Dunbar Barrens State Natural Area

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Dunbar Barrens features a Pine Barrens community that is part of a large, open landscape located on a gently rolling pitted glacial outwash plain. The site is similar in composition to presettlement barrens with broad sweeping prairie vistas and a distinctive panorama. Logging, grazing, and periodic fires have maintained the open character of the barrens in addition to the action of frost in low pockets. Today, aspen, oak, and jack pine forest surround the opening and low granitic outcrops are found scattered through the area. The dominant vegetation consists of grasses and sedges, and a well-developed shrub layer is present including blueberry, bearberry, prairie willow, and sweet fern. Herbaceous plants include rice grass, poverty oat grass, wintergreen, barren strawberry, and hawkweeds. The area also harbors a diverse and unusual lichen flora. Originally recognized as being attractive habitat for sharp-tailed grouse, the bird is today absent from the barrens after a population peak in the 1950's. The last recorded observation was in 1976. Common barren birds include the eastern bluebird, eastern towhee, vesper, field, and clay-colored sparrow, and the upland sandpiper (Bartramia longicauda), a species of special concern in Wisconsin. Dunbar Barrens is owned by the DNR and was designated a State Natural Area in 1973.