Cassville Bluffs-Roe Unit

State Natural Area (No. 337)

Location: Grant County. T3N-R5W, Sections 26, 35. 244 acres.

Access: From the intersection of State Highways 81 and 133 in Cassville, go east on 133 2.5 miles, then south on Sand Lake Lane 0.4 mile. Bear left at the end of the lane, go past the house and park at the preserve sign and gate. The best prairie lies on the steep south-facing slopes in the SE portion of the preserve. Walk east on an old access road into the site and then along the southern boundary one mile. Walk up the steep slope to the prairie.

Description: Cassville Bluffs features a rare expanse of undeveloped bluff and sand terrace overlooking the Mississippi River that supports linear strips of dry prairie and rare chinquapin oak savanna. Extremely important and unique to this high quality natural area are the uplands, which remain connected to the river bottoms below and are not separated by any roads or highways. Currently, Wisconsin has only one mile of protected river front property that has no highway between the bluffs and Mississippi River. One of the rarest savanna types in Wisconsin, the chinquapin oak savanna is dominated by chinquapin oak with some bur oak and contains a diverse, intact groundlayer. The dry prairie is also diverse dominated by side oats grama with little blue-stem, Indian grass, needle grass, big blue-stem, and Panicum grasses. Prairie forbs include flowering spurge, western sunflower, cylindrical blazing-star, compass plant, lead-plant, and short green milkweed. The site also harbors the rare jeweled shooting-star (Dodecatheon amethystinum) and there are scattered dolomite outcroppings several meters high that support numerous fern species including rusty woodsia and smooth cliffbrake. Along the bluff is an older growth forest that is an important roosting site for the federally threatened bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus). The bluffs are also important habitat for rare animals. Numerous agricultural and old fields will be restored to native habitat in the future. Cassville Bluffs is owned jointly by the DNR and the Mississippi Valley Conservancy and was designated a State Natural Area in 2002.