The Natural Areas Program

Program Objectives

Many of the plant and animal communities that evolved following the melting of the last glaciers about 12,000 years ago have been displaced or lost. Places that have escaped most if not all disturbance are often the last refuges in the state for rare and endangered plants and animals. The Natural Areas Program is dedicated to preservation of these high quality native communities.

State Natural Areas are set aside for protection of their natural values for future generations, scientific research, and teaching conservation and natural history. They are not intended for intensive recreational use such as picnicking or camping.

The Land Management Plan for a Natural Areas project must ensure the permanent protection of the natural communities on the property. Staff in the Bureau of Endangered Resources will assist NCOs in developing their plans.

The Natural Heritage Inventory

The Natural Heritage Inventory was establishing in 1985 by the DNR in cooperation with The Nature Conservancy to provide an ongoing, up-to-date storehouse of ecological information. Data is collected during on-site resource surveys and then catalogued into an integrated system of maps, computer databases, and paper files. The Inventory contains the location and biological status of each natural community and rare species that has been evaluated. It also ranks communities and species according to how rare they are in Wisconsin and worldwide. Analysis of a site for inclusion in the Natural Areas Program begins with the information furnished by the Inventory.

Property Dedication

Articles of Dedication provide the strongest long-term legal protection for Natural Areas in the state. Legally dedicated sites are protected in perpetuity as State Natural Areas and may not be taken for other uses without a finding of urgent and greater public need by the DNR and subsequent approval by the Governor and the appropriate Standing Committee in both house of the Legislature.

NCOs purchasing property with Natural Areas grants must offer those properties to the Bureau of Endangered Species for dedication. The bureau will choose to dedicate those properties as a State Natural Area in most cases. The DNR may, on rare occasions, and for good causes, exempt a site from the dedication requirement. Good cause includes, but is not limited to, sites that have previous deed restrictions or sites with ephemeral natural values such as rookeries and bird concentration areas.

Grant Criteria

The DNR maintains a priority listing of potential Natural Areas sites that is updated regularly. If a project is on the list, it automatically qualifies for a Natural Areas grant. The following criteria are used to evaluate the natural values of proposed projects that are not on the priority list:

The quality of the natural value to be protected
The condition of the natural value to be protected, including an analysis of the degree to which the natural value has been damaged or altered from its optimal condition and character
The long-term viability of the natural value to be protected, including the extent to which the project meets the minimum area required by area dependent species of concern; the adequacy of the project to maintain community function and dynamics; the impacts that fragmentation, isolation, and size of community may have on its longevity; and the ability of the project to support minimum viable populations of species to be protected
The defensibility of the natural value and the project from adverse effect that threaten it
Additional criteria used to evaluate and rank proposed projects including:

The rarity of the natural value to be protected
The number of natural values to be protected
The degree to which the natural value and the project are threatened and the degree to which they are already protected
The value of the area for research and education
The degree to which acquisition, as opposed to other protection tools, will protect the natural value
The degree to which this type of natural value is already protected in the state

Last Revised: Wednesday March 23 2011