Atkins Lake is a soft-water drainage lake lying within a vast conifer swamp (Hiles Swamp) on the Oneida/Forest county line. The lake is unusual in that the entire basin supports moderate to dense growths of emergents and floating-leaved aquatic vegetation including wild rice. Other aquatic macrophytes include pickerel weed, cat-tail, several pond weeds, and an abundance of water-shield, the inflorescence of which gives the lake a red color. These open communities are surrounded by the vast Hiles Swamp, a 1,700 acre complex of muskeg, dense wet forest of black spruce and tamarack, wet forest of tamarack alone, and open bog. Together the area forms perhaps one of the largest and most diverse northern wet forest communities on the Chequamegon-Nicolet. The swamp is home to several boreal plant and bird species uncommon in Wisconsin, including Carex tenuiflora, dragon's-mouth orchid, boreal chickadee, and gray jay. The surrounding uplands are forested with red and white pines, aspen, and balsam fir. Atkins Lake and Hiles Swamp is owned by the DNR and the U.S. Forest Service. It was designated a State Natural Area in 1990 and later expanded to include the USFS Hiles Swamp complex in 2007. This site is also recognized by the Forest Service as an established Research Natural Area.
