Central Sand Hills Ecological Landscape

Landscape at a Glance

Please note that each of these topics is covered in much more detail in the Central Sand Hills chapter [PDF].

Physical & Biotic Environment | Socioeconomic Conditions | Considerations for Planning & Management

Species

Species of Greatest Conservation Need

The following species are listed according to their probability of occurring in the Central Sand Hills Ecological Landscape, based on the findings in Wisconsin's 2015 Wildlife Action Plan.

See the key to association scores [PDF] for complete definitions.

(Please see also the Significant Flora [PDF] and the Significant Wildlife [PDF] sections in the Central Sand Hills chapter).

Rare plants

The Natural Heritage Inventory has developed scores indicating the degree to which each of Wisconsin's rare plant species is associated with a particular natural community or ecological landscape. This information is similar to that found in the Wildlife Action Plan for animals. As this is a work in progress, we welcome your suggestions and feedback.

Scores: 3 = "significantly associated," 2 = "moderately associated," and 1 = "minimally associated."

Community opportunities

Natural community management opportunities

The Central Sand Hills Ecological Landscape contains opportunities to manage for the following natural communities, based on the findings in the 2015 Wildlife Action Plan (originally presented by the Ecosystem Management Team).

See the key to association scores [PDF] for complete definitions.

General opportunities

General management opportunities ¹

Fire-dependent communities were once common and widespread in the Central Sand Hills. Although today's examples are mostly small remnants, there are excellent opportunities to manage for fire-dependent and fire-adapted communities such as oak forest, oak woodland, oak savanna, tallgrass prairie, sedge meadow and fen. Remnant savannas, both Oak Barrens and Oak Openings, occur on dry and dry-mesic sites scattered throughout the Central Sand Hills. All of these communities have high potential to support rare plants, invertebrates and reptiles.

Dry forests of white, black and bur oak are common, though forest management at large scales is constrained by ownership patterns and small tract size and current land uses. Management of oak forests and woodlands could be integrated with management of oak savanna, prairie and wetlands. This would be especially appropriate on public and private lands managed mostly for conservation purposes. Mixed forests of pine and oak are locally common, and the Central Sand Hills is one of two ecological landscapes where good examples of the Central Sands Pine-Oak Forest community have been documented.

Numerous springs and coldwater streams emanate from the end moraine that forms the western boundary of the Central Sand Hills. Wetland communities associated with these glacial landforms include fen, sedge meadow, low prairie, shrub swamp and tamarack swamp; some of these wetlands are quite alkaline and differ in composition from those found in the more acid environments to the west.

Large wetland complexes such as those found at Germania Marsh, Comstock Marsh, Grand River Marsh and Fountain Creek Prairie contain good examples of fen, sedge meadow, wet prairie, shrub swamp and tamarack swamp. The Central Sand Hills contains more occurrences of the globally rare Coastal Plain Marsh community than any other landscape in Wisconsin. Coastal Plain Marsh communities provide habitat for rare vascular plants and invertebrates and are associated with sandy or gravelly shores of seepage lakes that exhibit dramatic natural water level fluctuations. The US Threatened Fassett's locoweed is strongly associated with this and the inland beach communities. Floodplain forest is significant along stretches of the major rivers such as the Wisconsin, Baraboo and Montello and provides important habitat for resident and migratory wildlife.

Important warmwater rivers include the Fox, Montello, Baraboo and a short but ecologically significant stretch of the Wisconsin. This section includes Pine Island State Wildlife Area, an area associated floodplain habitats, as well as significant savanna and grassland remnants. Dams on several of the major rivers have created very large shallow impoundments, including Buffalo Lake, Lake Puckaway and Lake Wisconsin, and these offer valuable wildlife habitat but need rehabilitation to address their poor water quality. Green Lake, Wisconsin's deepest inland lake, is located in the east central portion of the Central Sand Hills.

Bedrock exposures are rare in the Central Sand Hills. However, they include good examples of glades, cliffs and talus slopes, which support rare plants and other unique vegetation, as well as some rare animals.

1. The text presented here is a summarized version of a longer section developed for the Ecological Landscapes of Wisconsin.

Maps

Central Sand Hills printable maps

1. Finley's Vegetation of the Mid-1800s [PDF]
2. Land Cover of the Mid-1800's [PDF]
3. Landtype Associations (LTAs) [PDF]
4. Public Land Ownership, Easements and Private Land Enrolled in Forest Tax Programs [PDF]
5. Ecologically Significant Places [PDF]
6. Exceptional and Outstanding Resource Waters and 303(d) Degraded Waters (2010 Update) [PDF]
7. Dams [PDF]
<
8. WISCLAND Land Cover (1992) [PDF]
9. Soil Regions [PDF]
10. Relative Tree Density in the Mid-1800s [PDF]
11. Population Density, Cities, and Transportation [PDF]

Also see the statewide maps.

LTAs

Central Sand Hills Landtype Associations

Landtype Associations (LTAs) are units of the National Hierarchical Framework of Ecological Units (NHFEU), a hierarchical ecological land classification system. LTAs are much smaller than Ecological Landscapes, ranging in size from 10,000 and 300,000 acres. In Wisconsin, they are usually based on glacial features like individual moraines or outwash plains. LTAs can be very useful for planning at finer scales within an Ecological Landscape.

The following are the LTAs associated with the Central Sand Hills Ecological Landscape. The Central Sand Hills LTA map [PDF] can be used to locate these LTAs. Clicking on an LTA in the list below will open a data table for that LTA in PDF format. Descriptions are included, where available.

• 222Kb01. Arnott-Almond Moraine Complex
• 222Kb03. Wild Rose -Wautoma Moraine Complex
• 222Kb04. Coloma Plain
• 222Kb05. Buffalo Lake Outwash Channels
• 222Kd02. Green Lake Moraines
• 222Kd07. Princeton Drumlins
• 222Kb06. Lewiston Basin
• 222Kd08. French Creek Moraines
• 222Kd01. Rio Moraines
• 222Kd04. Pardeeville Plains
• 222Kb07. Portage Floodplain
• 222Kd05. Prentice Creek Hills
• 222Kd03. Poynette Hills
• 222Kd06. Moon Valley Plains
• 222Kd09. Roxbury Hills