RIPLEY                       81 Cupola Pond

Cupola Pond Natural Area

A 160-acre portion of the Mark Twain National Forest in Section 29, T25N, R1W, Handy 7.5 min. topographic map. Access is by Forest Service Road 4822 from the southwest. Designated January 21, 1981.

Natural Features--An ancient sinkhole pond ringed with tupelo gum trees and surrounded by an Ozark upland forest in the Lower Ozarks Section of the Ozark Natural Division. Sedges, mosses and rushes occupy the water's edge. The pond drains to the west through a stand of large pin oaks and red maples with dense mats of sphagnum moss carpeting the ground around them. Cupola Pond is also a recognized natural area in the Society of American Foresters' system and a registered National Natural Landmark. For further information and a brochure of the site contact the District Ranger at:

USDA Forest Service
Eleven Point Ranger District
#4 Confederate Ridge Road
Doniphan, Missouri 63935

(573) 996-2153

Tupelo gum trees at Cupola Pond Natural Area		Tupelo gum tree at Cupola Pond Natural Area