder Thicket communities occupy the wettest depressions, where sphagnum moss and sedge dominate the ground layer. The forest floor throughout supports a rich fern community—intermediate wood fern (Dryopteris intermedia), northern oak fern (Gymnocarpium dryopteris), cinnamon fern (Osmundastrum cinnamomeum), and long beech fern (Phegopteris connectilis)—along with mosses including stairstep moss (Hylocomium splendens) and shingle moss (Neckera pennata).

The area supports a predator-prey community structured around small mammals and their hunters. Southern red-backed voles (Clethrionomys gapperi), southern bog lemmings (Synaptomys cooperi), and northern short-tailed shrews (Blarina brevicauda) occupy the forest floor and wetland margins, where they feed on seeds, fungi, and invertebrates. The federally endangered gray wolf (Canis lupus) and the federally threatened Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis) hunt across the landscape, with lynx particularly dependent on the small mammal populations of the swamp and bog communities. American pine marten (Martes americana) move through the canopy and understory, hunting voles and shrews in the hemlock-hardwood transition zones. Ruffed grouse (Bonasa umbellus) forage in the understory, while wood frogs (Lithobates sylvaticus) and spring peepers (Pseudacris crucifer) breed in the wetland pools. Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus), proposed for federal threatened status, migrate through the area in spring and fall. The whooping crane (Grus americana), an experimental population designated non-essential under the Endangered Species Act, occasionally uses the open bog and wetland communities during migration.

A visitor following Deer Creek upstream from Gates Lake experiences a gradual transition from the open water and shoreline into increasingly dense wetland forest. The creek's banks are lined with alder thicket, and the sound of water moving through the drainage becomes the constant reference point. As elevation rises slightly away from the creek, the Black Spruce-Tamarack Swamp closes in—the canopy lowers, light diminishes, and the ground becomes spongy with moss and organic matter. The understory of leatherwood and snowberry creates a dense mid-story that obscures sight lines. Moving further upslope toward the drier margins, the forest opens into Hemlock-Hardwood Forest, where taller trees allow more light to reach the fern-covered ground layer. The transition is marked not by a sharp boundary but by a gradual shift in the species composition of every stratum, a change that becomes apparent only through sustained observation of the landscape.

Indigenous peoples occupied and used these lands for millennia. The Gates Lake area falls within the 1842 Ceded Territory, where the Bad River Band, Lac Courte Oreilles Band, Lac du Flambeau Band, Red Cliff Band, and Sokaogon Chippewa Community of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, as well as the St. Croix Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin, retained hunting, fishing, and gathering rights following the Treaties of 1837 and 1842. These off-reservation treaty rights remain protected on National Forest lands today. The broader region was also homeland to the Menominee, Ho-Chunk, and Forest County Potawatomi Community. Evidence of human presence in the forest dates to the Paleo-Indian, Archaic, and Woodland periods, with artifacts including copper fishing harpoons and net sinkers recovered from nearby lake sites. Traditional subsistence activities documented in this area include the harvesting of manoomin (wild rice), central to Ojibwe culture and food sovereignty, and the collection of medicinal plants. The forest remains documented as a place of spiritual and cultural significance, with protected culturally significant resources of Menominee and Ojibwe origin.

Beginning in the late nineteenth century, large lumber companies dominated the region, establishing transient logging camps that moved once local timber was depleted. Initial extraction focused on old-growth white pine, which was floated down river systems. As these woods did not float well, logging railroads were constructed throughout the forest to transport timber to regional sawmills. Following timber extraction, the land was sold to European immigrants for agricultural settlement. However, the "cutover" land proved difficult to farm due to poor soil and harsh winters, resulting in widespread tax delinquency and land abandonment by the 1930s.

Federal acquisition of these abandoned lands began under the Weeks Act of 1911, as amended by the Clarke-McNary Act of 1924, which authorized the federal government to purchase tax-delinquent and "cut-over" lands for reforestation and watershed protection. In 1925, the Wisconsin legislature passed an Enabling Act granting federal permission to acquire and manage lands as National Forests. On March 2, 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued a proclamation establishing the Nicolet National Forest from multiple purchase units. Later that year, in July 1933, the Nicolet was divided, with its western lands becoming the Chequamegon National Forest, formally established by proclamation on November 13, 1933. In 1952, President Harry S. Truman enlarged both forests through Executive Order 10374, adding lands acquired under the Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act and additional Weeks Act purchases. The forest area grew from approximately 409,000 acres in 1929 to over 1.5 million acres.

