Weir White Oaks contains a southern dry-mesic forest in Lafayette County. The site is privately owned and so its exact location will not be disclosed here. I was fortunate to be allowed by the DNR to visit this site. It is your prototypical southern Wisconsin forest. White oak is abundant here along with red oak,…
Tag: Wisconsin
Pecatonica River Woods, SNA #260 (168/675)
Pecatonica River Woods features several southern Wisconsin forest types including southern mesic, southern dry-mesic, southern dry, and floodplain forest along a stretch of the Pecatonica River. A gravel pull-off in front of a DNR access gate is found on the east side of the river as it cross CTH A in Iowa County. I feel…
Belmont Mound Woods, SNA #167 (167/675)
Belmont Mound Woods featuers southern mesic and dry-mesic forests within Belmont Mound State Park. An access road leads north form CTH G on the west side of the state park. Warning: it is not a very well-maintained road and I felt my car get several scrapes underneath along the way. Park on the road, narrow…
Belmont Prairie, SNA #364 (166/675)
Belmont Prairie features a dry-mesic prairie remnant along a former railroad bed midway between Belmont and Platteville. Though the DNR describes it as being along the Pecatonica River State Trail, that is a tad misleading. First, the state trail is not suitable for road bikes and probably not even hybrids west of Belmont. The trail…
Ipswich Prairie, SNA #195 (165/675)
Ipswich Prairie encompasses a narrow, 1.2 mile long stretch of mesic prairie straddling the Lafayette-Grant County line along Ipswich Road southeast of Platteville. Park anywhere along the road. I don’t recall the width of the shoulder in this area, but the road was not a very busy one. Much of the area in this part…
Hardscrabble Prairie, SNA #322 (164/675)
Hardscrabble Prairie features a dry prairie and oak openings near Hazel Green in southwestern Lafayette County. Park near the end of the cul-de-sac on Crawford Lane near the sewage treatment plant and walk along the fence on the west side of the plant. Walking along the fence brought me to what seemed to be an…
Aurora Lake, SNA #127 (163/675)
Aurora Lake features, well, Aurora Lake surrounded by a northern wet forest. The lake is known for its wild rice population. Access is via a boat launch at the end of Aurora Lake Road. This visit was a rather abbreviated one for a couple of reasons. One: no kayak with which to explore the lake. Two:…
Plum Lake Hemlock Forest, SNA #26 (162/675)
Plum Lake Hemlock Forest features an old-growth forest wedged between Plum, Star, and Razorback Lakes. A separate island parcel is found within Plum Lake. Accesss is either form the east via Hook Road or from the west via Rearing Pond Road. This is one of those sites that I don’t have a great recollection of…
Lake Laura Hardwoods, SNA #500 (161/675)
Lake Laura Hardwoods contains an old-growth northern mesic forest on the south shore of Lake Laura in central Vilas County within the Northern Highland-American Legion State Forest. A boat launch that doubles as a parking area is found at the end of Deerfoot Road. As denoted by its number, Lake Laura Hardwoods was the 500th…
Fountain Creek Wet Prairie, SNA #100 (160/675)
Fountain Creek Wet Prairie features a large wet-prairie alongisde Fountain Creek within the Grand Marsh State Wildlife Area in southwestern Green Lake County. A parking area is located off of CTH B. The visit here was abbreviated as try as I might I could not find a suitable route into the bulk of the wet…
Page Creek Marsh, SNA #330 (159/675)
Page Creek Marsh features a variety of wetland natural communities surrounding Page Creek in central Marquette County. A parking area for the largest of three parcels is located off of CTH K, southwest of Montello. From there, a trail leads through the forest and to the creek. The remaining two parcels involve roadside parking. Page…
Summerton Bog, SNA #42 (158/675)
Summerton Bog contains a mixture of wetland communities including bog, fen, and sedge meadow northwest of Endeavor. A parking area is located off of Freedom Road on the west side of the natural area. This is another site that requires a more detailed exploration in the near future. Here, the weather precluded any significant exploration,…
Brooks Bluff, SNA #232 (157/675)
Brooks Bluff features an oak barrens community on the top of a sandstone mesa in Adams County. It is located adjacent to CTH B and parking is on the side of the highway. My time here was limited by my uneasiness parking on the side of the highway here. The shoulder is not particularly wide,…
York Prairie, SNA #348 (155/675)
York Prairie is composed of three dry-mesic prairie remnants along with cliffs and springs in northwestern Green County, west of New Glarus. A grassy parking area is available at the middle of three parcels off of York Valley Road. During my two visits to York Prairie, I explored the middle parcel fairly completely. In late…
French Creek Fen, SNA #546 (154/675)
French Creek Fen features three fen areas embedded with a semi-open wetland complex. A wet prairie, sedge meadow, and springs are also present. Found within the French Creek Wildlife Area in northern Columbia County, there are several parking areas around the periphery, though the easiest access is probably via the parking area at the end…
State Natural Areas of Wisconsin 