Wisconsin Important Bird Areas

Site Description

These two wildlife areas, located close together in central Wisconsin, form the heart of the grassland habitat management effort for greater prairie-chicken in the state. Topography is flat and the landscape is open and largely treeless. The grassland-dominated habitat is a mixture of cool and warm season grasses, row crops and grazed pastures, prairie, oldfield, shrub, and woodland.

Ornithological Importance

The Buena Vista/Leola grasslands represent one of the best opportunities in the state for large-scale grassland management, and support many of Wisconsin’s priority grassland species. These two properties contain the largest proportion of the state’s greater prairie-chicken population, as well as high numbers of northern harrier, upland sandpiper, sedge wren, Henslow’s sparrow, field sparrow, vesper sparrow, grasshopper sparrow, clay-colored sparrow, savannah sparrow, bobolink, eastern meadowlark, and western meadowlark.