Western Coulee and Ridges Landscape

Map showing the Western Coulee and Ridges Ecological Landscape

General Description

The Western Coulee and Ridges Ecological Landscape in southwestern and west central Wisconsin is characterized by its highly eroded, driftless topography and relatively extensive forested landscape. Soils are silt loams (loess) and sandy loams over sandstone residuum over dolomite. Several large rivers including the Wisconsin, Mississippi, Chippewa, Kickapoo and Black flow through or border the Ecological Landscape.

Vegetation

Historical vegetation consisted of southern hardwood forests, oak savanna, scattered prairies, and floodplain forests and marshes along the major rivers. With Euro-American settlement, most of the land on ridgetops and valley bottoms was cleared of oak savanna, prairie, and level forest for agriculture. The steep slopes between valley bottom and ridgetop, unsuitable for raising crops, grew into oak-dominated forests after the ubiquitous presettlement wildfires were suppressed. Current vegetation is a mix of forest (40%), agriculture, and grassland with some wetlands in the river valleys. The primary forest cover is oak-hickory (51%) dominated by oak species and shagbark hickory. Maple-basswood forests (28%), dominated by sugar maple, basswood and red maple, are common in areas that were not subjected to repeated presettlement wildfires. Bottomland hardwoods (10%) are common in the valley bottoms of major rivers and are dominated by silver maple, ashes, elms, cottonwood, and red maple. Relict conifer forests including white pine, hemlock and yellow birch are a rarer natural community in the cooler, steep, north slope microclimates

Hydrologic Features

There are no natural lakes in this Ecological Landscape, but there are a number of impoundments. Levels of stream and groundwater pollution are worse than average, according to Wisconsin DNR watershed rankings.

Land Use

The total land area for the Western Coulees and Ridges Ecological Landscape is approximately 6.2 million acres, of which 38% is classified as timberland. Public land ownership includes only 3% of this Ecological Landscape.

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 Buffalo, Crawford, Dane, Dunn, Eau Claire, Grant, Iowa, Jackson, LaCrosse, Monroe, Pepin, Pierce, Richland, Sauk, Trempeleau, and Vernon ("Western Coulees and Ridges Region"). Although less than 25% of Dane County, and none of the Madison Metropolitan area, lies within this ecological landscape, it was included in the socioeconomic region. Including Dane County may cause some discrepancies when analyzing the socioeconomic structure, however, the social and economic character of the ecological landscape and its residents may be significantly impacted by Madison's proximity. Agriculture is an important part of the economy in the Western Coulees and Ridges Region. Compared to the other regions, it has the second highest percent of farmland acreage and ranks relatively high in both milk and corn production per acre. (Farmland is defined as all land under farm ownership, which includes cropland, pastureland and woodland.) Agriculture is primarily dairy and beef farms; pastures and Conservation Reserve Program areas are common. Wooded slopes are often managed for oak sawlog production. Recreational resources are abundant. The counties of the Western Coulees and Ridges Region have the highest number of state parks, forests and recreation areas, and the second highest number of state fishery and wildlife areas, as well as several federal wildlife refuges along the Mississippi River. Although it has the lowest percentage of timberland sold or diverted to other uses, a relatively high proportion of the agricultural land sold is being diverted to other uses. The population density (76 persons/sq. mile) is less than that of the state as a whole (96 persons/sq. mile). Its population is decidedly young with the second lowest percentage elderly (over 65) and racially diverse with the third highest percentage of African Americans and Asians. Economically, this landscape is about average with relatively low unemployment. The proportion of government jobs in this region is second highest in the state with a below-average number of manufacturing jobs. (The demographic and economic information for this region is significantly impacted by including Dane County.)

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