South Fork Barrens

State Natural Area (No. 314)

Location: Eau Claire County. 26N-R5W, Section 14 SW¼. 120 acres.

Access: From the intersection of U.S. Highway 12 and County Highway H in Fairchild, go north on H 10.5 miles, then west 0.5 mile on an unimproved access road (E. Channey Forest Rd) that crosses the site.

Description: South Fork Barrens features a Jack pine-oak barrens situated on the rolling uplands and steep south-facing bluff above the south fork of the Eau Claire River. The barrens is dominated by Jack pine with bur oak, Hill's oak, and red pine with early low blueberry and American hazelnut common in the understory. Numerous prairie grasses and forbs are scattered through the area and include big and little blue-stem, June grass, lupine, blue toadflax, lance-leaved loosestrife, butterfly milkweed, flowering spurge, bastard toadflax, field wormwood, lyre-leaved rock cress, and smooth blue aster. The federally endangered Karner blue butterfly (Lycaeides melissa samuelis) is found here, attracted to the wild lupine that is found throughout the barrens. Wild lupine is the only known larval food plant of the Karner blue butterfly and is, therefore, closely tied to the butterfly's ecology and distribution. Active management including prescribed burning and stopping encroachment of woody species will ensure the long-term viability of the wild lupine population and the Karner blue butterfly that depends upon it for survival. South Fork Barrens is owned by Eau Claire County and was designated a State Natural Area in 1996.