Buena Vista Quarry Prairie

State Natural Area (No. 29)

Location: Within Buena Vista Wildlife Area, Portage County. T21N-R7E, Section 2 SE¼SE¼. 40 acres.

Access: From the intersection of Highways 54 and F west of Plover, go south on F 7 miles, then east on County W 1 mile, then south on 130th Street 0.75 mile to the east boundary of the natural area.

Description: Buena Vista Quarry Prairie is located within the Buena Vista Marsh, formerly a sedge meadow and tamarack swamp. It contains one of the least disturbed tracts within the Wildlife Area and harbors the state-threatened Greater prairie chicken (Tympanachus cupido). In the southeastern portion of the prairie is an oak knoll, which rises ten feet above the surrounding flat lands. Remnant dry and dry-mesic prairie species grow on this sandstone outcrop. Within the flat lands are gentle ridges that have lost their vegetation and organic matter due to agricultural practices, wind erosion, and peat fires, exposing the glacial sandy soil. These slight ridges are being reinvaded gradually by prairie species including little blue-stem, Indian grass, big blue-stem, rough blazing-star, and wormwood. The lower areas between the ridges are dominated by bluegrass, sedges, and willows. Grassland birds are abundant including the uncommon grasshopper sparrow (Ammodramus savannarum), clay-colored and savannah sparrows, eastern meadowlark, bobolink, eastern kingbird, and mourning dove. Buena Vista Quarry Prairie is owned by the DNR and was designated a State Natural Area in 1970.