Session: FT 14 - The Miracle of Scuppernong Wet Prairie


Saturday, August 9, 2008: 8:00 AM-2:00 PM
West Well St. Entrance , Midwest Airlines Center
FT 14 - The Miracle of Scuppernong Wet Prairie - CANCELLED
We will travel to the southern unit of the Kettle Moraine State Forest, an area consisting of more than 20,000 acres of glacial hills, kettles, lakes, prairie restoration sites, pine woods, and hardwood forests. We will visit the Scuppernong River Habitat Area, where within the last several years intense management such as brush and tree removal and large landscape fires have produced the largest native wet prairie east of the Mississippi River. Today, this 3,500-acre area supports large remnants of several rare native plant communities, such as wet mesic prairies, sedge meadows, and fens. In addition, the site supports more than 45 plants, animals, and insects that are either state-threatened, endangered, or "of special concern." The large and open nature of the site provides excellent habitat for uncommon birds, such as boblink, western meadowlark, and upland sandpiper, and other uncommon animals include Franklin’s ground squirrel, badger, and eastern hognose snake. We will tour places that are being presently cleared of dense brush and trees and also visit other areas that are further along in the restoration process. After a morning in the field, we'll have lunch at the Visitors Center of the State Forest and then return to the Convention Center.