White River Sedge Meadow

State Natural Area (No. 367)

Location: Within White River Marsh Wildlife Area, Green Lake County. T17N-R11E, Sections 24, 25. T17N-R12E, Sections 19-22, 28-32. 3,300 acres.

Access: From the junction of Highway 23 and D (River Road) in Princeton, go north on D 6.3 miles and park. Follow the White River downstream into the natural area. The area is best seen by canoe.

Description: White River Sedge Meadow features the largest southern sedge meadow in Wisconsin, and contains a full variety of environmental gradients due to the extensive size of the natural area. The wetland complex contains a deep marsh with cat-tails and tussock sedge and contains a good variety of emergent aquatic species to the south. Scattered shrub-carr islands are also present. Because of its size, White River Sedge Meadow has been identified as the best opportunity within Wisconsin to manage wet meadow birds, including least bittern (Ixobrychus exilis), American bittern (Botaurus lentiginosus), sedge wren (Cistothorus platensis), grasshopper sparrow (Ammodramus savannarum), and Henslow's sparrow (Ammodramus henslowii). Thousands of sandhill cranes stage here every fall before their migration south. Scattered along the White River are patches of floodplain forest, which harbor rare birds including red-shouldered hawk (Buteo lineatus), cerulean warbler (Dendroica cerulea), and Acadian flycatcher (Empidonax virescens). Black terns have previously nested here. Other breeding birds include yellow-billed cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus), red-headed woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus), veery, prothonotary warbler, American redstart, and northern oriole. White River Sedge Meadow is owned by the DNR and was designated a State Natural Area in 2002.