Learn
more about the Northwest Sands Area
Area click on the image or highlighted text.
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Crex
Meadows, the largest state owned refuge in the Northwest Sands
Area. |
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Plants
found in the Barrens |
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Wildlife
found in the Barrens |
Northwest
Sands Area Facts
** The Northwest Sands Area (NWSA) is located
in Douglas, Bayfield, Burnett, Washburn, Sawyer and Polk counties.
** Crex
Meadows located in the southern part of the NWSA has evolved
into one of the premier wildlife viewing areas in the Midwest. More
than 100,000 people visit the area annually.
** It is a large pitted outwash plain consisting of two landforms:
flat plains or terraces, and hummocky sediments.
** Glacial till was deposited over the NWSA as a result of the
retreat of the Wisconsin glacier 10-15,000 years ago. The till varies
in thickness from a few feet up to 300 feet.
** There are several hundred kettle lakes on the pitted outwash
plain. Large wetlands are intermixed in the landscape. A glacial lake,
Glacial Lake Grantsburg, was formed as a result of the glacier. This
lake drained away over the years but the deepest portions had poor drainage
and gradually evolved into the shallow sedge marshes found in the area.
** The headwaters of the St. Croix-Namekagon and Brule River
systems are located here.
** Soils are deep loamy sands, low in organic material.
** Vegetation
includes extensive open and overgrown barrens dominated by jack pine,
northern pin oak and prairie species.
** Many threatened and endangered species
are found here.
** Major land uses are forestry for pulp production, some agriculture
in the southern part of the region, and recreation and tourism.
Two views of the Northwest Sands Area
Photo Credits: Gary
Dunsmoor