During the 1930s, the Civilian Conservation Corps operated extensively throughout the district, planting millions of trees to restore second-growth forest and constructing fire towers, fire lanes, and early forest roads to facilitate reforestation and fire protection. The current forest cover results largely from these massive replanting efforts, with most trees representing even-aged second-growth forest from this era.

The Gates Lake area is currently managed as a 5,255-acre Inventoried Roadless Area within the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest's Great Divide Ranger District. It has been protected under the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule, which generally prohibits new road construction and commercial timber harvesting. The Forest Service operates under a 1998 Memorandum of Understanding with eleven Ojibwe tribes to facilitate the exercise of treaty rights and ensure tribal self-regulation of resource harvesting within the forest.

Vital Resources Protected

Headwater Integrity for the Muskellunge Creek-East Fork Chippewa River System

Gates Lake and its associated wetlands form the hydrological core of the Muskellunge Creek drainage, a major tributary system originating entirely within this roadless area. The black spruce-tamarack swamps and open bogs that dominate the landscape function as natural water storage and filtration systems, regulating streamflow and maintaining the cold-water conditions required by coldwater fish species downstream. Road construction would remove the vegetation and soil structure that currently buffer this drainage from sedimentation and temperature fluctuations, destabilizing water quality across the entire Muskellunge Creek system.

Gray Wolf and Canada Lynx Denning and Dispersal Habitat

This roadless area provides contiguous, unfragmented forest habitat critical for two federally protected carnivores: the federally endangered gray wolf and the federally threatened Canada lynx. Both species require large territories with minimal human disturbance and road access; the rolling terrain and mixed hardwood-hemlock forest create the interior forest conditions these predators depend on for denning, hunting, and safe movement between populations. Roads fragment habitat into smaller patches, increase human-caused mortality through vehicle strikes and hunting access, and create edge effects that destabilize prey populations and pack structure.

Monarch Butterfly Migration and Breeding Habitat

The diverse plant community across Gates Lake—including the alder thickets, open bog, and hardwood understory—provides nectar and milkweed resources essential for monarch butterflies during their continental migration. The proposed threatened status of the monarch reflects the species' vulnerability to habitat loss across its range; this roadless area's intact vegetation mosaic offers breeding and refueling habitat that cannot be easily replaced once fragmented. Road construction and the associated clearing of understory vegetation would eliminate the flowering plants monarchs depend on during their critical spring and fall migration windows.

Whooping Crane Wetland Habitat

The black spruce-tamarack swamps and open bogs within Gates Lake provide shallow-water and emergent vegetation habitat suitable for the experimental, non-essential whooping crane population. These wetlands offer the undisturbed foraging and roosting conditions cranes require; road construction and associated drainage or fill would directly destroy wetland acreage and increase human disturbance that causes cranes to abandon otherwise suitable habitat.

Threats from Road Construction

Sedimentation and Temperature Degradation of Headwater Streams

Road construction requires cutting slopes and removing forest canopy across the rolling terrain, exposing mineral soil to erosion during precipitation events. Sediment from cut banks and disturbed areas would be transported directly into Muskellunge Creek and its tributaries, smothering spawning substrates and reducing light penetration in pools. Simultaneous removal of riparian forest canopy would eliminate shade, causing stream temperatures to rise—a direct threat to coldwater fish species and to the hydrological integrity that supports the entire downstream system.

Habitat Fragmentation and Isolation of Gray Wolf and Canada Lynx Populations

Road corridors create linear barriers that divide the contiguous forest into smaller, isolated patches, preventing gray wolves and Canada lynx from moving safely between territories and breeding populations. Both species avoid roads due to increased hunting and vehicle mortality; even low-traffic roads reduce effective habitat connectivity. The loss of unfragmented interior forest forces these carnivores into smaller home ranges with reduced prey availability and increased inbreeding risk, ultimately destabilizing the recovery of both federally protected populations.

Invasive Species Establishment Along Road Corridors

Road construction and maintenance create disturbed soil and edge habitat that invasive plants exploit; seeds are transported along road surfaces via vehicles and equipment, establishing populations that spread into adjacent forest. These invasive species outcompete native understory plants, including the milkweed and flowering plants that monarch butterflies depend on for breeding and migration. The loss of native plant diversity cascades through the food web, reducing insect populations that support the broader wildlife community.

Wetland Hydrological Disruption and Crane Habitat Loss

Road fill and culverts alter natural water flow patterns through the black spruce-tamarack swamps and open bogs, either concentrating water in unnatural locations or draining wetland areas entirely. Whooping cranes require shallow, open water with minimal human presence; culverts and road embankments fragment wetland habitat into smaller, isolated patches and increase human access that causes cranes to abandon otherwise suitable areas. Once wetland hydrology is disrupted, restoration is extremely difficult and often impossible, making this loss effectively permanent.

