Central Sand Hills Landscape

Map showing the Central Sand Hills Ecological Landscape

General Description

The Central Sand Hills Ecological Landscape is located in central Wisconsin at the eastern edge of what was once Glacial Lake Wisconsin. The landforms in this Ecological Landscape are a series of glacial moraines that were later partially covered by glacial outwash. The area is characterized by a mixture of farmland, woodlots, wetlands, small kettle lakes, and cold water streams, all on sandy soils. The mosiac of glacial moraine and pitted outwash throughout this Ecological Landscape has given rise to extensive wetlands in the outwash areas, and the headwaters of coldwater streams that originate in glacial moraines. The growing season is long enough for agriculture but the sandy soils limit agricultural productivity somewhat.

Vegetation

Historic upland vegetation consisted of oak-forest, oak savanna, and tallgrass prairie. Fens were common in this Ecological Landscape and occurred along with wet-mesic prairie, wet prairie, and rare coastal plain marshes. Current vegetation is composed of more than one-third agricultural crops, and almost 20% grasslands with smaller amounts of open wetland, open water, shrubs, barren, and urban areas. The major forested type is oak-hickory, with smaller amounts of white-red-jack pine, maple-basswood, lowland hardwoods, aspen-birch, and spruce-fir.

Hydrologic Features

There are numerous small kettle lakes and ponds associated with the glacial outwash. There are many softwater lakes with a firm bottom that are being developed for recreational uses. Although the lakes and rivers of the Ecological Landscape are fairly clean, it has the poorest groundwater rating of all the ecological landscapes according to Wisconsin DNR.

Land Use

The total land area for the Central Sand Hills Ecological Landscape is approximately 1.4 million acres, of which 28% is classified as timberland. Only about 4% of the Ecological Landscape is public land.

Socioeconomics

Socioeconomic data are summarized based on county-level approximations of the Ecological Landscape (referred to as a "region"). Economic data are available only on a political unit basis with counties as the smallest unit. The counties included in this socioeconomic region are Columbia, Green Lake, Marquette, Portage and Waushara (“Central Sand Hills Region”). Although soils are predominantly dry and sandy, the counties of the Central Sand Hills Region are primarily agricultural. Agriculture is successful in this sandy area with use of irrigation mostly in the production of potatoes, sweet corn, peas, and snap beans but there is a considerable amount of marginal and idle agricultural land. There are no state parks, recreation areas, state forests, or federal lands in the Ecological Landscape, though there are 24 fishery and wildlife areas. The Central Sand Hills Region is nearly average for most socioeconomic indicators. The population density of the region (54 persons/sq. mile) is slightly more than half that of the state as a whole (96 persons/sq. mile). The region has shown an above average population growth rate since 1970, especially for the elderly (over 65) population. The number of nonwhites, especially Native Americans is quite low. Although average wage and per capita income are well below the state average, these indicators are intermediate compared to other regions. In addition, the rates of poverty and unemployment are well below average when compared to the other regions. The agricultural and government sectors have a more influential role in the number of employees in the region, whereas manufacturing and the service sector are less important than elsewhere in the state.

For any questions regarding the maps presented on this site or the "DNR Ecological Landscapes of Wisconsin" handbook, please contact Jeff Schimpff at Jeff.Schimpff@wisconsin.gov. Suggested Citation for Handbook: Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. In Prep. DRAFT Ecological Landscapes of Wisconsin. State of Wisconsin, Dept. of Nat. Resources, Handbook. 1805.1. Madison, WI.

Last Revised: Thursday February 08 2006