The Prairie Enthusiasts

Underwood Prairie

Steward

Rich Henderson (608/845-7065)

Location

Iowa County, Wisconsin. Five miles south of Blue Mounds.

Description

Underwood Prairie lies within the unglaciated, or driftless, area of south central Wisconsin. It has two patches of original, dry-mesic prairie sod (7 acres total) separated by a wooded draw.

The prairie sits on shallow soil on a gradual south and southwest facing slope of limestone overlaying sandstone, and is imbedded in a landscape of prairie pastures and fallow cropland planted to grass cover in 1988 as part of the federal Conservation Reserve Program.

Underwood Prairie is a good quality remnant sitting within a landscape of great significance for grassland bird conservation in Wisconsin. The hundreds of acres of grass cover around the remnant are home to upland sandpipers, bobolinks, western meadowlarks, dickcissels and several species of grassland sparrows, including the state threatened Henslow's sparrow.

Adjacent to Underwood Prairie is Nittany Knoll Prairie (owned by Dennis & Joan Thomson, son of Olive & John Thomson), which we hope to feature in a future segment of The Remnants We Save.

Underwood Prairie is one of only a few prairie remnants in the state that has had minimal, if any, grazing by domestic livestock, at least within the last 80 years or so. Thus, it has great comparative scientific value.

Ninety species of prairie plants have been found on the site, including large populations of rosinweed, shooting star, prairie dropseed, Leiberg's panic-grass, pomme-de-prairie, and early New Jersey tea.

The re-introduction of fire to the site in 1998 correlated with the appearance of two state-threatened species, tuberous Indian-plantain (one blooming plant, 1998) and regal fritillary butterflies (mating pairs, 1999). Both species were previously unknown on the site.

History and Status

The Underwood farm has been in the family since 1888. Their appreciation and stewardship of the prairie is the reason it has survived in such good condition to present day. Thin soil over limestone bedrock is the primary reason the original sod was not plowed, but more of the prairie was left unplowed than soil depth alone can explain. Some of the remnant sod has soil depths that are plowable, and were plowed on other farms. In addition, at one time a fence was put up around the prairie to keep out livestock, which had free range of the rest of the farm each fall after the crops were in.

Undetectable from any road, the Underwood Prairie remained unknown to most of the scientific and conservation community until the mid 1980s, when personnel from Prairie Ridge Nursery managed one of the prairie patches, under lease for seed production. They cleared some brush and conducted two burns on it in the late 1980s.

In 1998, the Empire-Sauk Chapter of the Prairie Enthusiasts and the UW-Madison Student Chapter of the Wildlife Society started working with the Underwoods to manage the site, and in 1999, a formal management agreement and plan were put into place. The agreement includes not only the remnant sod, but also surrounding former cropland for a total of 17 acres.

Needs and Management

Much tree and shrub encroachment has occurred on the prairie over the past 50 years. TPE and student volunteers and Jeff Underwood have made progress in clearing the trees and shrubs over the past 3 years, but we still have the majority (about 75%) left to go. The goal for the former cropland within the management area is to seed it back to prairie. Approximately 1/3 has been seeded so far. Wild parsnip has become a significant problem on the site in recent years, but persistent cutting and pulling over the past three years is starting to turn the tide.

Some portion of the prairie has been burned each year for the past 4 years resulting in an increase in flowering of both grasses and forbs, and an apparent increase in plant diversity. The legumes in particular seem to be increasing. Many decades of thatch and litter buildup in the absence of fire had most likely resulted in the decline and suppression of many plant species, a situation that the burns are starting to reverse. With the continued management, and the help and support of the Underwood family, this important prairie remnant has a bright future.