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Spread Eagle Barrens |
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 Site
Description: Spread Eagle Barrens State Natural Area is
located about five miles southeast of Florence. Map of the
Spread Eagle Barrens State Natural Area.In recognition of its biological richness and rarity. the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources established the 8,850-acre Spread Eagle Barrens State National Area in 1995. Other organizations that played an instrumental role in establishing this area were Florence County, Wisconsin Electric Power Company, and Sand County Foundation. Wisconsin Electric, while retaining ownership of as approximately 1,800 acres within the natural area boundary, has dedicated this parcel for barrens management The goal of the Spread Eagle Barrens management plan is to preserve, restore, and maintain pine barrens/bracken grassland and northern dry forest ecosystems to provide habitat for a diversity of plant and animal species including nine species of special concern. The site provides recreational opportunities including viewing, fishing, hunting, trapping, and berry picking. In addition the Barrens project provides opportunities for research on ecosystem level management and community restoration techniques that are unavailable on many state natural area sites. History Surveyors of the General Land Office Survey crisscrossed the Wisconsin landscape in the mid-1800s creating the section lines that would provide the basis of legal land descriptions for the settlers, loggers and speculators that soon followed. In northeastern Wisconsin they encountered extensive sand areas that they collectively referred to as 'barrens.' These were dominated by open areas of grasses, bracken fen, and low shrubs such as blueberry and sweet fen. These areas were sparsely timbered with pine, and sometimes with tall schrub like vegetation such as Juneberry. The surveyors generally were not imp ressed with these areas, typically describing the soils as 'third rate' and the timber 'worthless.' They sometimes noted evidence of recent wildfires that were essential to maintaining the barrens. While most of the pre-settlement barrens ecosystem in Wisconsin is now gone, the Spread Eagle Barrens in Florence County represents the largest ecological community of its kind remaining in northern Wisconsin. These barrens are an undulating mosaic of sunswept bracken grasslands, solitary pines and oaks, and occasional large block of timber. In addition to the use of prescribed burning as a management tool to help maintain the open areas, swells and low spots are kept free of woody vegetation by growing season frosts. Though the term "barrens" connotes sterility, quite the opposite is true. Barrens are as biologically rich, as they are variable, being influenced by climate, topography, soils, moisture regimes, and fire that produced, a heterogeneous landscape consisting of plains, edges, hills, and kettles that favor small scale variations in site characteristics and disturbance. Because of these landscape variations, Spread Eagle Barrens supports a spatially diverse mosaic of vegetation and a corresponding diverseness of animal species. Apart from the state's large wetlands, barrens, such as those at Spread Eagle, include some of the few sizable tracts of relatively natural, wild, open lands with engaging vistas that invite exploration. There are not many richer birding experiences than to be out in Spread Eagle Barrens early on a June morning totally surrounded by the singing of Clay-colored Sparrows and calls of Rufous-sided Towtiees and Brewer's Blackbirds, and the sight of an Upland Sandpiper high overhead. Or, picking a basket of blueberries on a warm, still, hazy August day while listening to crickets and grasshoppers, watching a multitude of butterflies visiting the colorful flowers in bloom, and maybe even catching a glimpse of a black bear also picking blueberries on a distant slope. The Pine, a state-designated wild river, roughly bisects Spread Eagle Barrens on an east-west axis. The Menominee River guarded by rugged edges and hollows, forms its irregular eastern boundary. Although a number of trails and roads traverse the area, the Spread Eagle Barrens are essentially undeveloped. As the management plan for the area is implemented, access will improve, but its open and wild character will be preserved. For maps and more information, ask at the service counter. Directions There are three entry points to the Barrens. From Florence: 1. take US 2 east to Cnty NN turn right (south) to Old 69 turn left (east) about five miles to Anna Lake Road turn right (south) continue about 1 1/2 miles to the DNR sign on the right. 2. take US 2 east to Cnty N turn right (south) continue about six miles to Roach's Lane turn left (east) continue about 3 miles to DNR sign on left. 3. take US 2 east about 2 miles to Sand Lake Road follow signs to Sand Lake. Facilities Improvements of this area were to be started in 1997, however they are on hold. Travel Cautions Since most of the roads in the site require 4 wheel drive, a map showing proper vehicle requirement and use is available at the Florence Wild Rivers Interpretive Center or call at (888) 889-0049. |
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