Outdoors: Prairie remnants host species of conservation concern

Tim Eisele
Special to The Capital Times
 —  7/17/2008 8:27 pm

Crawford County -- President Teddy Roosevelt is said to have remarked that anyone could love a mountain, but it takes soul to love a prairie.

That being true, there are lots of souls in Crawford County, the heart of coulee country in southwestern Wisconsin, who appreciate the delicate blossoms of prairie flowers and movement in the breeze of native grasses.

Representatives of several conservation organizations, including the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), Department of Natural Resources (DNR), Mississippi Valley Conservancy, The Nature Conservancy and others hosted a July tour of several prairie remnants in Crawford County to illustrate the diversity of these gems.

First the group visited a private woodland north of Gays Mills owned by Gary Harden.

Harden purchased the land in 1998 and although the land is enrolled in the Managed Forest Law, his plan calls for keeping a one-acre open area as a "goat prairie," an affectionate term that refers to remnant prairies high up on bluff-tops and steep hillsides where presumably only goats could maneuver.

Harden clears part of the steep hillside of red cedar, sumac, honeysuckle and other invading brush. He burned the area in 2004 and 2008 to keep the site open.

Some of the variety of prairie species in the small opening include: lead plant, little bluestem, butterfly milkweed, hoary puccoon, hairbell and purple prairie clover.

Besides many bird species, other species using the area include field sparrows, whippoorwills, prairie racerunners and the wing snaggletooth snail.

"The prairie work has been a family project that we are doing gradually," Harden said. "It's a work in progress."

Armand Bartz, ecologist with the DNR in La Crosse, said that typical prairie sites like Harden's in southwest Wisconsin will have as many as 80 to 100 different species of prairie vegetation.

"Crawford County has a lot of hill prairie, because it is where the Wisconsin, Mississippi and Kickapoo rivers and adjacent hills are located. This is where Native Americans lived and probably did a lot of burning to keep these sites open," Bartz said. "These prairies are important for many of our species of greatest conservation need."

The next visit was to the Hogback, one of the best examples of a dry prairie that rises several hundred feet above the Citron Valley near Steuben. The land, owned by The Nature Conservancy and also designated as a State Natural Area by DNR, provides a wealth of prairie species such as Indian grass, prairie dropseed, sideoats grama, big and little bluestem, as well as bird's-foot violets, butterfly weed and purple prairie clover.

"This site has a lot of rare butterflies, including the Regal Fritillary butterfly, and a handful of other rare butterflies. Each has a little unique niche and requires some kind of specific management," Bartz explained. "It also has the largest population of Hill's thistle, a state threatened species, as well as the Bell's vireo, Indian plantain, pasque flowers and shooting stars. This site is one of the crown jewels of the State Natural Areas."

Steve Richter, of The Nature Conservancy, explains that fire and grazing are used to maintain prairie plants on the 1,000-acre area that was purchased with funds from the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Fund.

"This is a community-based project, and we want to work with the neighbors to help keep them farming sustainably and with environmentally sensitivities," Richter said. "It really takes the ideas, acceptance and strategies of the community and I am excited about what is happening out here."

The last stop was to Bill and Melissa Hendrickson's property East of Mount Sterling. The Hendricksons own 280 acres where they have restored 18 acres of prairie The pair's land also has a very high quality "goat prairie," that to some people might be a useless piece of grass high up on a hillside, too steep to raise crops.

But the Hendricksons recognize the unique grasses and flowers that cling to the hillside, and they are committed to manage the area, including occasional controlled burns and monitoring of invasive species.

Some help is available to landowners, including the federal Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program (WHIP) to help fund habitat improvement work, the Partners for Fish and Wildlife Habitat program through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Landowner Incentive Program grants through the DNR.

The tour raised awareness that many of the main flatland prairies across the United States were plowed and yielded excellent soil that provided food for a growing country. While most native prairie no longer exists, these "goat prairies" are remaining fragments that deserve to be preserved and managed. Each year these pieces of the ecological puzzle become more likely to be lost, but can be preserved if landowners recognize the gems which many see as just weeds.

Tim Eisele is a full-time freelance outdoor writer and photographer. He is a founding member and past president of the Wisconsin Outdoor Communicators Association and active member of the Outdoor Writers Association of America. E-mail him at teisele@chorus.net

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THE HOGBACK STATE NATURAL AREA

The Hogback State Natural Area is located in Crawford County. To see the area, go to the intersection of State Highway 179 and Bridge Street in Steuben. From there proceed north on Bridge Street then west on Hughes Road for 2.5 miles. Then go west on Citron Valley Road for 0.8 mile to an information kiosk located east of the road.

For more information on the Hogback Prairie, visit the description at the Department of Natural Resources Web site.

Tim Eisele
Special to The Capital Times
 —  7/17/2008 8:27 pm