Glacial Prairie Sites

Shining Oaks Preserve

The Glacial Prairie Chapter has accepted the conservation easement for this property.

Location: Jefferson County, WI, Summer Township (T5N, R13E), Section 6. The address of the property is: N2416 E. Rockdale Road, Cambridge, WI 53523

Savanna

Shining Oaks contains remnants of a former savanna community in several areas. In particular, old growth, open-grown white oaks persist along the esker glacial deposits that traverse the property. There are two main savanna areas. The first are the areas located within the existing conservation easement. Some work has been done to restore these areas, but the restoration potential in these areas is very high. Upon inspecting the property, there was a carpet of shooting star and penn sedge with scatterings of Wisconsin state threatened kittentails (Besseya bullii).

Shrub Carr & Wet Meadow

Surrounding the esker savanna remnants are shrub carr communities that have developed on wet soils associated with the stream corridor which transects the property. Dominant species include sandbar willow (Salix interior), black willow (Salix nigra), red osier dogwood (Cornus stolonifera), and nannyberry (Viburnum lentago). These areas vary from diverse understory of native sedges (Carex sp.) to areas with reed canary grass Based on historical aerial photography, these communities have developed after the site reverted from row cropping, then pasture, to its current fallow state. There are some high quality wetlands and sedge complexes and native plant communities.

Adelman-Schwartz Prairie

Location: The site is located in Walworth County, in the Town of Sugar Creek (near Elkhorn)

This small dry prairie on the north shore of North Lake is now owned by The Prairie Enthusiasts and is the management responsibility of the Glacial Prairie Chapter. The site was acquired through the generous donation of Charlotte Adelman and Bernard Schwartz, authors of The Midwestern Native Garden and Prairie Directory of North America.