Wisconsin's Forest Legacy Program

Baraboo Hills

The Baraboo Hills project began in 2003 and was completed in 2007. Read the news announcement [PDF 30KB] about the completion of the project.

Congressional District: 2^nd

General Description
Includes an area of approx. 33,000 acres in western range of Baraboo Hills. Acquisition of easements from a grouping of smaller landowners, combined with a wide variety of other conservation efforts in the area, will help protect the long-term conservation and forest production values of the Baraboo Hills.

Public Value of Property:

• Ranked 1st in state for red oak production.
• One of 8 of the national historic and scenic Ice Age Trail sections crosses property.
• Important values for tourism and many types of non-motorized recreation.
• Rare habitats provide homes to 25 known state or federally listed spp. and numerous other rare plants and animals.
• Protects headwaters of Otter Creek, the largest undeveloped watershed in Southern Wisconsin.
• Steep slopes combined with shallow, stony, erodible, or poorly drained soils, make protection of high-quality streams, rivers, glades and wetlands, of paramount importance.
• Designated by TNC as one the Western Hemisphere's "Last Great Place".
• Protects the largest remaining block of southern upland forest in Midwest landscape.
• The Hills are the largest surface deposit of quartzite in the Midwest.
• Will allow public access and controlled hunting.

Importance of Protection:

• Severely threatened by conversion to scattered residential development and potential loss of 55,000 acres of forest habitat, prairie remnants, clear streams and rocky glades.


Otter Creek in Baxter's Hollow, Baraboo Hills. 
Its many small tributaries drain the largest
undeveloped watershed in Southern Wisconsin

• Recognized as last remaining unbroken forest in the highly fragmented Midwest landscape.
• Threat analysis shown that conversion of natural communities to agricultural lands has been on-going for years.
• Expansion of US Hwy 12 from Baraboo to Madison has sharply increased development pressures as more Madison residents see the commute more feasible and attractive.
• Recreation via trails and forest tax law open lands would be lost as development and fragmentation continue.
• Detrimental and non-sustainable logging practices destroy habitat on unprotected forest land and degrade the rich biological diversity of the forest.
• As growth, development and fragmentation occur, the displacement of native species of plants and animals by exotic ones has become a recognized threat.
• The largest blocks of remaining forested habitat are being divided into smaller and more isolated patches. This process of habitat fragmentation is a serious threat to the biological diversity of the Hills.
• Growth over the last 10 years has been about 8.1%. Projections indicate an even higher growth rate as access to Madison improves with highway expansion.
• Development in unstable and erodible Hills threatens the water quality of the numerous streams and wetlands.

How the property meets program criteria:

• Designated as one of 75 Last Great Places in the Western Hemishpere. Forest Legacy easement would preserve the qualities important for this designation.
• Would provide important linkage to State parks, State Natural Areas, Riverland Conservancy Preserve, Badger Army Plant project, and more.
• Would augment existing protection efforts by groups in area such as USDA Fish & Wildlife Service, Dane and Sauk County, The Nature Conservancy (TNC), and Baraboo Range Preservation Association.
• In recognition of its geological significance, 50,000 acres have been identified as National Natural Landmark (US Dept. of Interior), buffering with Forest Legacy easements protect this effort.
• Buffers National Scenic Ice Age Trail, a cooperative project between the U.S. National Park Service, the Ice Age Park and Trail Foundation and its various volunteer groups around the State, and the counties through which the trail passes. The trail is one of only eight national scenic trails in the United States.