Thomas Wet Prairie

These 13.7 acres preserve wet prairie, sedge meadow, little pools, clumps of willow and a single large bur oak.  Biologists have recorded over 200 plant species and scores of insect and spider species.  When’s the last time you saw a crayfish tunnel in a prairie?  Thomas Wet Prairie is full of them.  It also home to a fuzzy-shelled old snapping turtle.  Each summer, dozens of sedge wrens and a few snipe nest there.  Bald eagles often visit the bur oak.

For decades, the Thomas family left their cattle in the wet prairie.  Far from the barn, and too squishy for easy walking, cattle didn’t graze the land very hard.  The Thomas family includes nature lovers.  They never installed drain tile or broadcast sprayed the pasture with herbicide the way some farmers might.  Their gentle approach to farming sustained the native community.  

In the late 1980s, the Prairie Enthusiasts purchased 13.7 acres from the Thomas family with targeted funds from a major donor.  Before then, volunteers had explored, documented and managed prairie remnants, but hadn’t acquired any land for permanent protection.  At Thomas Wet Prairie, The Prairie Enthusiasts became a landowner for the first time.

Iris Drive

Iris Drive is a site managed by the Southwest Chapter and was found by TPE Director Emeritus Gary Eldred. Starting in the fall of 2012, Gary developed a working relationship with the original owner of the site, who agreed to allow Gary to begin managing the property. The site, which totals 107 acres includes approximately 20 acres of remnant prairie located on south facing slopes. Since 2012, TPE volunteers have cleared all the remnant prairie present and have continued to work on a regular basis.

The best times to visit and see wildflowers are spring and late summer.  In early May, there is a large population of puccoons, violets, sand cress and some cream baptisia.  Later in autumn you can see all the tall grasses, nine kinds of asters, five species of goldenrods, gentians and blazing stars.  The main remnant area has been cleared by local volunteers. Prior to restoration efforts nearly 80% of the area was covered with raspberries, honeysuckle and sumac. 

There are currently populations of conservative uncommon species characteristic of dry-mesic to mesic prairie, including, cream indigo, white prairie clover, butterfly milkweed, compass plant, leadplants, and New Jersey tea.  Purple Milkweed has been observed in the past, and it is anticipated that with more active management and inventorying that more rare species will be observed. Insect and bird inventories have not been conducted. 

Either the Swenson Hill or nearby Drakenburg prairie were included in the description and analysis of dry-mesic prairies in John Curtis’s seminal work The Vegetation of Wisconsin (1956).  Notes within the 1990 TNC description of the sites and the St. John’s Complex suggest that Olive Thomson visited these sites in the 1950’s. (Read more about Dr. John and Olive Thomson, premier conservationists, environmental education leaders and naturalists.)

Feist Prairie

Feist Prairie is a 3 acre site with 1 acre of remnant prairie that was purchased in 2013. Although small, it contains a large number of species on land that was never cultivated, pastured, or sprayed. Rare insects have been observed on this site: Goldenrod soldier beetle (Chauliognathus pensylvanicus) and Robber fly (Promachus vertebratus).

Gerald and Patricia Feist, who owned this parcel as part of their larger farm operation, sold this site to the Southwest Chapter after many years of leasing the land. The farm had been in the Feist family since 1875; this site is a wonderful example of a pre-European settlement prairie/savanna community. 

Current efforts include removing woody invasives and trees to expand the range of the original remnant.