Managing Habitat for Grassland Birds
A Guide for Wisconsin

Most of this natural division was historically dominated by northern mesic forests that included large landscapes of barrens habitats (northwest and northeast); pine forests, conifer swamps, bogs, and boreal forests (near Lake Superior); extensive sedge meadows; and some lowland hardwood forests and southern oak forests.

Grassland bird habitat was limited mostly to the sedge meadows, open bogs, barrens, and recently burned-over forest lands. Many of the former barrens areas succeeded to forest, while large areas of former mesic forest in the southern and western parts of the division were cleared and converted to agriculture.

Birds
We identified 16 priority species in this natural division (see sidebar), including one of the shortgrass species, two each of the midgrass, woody and nest structure-dependent, and species requiring open water, four of the tallgrass species, and all five species requiring large areas from the statewide list (see Table 5).

Shortgrass species.

Upland sandpiper is locally common, particularly in large open and diverse barrens in the northwestern and northeastern parts of the division. It also occurs wherever there are sufficiently large idle grasslands, old fields, grass hayfields, and other suitable habitats.

Midgrass species.

Bobolink and savannah sparrow are common in appropriate habitats—such as hayfields, old fields, and other idle grasslands—in agriculture-dominated parts of the division. They also occur in open bogs and sedge meadows.

Tallgrass species.

Three of the four tallgrass species (yellow rail, sharp-tailed and Le Conte's sparrow) are most common in this division and are typically restricted to large sedge meadows and sedge marshes, especially in the Crex Meadows/Fish Lake Complex (T). Le Conte's sparrow is more of a generalist than the other three species and also occurs in hayfields and other idle grasslands in counties scattered throughout the division, including Ashland, Bayfield, Taylor, and Marathon counties. Sedge wren is locally common.

Species requiring woody vegetation or nest structures.

Brewer's blackbird is generally most common in the open and diverse barrens in the northwest and northeast, in open bogs, and in the agricultural grasslands in the south. Clay-colored sparrow is widespread in appropriate habitats.

Species requiring open water.

Blue-winged teal and Wilson's phalarope are found in suitable landscapes and habitats, such as sedge marshes, throughout.

Species requiring large areas.

Prairie-chicken range is rather narrowly defined and runs from Buena Vista/Leola Grasslands (P) in the Central Plains west and north through the Mead/Paul J. Olson Grasslands (X) and up to the open agricultural landscapes in the Unity and Medford areas (North Central Prairie-Chicken Grasslands (V1 and V2). Sharp-tailed grouse is locally distributed but is most common in the barrens, cut- or burned-over forest, sedge meadow, and open bog landscapes of the northwest. Northern harrier and short-eared owl are found in large publicly owned grasslands such as the Crex Meadows/Fish Lake Complex (T); harriers are also found in the open agricultural landscapes in the south. The only confirmed nesting record for barn owl in the last twelve years is from the Antigo area in Langlade County.

Habitats, Landscapes, and Sites
The Northern Highland/Lake Superior Lowland is large and diverse. While most of the area is forested, it also contains a variety of habitats used by grassland birds, including some of the largest open grassland landscapes in the state. Extensive areas of sedge meadows and open bogs are scattered throughout. There are major areas of barrens habitats in the northwest and northeast and a variety of agricultural grasslands in the south and the Ashland-Bayfield County area. Several counties in this division include some of the major acreage of grass-dominated hay grown in the state. Grassland birds use all of these habitats.

Priority habitats, landscapes, and sites for grassland management in the Northern Highland/Lake Superior Lowland are listed next to Figure 13. There are an estimated 65,000 acres of permanent grassland in blocks greater than 100 acres, including 38% sedge or wet grass meadows, 35% barrens, and 6% upland grass. This is half of the state's permanent grassland acreage in large blocks. The six landscapes identified in Figure 13 include the landscape with the most permanent grassland bird habitat in the state: Crex Meadows/Fish Lake Complex (T).

The Northern Highland/Lake Superior Lowland offers special opportunities for birds of large open, diverse, and brush prairie barrens landscapes, and sedge meadows—particularly those birds restricted to or most common in large northern sedge meadows, such as yellow rail, sharp-tailed and Le Conte's sparrow, and Wilson's phalarope. As mentioned above, forestry practices can help expand the effective habitat size of barrens, by focusing short-rotation, even-age silviculture at the boundaries of barrens rather than within forest interiors or by maintaining wide (greater than 440 yd) herbaceous- and heath-dominated firebreaks within barrens landscapes. This is already being practiced in some areas such as the southwestern Bayfield County forests (100). Areas in the division with concentrations of grass-dominated hayfields can also offer opportunities for management if the amount of idle grassland can be increased and if hay is cut after 15 July. The Northern Highland/Lake Superior Lowland has the advantage of large public ownerships dedicated partly to wildlife management; also, the division is too far north for major production of corn and soybeans—with the exception of southern counties. However, it has some inherent drawbacks: it is out of the range of a number of southern bird species, it lacks a variety of prairie sod types, and most of the permanent grasslands are on the wet or woody ends of the habitat continuum.

Although a majority of the Northern Highland/Lake Superior Lowland Natural Division is forest, it also includes large open landscapes of agricultural and native grasslands. This is a northern sedge meadow in the Fish Lake Wildlife Area in Burnett County. It is an important site for species such as yellow rail, Wilson's phalarope, northern hairier, upland sandpiper, short-eared owl, and Le Conte's and Nelson's sharp-tailed sparrow.

Figure 13.  Priority landscapes and sites for grassland bird management in the Northern Highland/Lake Superior Lowland Natural Division.

Priority Grassland Habitats for Management in the Northern Highland/Lake Superior Lowland ¹
(ranked by priority)