Buckley Creek & Barrens State Natural Area

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Buckley Creek and Barrens contains an extensive pine/oak barrens with surrounding wetlands including northern sedge meadow, northern wet forest, alder thicket, streams, and spring pond. Both the barrens and wetlands are structurally diverse and rich in species. A 1997 wildfire helped restore the barrens, in part through woody species removal and today it is a diverse mosaic due to the disturbance. Dominant trees include Hill’s oak and Jack pine with black cherry and pin cherry. The rich diversity of grassland vegetation includes New Jersey tea, Pennsylvania sedge, little blue-stem, June grass, blue-eyed grass, butterfly weed, Canada anemone, rough blazing-star, field pussy-toes, ground-cherry, bird’s-foot violet, and asters. The sedge meadow is dominated by blue-joint grass with tussock sedge, fringed sedge, monkey-flower, rough bedstraw, sensitive fern, marsh skullcap, and tall meadow-rue. Numerous butterfly species can be found here including four rare Wisconsin species: the dusted skipper (Atrytonopsis hianna), cobweb skipper (Hesperia metea), Henry’s elfin (Callophrys henrici), and Gorgone checkerspot (Chlosyne gorgone). Birds include the clay-colored sparrow, brown thrasher, field sparrow, Brewer’s blackbird, Nashville warbler, and the Connecticut warbler, a species of special concern. Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) and bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) have also been found here. Buckley Creek is an excellent site for Pine Barrens research and additionally offers an excellent opportunity to study the diverse communities of butterflies that are found within the area. Buckley Creek and Barrens is owned by Douglas County and was designated a State Natural Area in 1997.