Cady's Marsh State Natural Area

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State Controlled Natural Area 72

www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/land/er/sna/sna72.htm

Location: Sauk County. T12N-R4W, Section 13. 80 acres.

Access: From the intersection of Highway 23 and County H on the east side of Reedsburg, go east on 23 one mile, then south on Golf Course Road 0.5 mile to the northeast corner of the site.

Description: Cady's Marsh contains dry sandy prairie grading into loamy mesic and wet-mesic prairie with sedge meadow and shallow emergent aquatic marsh also present. Deep-soil loamy prairies are one of the rarest natural plant communities in Wisconsin with nearly all having fallen to the plow. The site contains an interesting assemblage of plant species. Characteristic plants include blue-joint grass, big blue-stem, mountain mint, prairie blazing-star, and culver's-root. Uncommon species are lesser purple fringed orchid, Michigan lily, glaucous white lettuce, Riddell's goldenrod, Kalm's St. John's-wort, and Clinton's bulrush. Cady's Marsh is of historic interest in that it served as one of the last strongholds of prairie chickens (Tympanuchus cupido) in Sauk County. Cady's Marsh is owned by the DNR and was designated a State Natural Area in 1998.