Rock Creek Felsenmeer

Located in Doyle Township the Rock Creek Felsenmeer features one of only three known felsenmeers in Wisconsin. Deposited during Pleistocene glaciation, the felsenmeer is an extensive accumulation, often a large slope, of large angular rock fragments transported by glacial ice and broken down from their parent material as a result of frost and ice-wedging. Rock Creek Felsenmeer contains a talus slope of quartzite, a brittle metamorphic rock that is susceptible to frost-wedging. Felsenmeer communities are characterized by all-summer upwellings of cool, moist air near or at their bases although it is not certain whether year-round ice deposits are responsible for the upwelling of cool air. The cool air drainage in and around the rock field creates a microclimate suitable for numerous mosses, lichens, and liverworts. The shaded microclimate also provides the required habitat for two rare species that are usually found further north, the state-endangered squashberry (Viburnum edule), and state threatened hawthorn-leaved gooseberry (Ribes oxyacanthoides). Rock Creek Felsenmeer is owned by Barron County and was designated a State Natural Area in 1997.