The Gates Lake Roadless Area encompasses 5,255 acres of rolling lowland terrain in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest, centered on an 87-acre lake and drained by Muskellunge Creek and the East Fork Chippewa River. The area's northern hardwood and hemlock-hardwood forests, interspersed with black spruce-tamarack swamps and open bogs, support diverse recreation opportunities that depend entirely on the area's roadless condition.

Hunting

Ruffed grouse hunting is a primary draw, with the forest managing habitat specifically for this upland bird species. White-tailed deer and black bear hunting are also available throughout the area. Small game hunters pursue eastern cottontail rabbit and squirrels in the forest and forest-edge habitats. Wisconsin state seasons apply: archery and crossbow deer hunting runs September 13 through January 4; gun season is November 22–30. Bear seasons vary by zone but generally run September 3 through October 7. Access to the interior is by foot or watercraft only—motorized vehicle use is prohibited behind berms and gates. The Gates Lake boat landing on the northeast shore provides water-based entry for hunters seeking the remoteness that defines hunting here. Portable tree stands must be removed within one week after season closes, and firearms cannot be discharged within 150 yards of developed sites or across forest roads.

Fishing

Muskellunge Creek and the East Fork Chippewa River headwaters support creek chub, white sucker, central mudminnow, and finescale dace. Gates Lake itself, at 87 acres and a maximum depth of 5 feet, holds panfish, largemouth bass, and northern pike under Wisconsin North Zone regulations. Largemouth bass are catch-and-release year-round; panfish have a 25-fish daily bag limit with no minimum length; northern pike have a 5-fish daily bag limit. Walleye, if present, require a 15-inch minimum with slot restrictions. No trout were documented in recent DNR surveys of the headwater streams. Access to the lake is by carry-in launch only on the northeast shore; stream access requires hiking or cross-country travel, as no developed angling trails exist in the interior. The lowland swamp and alder thicket ecosystems create challenging casting conditions but preserve the quiet, undisturbed character that makes fishing here distinct from developed areas.

Birding

The area supports breeding warblers including Nashville, yellow-rumped, black-throated green, black-and-white, blackburnian, magnolia, cape may, northern parula, Canada, and northern waterthrush. Ruffed grouse, broad-winged hawk, barred owl, least flycatcher, red-breasted nuthatch, veery, hermit thrush, and white-throated sparrow are documented residents. Golden-winged warblers have been observed at stream crossings along Gates Lake Road. Winter brings irruptions of pine grosbeak, red crossbill, white-winged crossbill, common redpoll, and pine siskin. The area is part of the Great Wisconsin Birding and Nature Trail's Lake Superior Northwoods Region. Birding access is primarily via Gates Lake Road (Forest Road 136) and off-trail exploration; no designated observation platforms exist within the roadless boundary. The interior forest habitat—undisturbed by roads—provides the quiet conditions essential for locating and observing breeding warblers and other forest-interior species.

Paddling

Gates Lake offers easy, peaceful paddling on shallow water (maximum 5 feet) accessible via a carry-in boat landing on the northeast shore. Muskellunge Creek flows through the area as a slow-moving headwater stream suitable for quiet-water paddling. The East Fork Chippewa River's upper reaches near the roadless area are flatwater; downstream sections outside the area contain Class I and II rapids. The area is generally runnable from early spring through late fall. No whitewater rapids occur within the roadless boundary itself. The absence of motorized boat traffic and road development preserves the wilderness paddling experience on these waters.

Photography

Riley Lake State Natural Area, located within the roadless area, features a vast peatland complex and spruce muskeg offering scenic vistas. Eskers forested with red pine run north-south through the area, providing elevated viewpoints over bog and forest. The East Fork Chippewa River valley displays mature hemlock-dominated forests and white pine margins. Wetland flora includes cotton grass, leatherleaf, bog rosemary, bog laurel, Michigan lily, and purple fringed orchid; forest floor species include twinflower, rattlesnake fern, and downy rattlesnake-plantain. Autumn foliage in the northern hardwood forest is notable. Wildlife photography opportunities include bald eagles, sandhill cranes, waterfowl, river otter, white-tailed deer, and black bear. The Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest is a Class 2 dark sky site where the Milky Way is visible to the naked eye. Access is via Gates Lake Road (Forest Road 136) and by canoe on the East Fork Chippewa River. The roadless condition preserves both the scenic integrity of these landscapes and the dark sky conditions that make stargazing exceptional.