Regional Landscape Ecosystems of Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin
SUB-SUBSECTION V.1.4. Waupaca
DISCUSSION: Sub-subsection is a mosaic of sandy, rolling ground moraine, steep end moraine, and pitted outwash originally dominated by oak forest and savanna.
ELEVATION: 787 to 1,180 feet (240 to 360 m).
AREA: 1,529 square miles (3,963 sq km).
STATES: Wisconsin.
CLIMATE: See subsection.
BEDROCK GEOLOGY: Cambrian sandstone underlies most of the sub-subsection, but granitic rock of the Wolf River batholith (Precambrian age) occurs in the northeast.
LANDFORMS: Landforms are diverse, consisting of pitted outwash, hummocky end moraines, and ground moraine. Many of the hills are sandstone cored (Hole 1976, Peck and Lee 1961).
LAKES AND STREAMS: Numerous small kettle lakes, ponds, and wetlands within the hummocky end moraine and on the pitted outwash.
SOILS: Sandy soils are predominant, with sands and loamy sands on the outwash and loamy sands to sandy loams on the moraines. Most of the soils are well to excessively drained, but some localized areas have poorly drained mineral and organic soils.
PRESETTLEMENT VEGETATION: Oak forest, with large amounts of northern pin oak, were dominant. Areas of oak savanna and tallgrass prairie were north and east of Plainfield, where there was a broad plain of pitted outwash, unbroken by end-moraine ridges.
NATURAL DISTURBANCE: Fire was probably common on this landscape, based on dominance of oak forest, oak savanna, and tallgrass prairie.
PRESENT VEGETATION AND LAND USE: Irrigation has allowed farming of large areas of level sandy land. Some of these soils are prone to erosion by wind after removal of vegetation cover. Many of the present forests are dominated by a mix of white, red, and bur oaks.
RARE PLANT COMMUNITIES: Rare communities include oak barrens, wet mesic prairie, fens, and coastal plain marshes. Fens occur commonly within this sub-subsection.
RARE PLANTS: Bartonia virginica (screwstem), Carex sychnocephala (many-headed sedge), Myriophyllum farwellii (Farwell's water-milfoil), Opuntia fragilis (brittle prickly-pear), Polygala cruciata (cross milkwort), Rhexia virginica (Virginia meadow beauty), Valeriana sitchensis ssp. uliginosa (marsh valerian).
RARE ANIMALS: Aeshna mutata (spatterdock darner (dragonfly)), Lycaeides melissa samuelis (Karner blue), Ophisaurus attenuatus (western slender glass lizard).
NATURAL AREAS: State Natural Areas: Summerton Bog, Lawrence Creek, Ennis Lake-Muir Park, Comstock Bog-Meadow, Bass Lake Fen, Myklebust Lake, New Hope Pines, Pope Lake, Observatory Hill, Mud Lake-Radley Creek Savanna, Plainfield-Second Lakes, Pickerel Lake, Brooks Bluff.
PUBLIC LAND MANAGERS:
CONSERVATION CONCERNS: Wind erosion can be a serious problem on many of the sandy soils after clearing for agriculture.
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