Buena Vista Quarry Prairie provides habitat for the the state-threatened Greater prairie chicken (Tympanachus cupido). Parking areas in the form of a gravel cul-de-sacs can be found at the end of 130th Street, 2/5 mile south of CTH W and 120th Street 2/5 mile east of CTH F. Truth be told, I did not find this…
Tag: Wisconsin State Wildlife Area
Holland Red Maple Swamp (260/679)
Holland Red Maple Swamp encompasses a northern hardwood swamp and northern wet-mesic forest within Holland Wildlife Area in southern Brown County. One of only two SNA’s within the county, Holland Red Maple Swamp can be accessed via a parking area south of the T-intersection of Refuge Road and Mill Road southeast of the town of…
Pine Island Savanna (244/679)
Pine Island Savanna encompasses one the largest floodplain savanna in the state. Located along the Wisconsin River and spanning the Columbia-Sauk Counties border, portions of the site are accessible from land, while the highest quality savanna is located on an island. A boat launch and parking area are both found along Levee Road between CTH…
Tamarack Creek Bog, SNA #60 (235/679)
Tamarack Creek Bog features bog, marsh, and forest communities with several species more often found further north. Located within the Tamarack Creek Wildlife Area in southern Trempealeau County, the natural area is composed of two parcels with parking for the southern parcel on the roadside of CTH F and a parking area adjacent to the…
Van Loon Floodplain Savanna (234/679)
Van Loon Floodplain Savanna is, as its siter site Van Loon Floodplain Forest, found within the Van Loon Wildlife Area along the Black River in La Crosse County. The access directions as described on the DNR site, are not recommended to put it mildly. They describe walking 1 mile along the Seven Bridges trail and then north…
Van Loon Floodplain Forest, SNA #568 (233/679)
Van Loon Floodplain Forest is comprised of two parcels of floodplain forest amidst sloughs and channels on the eastern shore of the Black River on either side of STH 35. It can be reached from a boat landing on the south side of STH 35. The southern parcel lies just 200 feet further south while…
Kickapoo Wild Woods (207/675)
Kickapoo Wild Woods encompasses forest types ranging from dry to mesic and floodplain strecthing from ridgetops down to the Kickapoo River 350 feet below. The site is comprised of two parcels north of Wauzeka with parking areas available from STH 131 and Badger Lane. Well, the rain that had begun at my previous stop, Wauzeka…
Cherry Lake Sedge Meadow, SNA #120 (172/675)
Cherry Lake Sedge Meadow contains a southern sedge meadow, as well as northern wet forest, tamarack bog and surrounding uplands. A parking area for the encompassing Honey Creek Wildlife Area is located on CTH W midway between Waterford and Burlington. I started off from the parking area by following one of several foot-trails that wander…
Springvale Wet Prairie, SNA #547 (151/675)
Springvale Wet Prairie includes a wet prairie, sedge meadow, and small fen on a site bisected by Duck Creek east of Pardeeville. There are no great parking options as even the roads here have narrow shoulders and steep ditches on the sides. Luckily for me, CTH I was closed at the time and so I…
Chub Lake Oak Savanna, SNA #607 (143/675)
Chub Lake Oak Savanna features, appropriately enough an oak savanna on the southwest shore of Chub Lake. It borders Chub & Mud Lake Riverine Marsh SNA on its northern edge and quite frankly, I do not know why it was designated as a separate natural area. Its size (21 acres) pales in comparison to its…
Waterloo Quartzite Outcrops, SNA #605 (141/675)
Waterloo Quartzite Outcrops features two outcrops approximately 6.5 miles apart in southern Dodge County. The northern outcrop is within the Waterloo Wildlife Area while the southern outcrop is within the Mud Lake Wildlife Area. Both are within the boundaries of the Glacial Heritage Area. The northern outcrop is accessible via an access lane from a parking…
Lima Bog, SNA #219 (131/675)
Lima Bog features one of the largest bogs in southern Wisconsin with flora more characteristic of the northern portion of the state. There is a parking area on East Bowers Lake Road south of the site from which a very uneven jaunt through a forested and rocky divide between two agricultural fields awaits you. Then,…
Texas Island Woods, SNA #603 (127/675)
Texas Islands Woods is not in Texas, of course, but can be found in Jefferson County, Wisconsin within the Rome Pond Wildlife Area. A parking area can be found off of CTH E south of Sullivan. From there, walk approximately 1/2 mile along a DNR access lane to the “island”. Why this site is called…
Jefferson Tamarack Swamp, SNA #389 (126/675)
Jefferson Tamarack contains a tamarack swamp, of course, along with a southern sedge meadow and marsh, all as part of the Jefferson Marsh Wildlife Area, just east of Jefferson in, you guessed it, Jefferson County. There are several parking areas scattered around the edge of the Wildlife Area either on CTH Y or USH 18….
Tiffany Bottoms, SNA #30 (95/674)
Tiffany Bottoms features a floodplain forest as part of one of the largest river deltas in the Midwest. There are 3 parking areas on the east side of the SNA, reached via short access lanes off of Hwy 25 north of Nelson. I visited Tiffany Bottoms and the encompassing Tiffany Wildlife Area as part of…
State Natural Areas of Wisconsin 