Solon Springs Sharptail Barrens

State Natural Area (No. 65)

Location: Within Solon Springs Wildlife Area, Douglas County. T44N-R12W, Section 11 S½NE¼, SE ¼. 240 acres.

Access: From the intersection of U.S. Highway 53 and County Highway A in Solon Springs, go south on 53 3.5 miles, then west on Bird Sanctuary Road (Cut Away Road) 0.5 mile to the southeast corner of the site.

Description: Situated on the rolling glacial outwash sand plain that extends from Burnett to Bayfield counties, Solon Springs Sharptail Barrens features a large pine barrens with widely scattered clumps of jack pine, Hill's oaks, bur oak grubs, and occasional red pine. The vegetation is characteristic of the presettlement vegetation that once covered much of northwestern Wisconsin. Maintained by fire, the barrens are one of the best sharp-tailed grouse habitats in Wisconsin. Shrubs present are sweet fern, blueberry, dewberry, New Jersey tea, hazelnut, willow, wild rose, chokecherry, and bearberry. Groundlayer species include big and little blue-stem, prairie alumroot, puccoon, Canada mayflower, wormwood, asters, and goldenrods. Bird life is dominated by species, which require extensive open landscapes including the rare sharp-tailed grouse (Tympanuchus phasianella), upland sandpiper (Bartramia longicauda), grasshopper sparrow (Ammodramus savannarum), Connecticut warbler (Oporornis agilis), and Tennessee warbler (Vermivora peregrina). Other birds include mourning dove, eastern towhee, Brewer's blackbird, and vesper and field sparrow. Solon Springs Sharptail Barrens is owned by Douglas County and was designated a State Natural Area in 1968.