Ekdall Wetlands lies in a low terrace, 0.25 to 0.75 mile wide, where the St. Croix River has meandered away from the steep escarpment. The site contains northern wet forest and alder thicket plus a southern wet-mesic forest, here at its northern range limit in Wisconsin. Flat uplands above the escarpment are about 80 feet above the swamp and consist of barrens openings and dense stands of young oaks and jack pine. The escarpment slope also exhibits a continuum from xeric oaks at the summit to more mesic species midslope to swamp species at the wet base. Numerous seeps near the base contribute water to an open swamp of white cedar, tamarack, black spruce, black ash, and alder with scattered balsam fir and yellow birch. Typical understory species are sphagnum moss, Labrador-tea, pitcher plant, cat-tail, and sedges. Closer to the river are shrub-dominated thickets and small marshy pockets. The soils include wet alluvial land near the river, Cathro muck in the swamp, and sandy soils on the terrace escarpment. Deer use in the area is heavy. Other disturbance includes a ground fire that burned 75 percent of the understory in 1980 and some windthrow in 1977. Ekdall Wetlands is owned by the DNR and National Park Service. It was designated a State Natural Area in 1979 and later expanded to include the St. Croix River.