Preserving a globally rare habitat in Wisconsin

How do you help the pine-oak barrens landscape, classified as “globally imperiled,” not only survive but thrive? In Wisconsin, Bayfield County and the Wisconsin DNR have been carrying out the Northwestern Sands Barren Restoration project to restore and connect barrens in the region for more than 10 years. Commercial timber sales, brush chopping and prescribed burns help save species like the sharp-tailed grouse and the upland sandpiper, and support a thriving environment for pollinator plants and blueberries. “Species diversity is growing all the time. A lot of songbirds, white-tailed deer, wolves, black bear, turkeys . . . this is what high-quality barrens look like,” notes Mike, a Bayfield County forester. We recently awarded a $50,000 Enbridge Ecofootprint grant to the county to maintain these high-quality barrens.