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Crex Meadows is a 30,000 acre property in Burnett County, WI that is intensively managed by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources-Bureau of Wildlife Management. This unique area is home to thousands of acres of restored wetland and brush prairie. Originally part of the Wisconsin Pine Barrens, Crex Meadows is now the state's largest remaining portion of this globally endangered ecosystem. Because of this habitat, Crex Meadows is home to over 280 species of birds, 720 species of plants, over 96 species of butterfly and a wide variety of reptiles, amphibians, and insects. With over 100,000 visitors year-round, Crex Meadows is your wildlife destination for hunting, trapping, education and recreation. View a map of Crex Meadows here. credit Friends of Crex Meadows.
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From the Wisconsin DNR:
Two state natural areas are located within Crex Meadows — Crex Sand Prairie and Reed Lake Meadow. Crex is a critical Important Bird Area and is one of the few sites in Wisconsin that provides landscape-level management opportunities for pine-oak barrens, northern sedge meadows and marshes and emergent marsh/wild rice habitats. It is a Land Legacy Place and a Northwest Sands Ecological Landscape for pine-oak barrens of global significance and large sedge meadows, fens and prairies of upper Midwest/regional significance in the Wisconsin Wildlife Action Plan.
Crex Meadows Wildlife Area is managed to provide opportunities for public hunting, trapping and other outdoor recreation while protecting the qualities of the unique native communities and associated species found on the property. It is intensively managed using a wide variety of wildlife management practices. Wetland and prairie restoration and maintenance practices are employed more here than at any other wildlife area in Wisconsin. To date, 22 miles of dike have been constructed to create 29 flowages that flood 6,000 acres. Water levels are managed with 34 water control structures, eight miles of water transfer ditches and a diversion pump.
Clearing and prescribed burning restored over 7,000 acres of brush prairie. Approximately 4,000 acres of brush prairie and sedge marsh are burned annually for maintenance purposes. Firebreak construction, mowing and herbicide application are also employed to restore and maintain brush prairie habitat.
Wetland management is employed primarily to increase waterfowl production. Management practices include water level manipulation, construction and maintenance of waterfowl nesting islands, the establishment of dense nesting cover and the construction of breeding pair ponds.
Various surveys are conducted to monitor wildlife populations and harvest levels, evaluate management practices and determine levels of public use. Other management practices include planting agricultural crops for migrating and, to a lesser extent, resident wildlife, waterfowl banding (using swim-in and cannon netting), and construction of nesting structures for waterfowl, eagles, osprey, herons and cormorants.
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For more information on Crex Meadows visit: The Friends of Crex Meadows website or WNDR
