Buena Vista Wildlife Area

The 12,700-acre Buena Vista Wildlife Area is a mix of state owned, leased, and managed lands over 88 square miles. The large Area was formerly a marsh dominated by tamarack, black spruce and cattails. In the early 1900’s it was drained for agricultural purposes. Topography is flat and the landscape is open and largely treeless. The current grassland-dominated habitat is a mixture of cool and warm season grasses, row crops and grazed pastures, prairie, old-field, shrub, and woodland.

In the mid 1950’s a successful partnership between the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Dane County Conservation League and Society of Tympanuchus Cupido Pinnatus was created to purchase land specifically for grassland habitat for the management of the Greater Prairie-chicken, and other grassland-dependent species. As a result, today it is home to the largest concentration of Greater Prairie-chickens in Wisconsin, a state-threatened species and represents one of the most extensive grasslands east of the Mississippi River. And, by preserving the land for Prairie-chickens, habitat has been protected for many rare and uncommon birds.

The Area supports many of Wisconsin’s priority grassland species including robust populations of northern harrier, short-eared owl, upland sandpiper, sedge wren, Henslow’s sparrow (also state-threatened), field sparrow, vesper sparrow, grasshopper sparrow, clay-colored sparrow, savannah sparrow, bobolink, eastern meadowlark, and western meadowlark, to name a few… Also found within the project are wetlands and nesting northern harriers, sandhill cranes, willow flycatchers and brown thrashers. Rare sightings might also include cattle egret, golden eagle, snowy owl, and whooping crane.

Prescribed burning, managed grazing, small scale sharecrop farming, mowing of woody vegetation, spraying of woody vegetation and invasive plant control are all management activities used to keep the Area in an open condition for use by Greater Prairie-chickens and a long-list of other grassland-dependent wildlife species.

Source: WDNR, Wisconsin Important Bird Areas, and Great Wisconsin Birding and Nature Trail