One Year Protected: Mukwonago River Oak Barrens
Written by Dan Carter. Photos by Dan Carter.
July 17, 2026
It’s hard to believe that it’s been more than a year since The Prairie Enthusiasts protected the Mukwonago River Oak Barrens.
Maybe it’s a distinction without a difference, since volunteers had been working out there for two years already at that point, but things have continued to pick up, with over 1500 hours of volunteer work time through that first year spent conducting prescribed burns, collecting and spreading seeds, planting roots/plugs, removing brush and trees, and staging and burning piles.
Volunteers have opened up and expanded our management footprint by about 3.5 acres during the first year, and this was augmented by contract work that has opened up another two acres and was funded through the Natural Resources Foundation Besadny Conservation Fund, The Southeastern Wisconsin Invasive Species Consortium Assistance Program, and donations from the Kettle Moraine Chapter of Wild Ones and other donors. Additional Natural Resources Foundation Rare Plant Preservation Funds will be used to open up more habitat this winter for two rare sedges that occur at the site.
This year we saw our first blooms from locally sourced wood betony (Pedicularis canadensis), prairie blazingstar (Liatris pycnostachya), and several other species seeded into areas opened up between late 2023 and 2024. We have continued to find species indigenous to the site that we were not aware of, including yellow stargrass (Hypoxis hirsuta) and prairie smoke (Geum triflorum) early this year, and most recently week sedge (Carex debilis).
The count of known, native plants present at the site without our having added them stands at 320.
Glacial Prairie Chapter volunteers spread seed over the snow last winter.
Glacial Prairie Chapter volunteers burn conifer material.
Glacial Prairie Chapter volunteers pull brush in an area that supports alumroot (Heuchera richardsonii), false toadflax (Comandra umbellata), Culver’s root (Veronicastrum virginicum), Canada blue-joint grass (Calamagrostis canadensis), and butterfly milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa).
Fire burns through an area of southern sedge meadow at the barrens late last October.
Yellow stargrass growing in a strip of remnant wet to wet-mesic prairie in the southern part of the property.
Michigan lily (Lilium michiganense) blooming along the transition of the oak barrens to southern sedge meadow this July.
About The Prairie Enthusiasts
The Prairie Enthusiasts is an accredited land trust that seeks to ensure the perpetuation and recovery of prairie, oak savanna, and other fire-dependent ecosystems of the Upper Midwest through protection, management, restoration, and education. In doing so, they strive to work openly and cooperatively with private landowners and other private and public conservation groups. Their management and stewardship centers on high-quality remnants, which contain nearly all the components of endangered prairie communities.