Western Prairie Landscape

Map showing the Western Prairie Ecological Landscape

General Description

This Western Prairie Ecological Landscape is located on the far western edge of the state just south of the Tension Zone; it contains the only true representative prairie potholes in the state. It is characterized by its glaciated, rolling topography and a primarily open landscape with rich prairie soils and pothole lakes, ponds, and wet depressions, except for forested areas along the St. Croix River. The climate and growing season are favorable for agricultural crops. Sandstone underlies a mosaic of soils. Silty loams that can be shallow and stony cover most of the area. Alluvial sands and peats are found in stream valleys.

Vegetation

Historic vegetation was comprised of dry to mesic prairie grasses in the rolling areas and wet prairies in the broad depressions. Open oak savannas and barrens were found on the hilly topography, with small inclusions of sugar maple-basswood forest in small steep sites. Prairie pothole type wetlands were mainly found in St. Croix and Polk counties. Barrens were found along the river terraces of the St. Croix River. Almost half of the current vegetation is agricultural crops and almost a third of the area is grasslands, with smaller areas of open water, open wetlands, and urban areas. The major forest types are maple-basswood and oak-hickory, with smaller amounts of lowland hardwoods and lowland conifer.

Hydrologic Features

Two major rivers flow through this Ecological Landscape, the Mississippi and the St. Croix. The St. Croix is a National Scenic River. The Apple and Kinnikinnic are two important secondary streams. This area seems to have an unusual hydrology with greatly fluctuating water levels. The water quality is relatively poor compared with the rest of the state. It has the second poorest rankings for watersheds overall (11 out of 12 are rated as highly polluted), and for groundwater and the worst rankings of all Ecological Landscapes for both lake and stream pollution, according to Wisconsin DNR.

Land Use

The total land area for the Western Prairie Ecological Landscape is approximately 698,000 acres, of which 16% is classified as timberland. Less than 3% of the land is in public ownership.

Socioeconomics

Socioeconomic data are summarized based on county-level approximations of the Ecological Landscape (referred to as a "region"). Economic data are available only on a political unit basis with counties as the smallest unit. The counties included in this socioeconomic region are Pierce and St. Croix ("Western Prairie Region"). The Western Prairie Region is highly dependent on agriculture. It has the second highest percentage of total acreage in farmland. (Farmland is defined as all land under farm ownership, which includes cropland, pastureland and woodland.) Compared to the other regions, these counties are third highest in corn production per acre and fourth in milk production per acre. The region has the highest percentage of both agricultural and forest land acreage sold, and the second highest percentage diverted to nonagricultural and non-forest uses. Overall acreage in lakes is low in this region. Per capita water usage in the region is the lowest of all regions in the state. Although the population density of this region is not high, it does have the fastest growth rate since 1970 and the lowest median age. The population density (108 persons/sq. mile) is slightly higher than that of the state as a whole (96 persons/sq. mile). The population is fairly young, not racially diverse, and very well educated, on average. Economically, people in the region are quite prosperous with a high per capita income and the lowest rates of child and adult poverty and unemployment. Agriculture is important with a higher percentage of jobs in agriculture than any other region.

For any questions regarding the maps presented on this site or the "DNR Ecological Landscapes of Wisconsin" handbook, please contact Jeff Schimpff at Jeff.Schimpff@wisconsin.gov. Suggested Citation for Handbook: Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. In Prep. DRAFT Ecological Landscapes of Wisconsin. State of Wisconsin, Dept. of Nat. Resources, Handbook. 1805.1. Madison, WI.

Last Revised: Thursday February 08 2006