History of Sandhill WIldlife Area
Wildlife and their habitats have endured many changes in central Wisconsin during the past 150 years. Settlers found an abundance of deer, grouse, bear, wolves and bobcats. Great flocks of passenger pigeons nested in the area during the 1870's. The settlement period disrupted many forms of wildlife. The last wild passenger pigeon was shot near Sandhill in 1899. By the 1920's, very few deer remained in Wood County. One year, a local hunter walked all day in Sandhill and surrounding lands without seeing a deer track. Only 15 breeding pairs of sandhill cranes were believed to remain in Wisconsin by 1930's; most were found in and around Sandhill. While destructive to some wildlife, the transformed landscape was beneficial to others. Farmland and adjacent wild, open spaces favored prairie chickens, sharp-tailed grouse and other prairie wildlife for a time. Prairie chickens were particularly plentiful in the region during the early 1900's. Fire was a dominant force influencing the composition and abundance of plant and animal life. The last major fire swept through the area in 1930, burning 500 square miles of the central Wisconsin flatlands. This fire created conditions favoring sun-loving species like the aspen, jack pine, oak and grass-shrub dominated wetlands. Prairie grouse populations disappeared as the forest cover returned. Ruffed grouse, squirrel and deer numbers increased. Other kinds of forest wildlife responded just as dramatically as the new lush forest growth increased food and cover.
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