The Driftless Area, a region in the American Midwest, comprises southwestern Wisconsin, southeastern Minnesota, northeastern Iowa, and the extreme northwestern corner of Illinois. It was never covered by ice during the last ice age, and therefore lacks glacial deposits, also termed drift. Its landscape is characterized by steep hills, forested ridges, deeply carved river valleys, and karst geology with spring-fed waterfalls and cold-water trout streams. Ecologically, the Driftless Area's flora and fauna are more closely related to those of the Great Lakes region and New England than those of the broader Midwest and central Plains regions. The steep riverine landscape of both the Driftless Area proper and the surrounding Driftless-like region are the result of early glacial advances that forced preglacial rivers that flowed into the Great Lakes southward, causing them to carve a gorge across bedrock cuestas, thereby forming the modern incised upper Mississippi River valley. The region has elevations ranging from 603 to 1,719 feet at Blue Mound State Park, and together with the Driftless-like region, covers 24,000 square miles (62,200 km2).
Andropogon gerardi, commonly known as big bluestem, is a species of tall grass native to much of the Great Plains and grassland regions of central and eastern North America. It is also known as tall bluestem, bluejoint, and turkeyfoot.
Pawnee National Grassland is a United States National Grassland located in northeastern Colorado on the Colorado Eastern Plains. The grassland is located in the South Platte River basin in remote northern and extreme northeastern Weld County between Greeley and Sterling. It comprises two parcels totaling 193,060 acres (78,130 ha) largely between State Highway 14 and the Wyoming border. The larger eastern parcel lies adjacent to the borders of both Nebraska and Wyoming. It is administered in conjunction with the Arapaho-Roosevelt National Forest from the U.S. Forest Service office in Fort Collins, with a local ranger district office in Greeley.
Pine barrens, pine plains, sand plains, or pinelands occur throughout the U.S. from Florida to Maine as well as the Midwest, West, and Canada and parts of Eurasia. Pine barrens are plant communities that occur on dry, acidic, infertile soils, dominated by grasses, forbs, low shrubs, and small to medium-sized pines. The most extensive barrens occur in large areas of sandy glacial deposits, lakebeds, and outwash terraces along rivers.
The Loess Hills are a formation of wind-deposited loess soil in the westernmost parts of Iowa and Missouri, and the easternmost parts of Nebraska and Kansas, along the Missouri River.
Buffalo River State Park is a state park of Minnesota, United States, conserving a prairie bisected by the wooded banks of the Buffalo River. Together with the adjacent Bluestem Prairie Scientific and Natural Area owned by The Nature Conservancy, it protects one of the largest and highest-quality prairie remnants in Minnesota. With the closest swimming lake to the Fargo–Moorhead metropolitan area, however, it is most popular for swimming and picnicking. The 1,068-acre (432 ha) park is located just off U.S. Route 10 in Clay County, 4.5 miles (7.2 km) east of Glyndon and 14 miles (23 km) east of Moorhead.
Sorghastrum nutans, commonly known as either Indiangrass or yellow Indiangrass, is a North American prairie grass found in the central and eastern United States and Canada, especially in the Great Plains and tallgrass prairies.
Schizachyrium scoparium, commonly known as little bluestem or beard grass, is a species of North American prairie grass native to most of the contiguous United States as well as a small area north of the Canada–US border and northern Mexico. It is most common in the Midwestern prairies.
Lake Wissota State Park is a 1,062-acre (430 ha) Wisconsin state park near the town of Chippewa Falls. The park is situated on the northeast shore of Lake Wissota, a reservoir on the Chippewa River. Camping, boating, and fishing are the most popular activities. Park lands are covered in a mix of pine/hardwood forests and prairie. Visitors can access the Old Abe State Trail and bike or hike 17.5 miles (28.2 km) to Brunet Island State Park.
The natural history of Minnesota covers many plant and animal species in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The continental climate and location of Minnesota at the physiographic intersection of the Laurentian and the Interior Plains influences its plant and animal life. Three of North America's biomes converge in Minnesota: prairie grasslands in the southwestern and western parts of the state, the eastern temperate deciduous forests in the east-central and the southeast and the coniferous forest in the north-central and northeast.
The eastern savannas of the United States covered large portions of the southeast side of the continent until the early 20th century. These were in a fire ecology of open grassland and forests with low ground cover of herbs and grasses.
Crex Meadows is a wildlife area that consists of marshes, wetlands, brush prairies, and forests. Crex Meadows is located in near the village of Grantsburg, Wisconsin, in Burnett County, Wisconsin. Its 30,000 acres (120 km2) are home to 270 species of birds and 600 species of plants.
Lespedeza leptostachya is a rare species of flowering plant in the legume family known by the common names prairie lespedeza and prairie bush-clover. It occurs in the Upper Midwest region of the United States. The flowers are creamy-white to purplish and arranged into a narrow terminal spikes.
Chiwaukee Prairie is a 485-acre (1.96 km2) prairie in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin managed by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. It is located along Lake Michigan just north of Illinois and includes grassy wetlands, wooded areas, and the Kenosha Sand Dunes at its northern tip. it is home to an abundance of wildlife. It was designated a Wisconsin State Natural Area in 1967 and a National Natural Landmark in 1973. Together with surrounding areas, and south to Illinois Beach State Park, it constitutes an internationally recognized wetland of importance under the Ramsar Convention, called the Chiwaukee Illinois Beach Lake Plain.
The Interior Low Plateaus are a physiographic region in eastern United States. It consists of a diverse landscape that extends from north Alabama across central Tennessee and Kentucky into southern Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. Its natural communities are a matrix of temperate forests, woodlands, and prairies.
Dorothy Lake State Natural Area is a Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources-designated State Natural Area featuring forested end moraine topography, with many steep-sided ridges and depressions. This results in a diverse mosaic of natural communities, including forests, swamps, fens, lakes, and streams.
Canoe Landing Prairie is a Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources-designated State Natural Area featuring a diverse Hill's oak barrens and prairie community growing on the gently rolling, sandy uplands near the Eau Claire River. Plant composition includes the following species: Big bluestem, side-oats grama, butterfly weed, blue toadflax, and birdsfoot violet. Wild lupine is also found in the prairie, and supports a population of the karner blue butterfly, an endangered species whose caterpillars feed solely on wild lupine.
Pleasant Valley Conservancy is a Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources-dedicated State Natural Area. The area contains a variety of natural communities found in Wisconsin including oak woodland, oak savanna, dry and wet prairies, sedge meadow, shrub-carr, and an open marsh.
The Sand Prairie-Scrub Oak State Nature Preserve, formerly called the Mason County State Wildlife Refuge and Recreation Area, is a natural area located in the U.S. state of Illinois. Containing 1,460 acres, it is a dedicated state nature preserve. It is located in western Mason County. The nearest town is Kilbourne, Illinois and the nearest numbered highway is Illinois Route 97. It contains fragmentary examples of the ecosystem described in its name.
Leonard's skipper photographed at Dunnville Barrens
Jack pine barrens found in the northwest portion of the site
Wetland lying in a former Chippewa River channel, in the southwest corner of the site
