State Natural Areas

I’ll let the Wisconsin DNR explain the State Natural Areas Program:

State natural areas (SNAs) protect outstanding examples of Wisconsin’s native landscape of natural communities, significant geological formations and archeological sites. Encompassing over 380,000 acres, Wisconsin’s 674 natural areas are valuable for research and educational use, the preservation of genetic and biological diversity and for providing benchmarks for determining the impact of use on managed lands. They also provide some of the last refuges for rare plants and animals.

I was introduced to the SNAs by DNR Conservation Biologist, Jared Urban, back in the Spring of 2013 and volunteering at these sites has been a wonderful opportunity to learn and meet energetic, like-minded people. Zach Kastern and Ginny Coburn have stepped up to take the leadership roles in coordinating and executing the workdays at the SNAs in the Kettle Moraine. You can visit them on Facebook at Southern Kettle Moraine SNA Volunteers, and learn more about the SNA Volunteer Program and sign up to be notified of workdays here.

The State Natural Area sites we work at in the Southern Kettle Moraine are listed below, each followed by a list of “here” links to stories about our workdays that I posted at the Scuppernong Springs Nature Trail website.

Kettle Moraine Oak Opening and Bald Bluff (read more here, here, here, here, here and here)

Clifford Messinger Dry Prairie and Savanna Preserve (read more here, here, and here)

Bluff Creek (East and West) and Lone Tree Bluff (read more here, here, here, here, here, here and here)

Young Prairie

Eagle Oak Opening (read more here)

We have a lot of fun working in some of the most beautiful locations in the Kettle Moraine State Forest.