Most land around the oxbow is steep. It is covered by hemlock and hardwood forests, as well as skunk cabbage seeps. The forests around the lake also contain black birch, yellow birch, white oak, red oak, sugar maple, tulip poplar, and Norway maple, while the understory contains slippery elm, European privet, Japanese barberry, American elderberry, wild hydrangea, witch hazel, mountain laurel, ironwood, and the rare American yew. The American yew population was in significant decline by 2004 due to heavy grazing by deer.