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Crex Meadows Wildlife Area

DNR staff have developed an Annual Property Implementation Plan (APIP) for the Glacial Lake Grantsburg (GLG) Work Unit (Crex Meadows, Fish Lake and Amsterdam Sloughs Wildlife Areas). The public is encouraged to review the APIP during an open comment period from March 24-30 and provide comments to DNR staff. This is the core public input process on management of GLG properties year.

APIPs contain the major management and infrastructure projects planned for the property for the upcoming year, such as forest/habitat management treatments and recreation development projects. The GLG APIP also contains the 2024 GLG Water Management Plan and results from the 2023 Water Management Plan.

The GLG APIP can be found on the DNR’s APIP website. Please review the plan and submit any comments to dnrglg@wisconsin.gov or use the contact directory link available on the APIP webpage.

 

Crex Meadows Wildlife Area is a 30,000-acre property of wetlands, brush prairies and forests scattered across a gently rolling landscape. It is located in western Burnett County. Find it from Highway 70 in Grantsburg. Directional signs will guide you through Grantsburg to the Crex Meadows Wildlife Education and Visitor Center, which is located on County Road D. The center contains a sales area, information center, library, auditorium, exhibits and classrooms.

Crex Meadows is open year-round, with something to do and see during every season. Crex receives more than 100,000 visitors each year. Most of the visitors come to view wildlife. The popularity of Crex is attributed to its large size, spectacular vistas and great diversity of plants and wildlife. A system of well-maintained roads, observation areas and a rest area provide excellent access and wildlife viewing opportunities.

Some of the visitors come to hunt or trap. Except for the 2,400-acre refuge, the entire area is open to hunting and trapping. Crex provides abundant hunting opportunities for deer, bears, waterfowl and a variety of small game. Trappers have opportunities for nearly every furbearer found in Wisconsin.

In response to concerns from landowners in Burnett County regarding elevated groundwater levels on their properties, the DNR hired the United States Geological Survey (USGS) to look into groundwater trends on and around Crex Meadows. The resulting report found that the elevated groundwater levels on adjacent private lands was due to an increase in precipitation, not water management at Crex Meadows Wildlife Area.

After receiving additional concerns, the DNR hired an independent hydrogeologist, Dr. George Kraft from Stevens Point, WI, to review the USGS ground water study, as well as data gathered by concerned citizens. Dr. Kraft's report also found that increased precipitation was the cause of local groundwater flooding.

Both reports can be found here:

Questions can be sent to: dnrglg@wisconsin.gov


The Department has received complaints regarding unauthorized manipulation or interference with water control structures. This impedes the Department’s ability to manage and protect natural resources. Furthermore, alteration to these structures, their components, or embankment soils has the potential to damage or undermine these structures or associated public roads and therefore poses a risk to public health and safety.

Therefore, the Department hereby closes the identified water control structures and their immediate vicinity pursuant to s. NR 45.04 (1)(b). Signage notifying the public of this closure (and identifying the closed area) shall be installed as soon as possible. The closure of these water control structures will not impact nor impede public conveyance over adjacent public roads or public access to the flowages.

Management

History

Crex Meadows is part of the Northwest Wisconsin Pine Barrens. The barrens extend from northern Polk County to southern Bayfield County and cover 1,500 square miles. This large, sandy plain was left when the glacier retreated about 13,000 years ago. The southern portion of the barrens, where Crex is located, contains huge marshes. These marshes are leftovers from when the glacier carved out an ancient lake called Glacial Lake Grantsburg.

When Euro-Americans first arrived, the sandy soil produced scattered red and jack pines, brush and a variety of prairie grasses and flowers. Naturally occurring wildfires maintained these plant communities. Since wildfires were no longer common after settlement, the landscape grew into an oak-jack pine forest. Beginning in the mid-1800s, settlers tried to farm the sandy soil, but most soon gave up. The lack of wildfires and clearing of the land for farming resulted in the near elimination of brush prairie. Large-scale drainage of wetlands in the 1890s, caused a decline in the number of nesting and migrant waterfowl and other wetland animals.

In 1912, the Crex Carpet Co. purchased 23,000 acres of what is now Crex Meadows. The carpet company was an eastern corporation that produced grass rugs. Three carpets "camps" were located in the area. The grass rug industry continued successfully until the development of linoleum for floor covering. The Crex Carpet Co. went bankrupt in 1933, but the name Crex remained.

During the Depression and drought years of the 1930s, further drainage and agricultural attempts failed. By 1940, nearly two-thirds of the land in the area was tax delinquent. In 1946, the state purchased 12,000 acres of this tax-delinquent land to start the Crex Meadows Wildlife Area.

Management objective

Two state natural areas are located within Crex Meadows — Crex Sand Prairie and Reed Lake Meadow. Crex is a critical Important Bird Area and is one of the few sites in Wisconsin that provides landscape-level management opportunities for pine-oak barrens, northern sedge meadows and marshes, and emergent marsh/wild rice habitats. It is a Land Legacy Place and a Conservation Opportunity Area for pine-oak barrens of global significance and large sedge meadows, fens and prairies of upper Midwest/regional significance in the Wisconsin Wildlife Action Plan.

Crex Meadows Wildlife Area is managed to provide opportunities for public hunting, trapping, fishing and other outdoor recreation while protecting the qualities of the unique native communities and associated species found on the property. It is intensively managed using a wide variety of wildlife management practices. Wetland and prairie restoration and maintenance practices are employed to a greater degree here than at any other wildlife area in Wisconsin. To date, 22 miles of dike have been constructed to create 29 flowages that flood 6,000 acres. Water levels are managed with 34 water control structures, 8 miles of water transfer ditches and a diversion pump. Clearing and prescribed burning were used to restore 7,000 acres of brush prairie. Approximately, 3,500 acres of brush prairie and sedge marsh are burned annually for maintenance purposes. Firebreak construction, mowing and herbicide application are also employed to restore and maintain brush prairie habitat.

Wetland management is employed primarily to increase waterfowl production. Management practices include water level manipulation, construction and maintenance of waterfowl nesting islands, the establishment of dense nesting cover, and the construction of breeding pair ponds.

A variety of surveys are conducted to monitor wildlife populations and harvest levels, evaluate management practices and determine levels of public use. Other management practices include planting agricultural crops for migrating and, to a lesser extent, resident wildlife, waterfowl banding (using swim-in and cannon netting), and construction of nesting structures for waterfowl, eagles, osprey, herons and cormorants.

Recreation

The Crex Meadows Wildlife Area offers many recreational opportunities:

  • Auto travel;
  • Biking;
  • Birding;
  • Camping Sept. 1 - Dec. 1;
  • Canoeing;
  • Cross-country skiing (no designated trail);
  • Hiking;
  • Hunting (except in the 2,400-acre refuge);
  • Snowmobile trail;
  • Trapping;
  • Wild edibles/gathering; and
  • Wildlife viewing.
Friends Group

The Friends of Crex was established in 1984 as a support group for the wildlife education program conducted at Crex Meadows. It is a private, nonprofit corporation that provides volunteer and financial assistance needed to expand the wildlife education program. For more information, visit Friends of Crex Inc..

Maps

Download a map of this property.

If you want to explore this property further, you can access an interactive map.

Useful links
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