Wisconsin Prairies

Wisconsin’s native prairies included about twenty-five species of grasses and over 250 species of wildflowers, and early explorers described immense expanses stretching in every direction, grasses so tall that “a man is lost amongst it,” and elk in herds of four or five hundred. These prairies were likened to oceans, with topographic undulations and tall grasses blowing like rolling waves until sky and meadow seemed to meet on the horizon. Prairies originally covered about 2 million of Wisconsin’s 35.7 million acres, while over 7 million more acres were savanna, a prairie-like community with widely scattered trees, most likely oaks. Today, less than 1/10 of one percent of Wisconsin’s original prairie remains, and tallgrass prairie and oak savanna are among the most decimated and threatened plant communities in the Midwest and the world.

Milford, Wisconsin · United States