THE SCENE
Rich wet prairie and oak woods along meandering stretches of river, broken up by low hills

Highlights
Great birding around oxbows and hammocks, high-quality prairie remnants

Stats
Roughly 450 walkable acres, no formal trails

Behind the scenes
The Nature Conservancy managed the preserve early on, and members of the Halter Wildlife hunt club have preserved further acreage to the south.

Getting there
Take I-94 north to Wisconsin. Go one mile past state line to Lakeview Pkwy (Hwy 165) east. Cross the river and turn left/north on Turwell Rd. Enter Prairie Springs Park and go left/west on Park Dr to the parking area. For River Rd access area, take I-94 three miles past state line. Take Highway C (114th Ave) exit northeast, turn right/south on 114th/River Rd, and go to dead end.

Summer 2004

More than 220 species of birds find this wetland and prairie by the river a lush place to visit — or stay

Kenosha County, Wisconsin

Along the Des Plaines River in southeastern Wisconsin, the aptly named village of Pleasant Prairie borders a favorite rest stop for more than 220 species of birds. Dubbed "the most important wildlife preserve between Milwaukee and Interstate 94" by neighbor and Pleasant Prairie Parks Commissioner Glenn Christiansen, Des Plaines River Floodplain offers unique landforms and wild surprises around every bend.

Pleasant Prairie owns a patchwork of about 1,400 natural acres along the river. Some of the most interesting and diverse pockets surround the manicured Prairie Springs Park. Curious mounds known as hammocks can be found in several places northwest of the park, some laden with mature bur oaks, some with cherry trees. The largest hammock is approximately eight acres, while two others, separated from this dramatic landform by a swale, are closer to one acre in size.

	Eastern bluebird. Photo by Claudia Adams, Root Resources.

Just west of the hammock area, beyond a dirt and gravel trail loop, lies an oxbow dating back to the 1890s, when the river carved a shortcut across alongside one of its meanders. Lady, wood, sensitive, and even a few royal ferns adorn the fertile crescent left when the river abandoned this bend. According to Steven Apfelbaum, senior research ecologist with Applied Ecological Services, "We found several hundred native plant species, some of the most magnificent sedge meadow and wet prairie, and small mesic prairie remnants."

Northwest of the village park, visitors who follow River Road to its end will find a planted prairie as well as wetlands containing pockets of river bulrush for yellow-headed blackbirds, protective vegetation for young sandhill cranes, and acres of wild iris, water hemlock, angelica, marsh bellflower, bottle gentian, and Joe Pye weed. "I've run into everything from loggerhead shrikes to red-shouldered hawks, great egrets, and trumpeter and whistler swans," says Christiansen. Some birders, he says, even weave their canoes through the trees during spring floods to catch the "beehive" of colorful birds in their binoculars. "Oddly enough, a person can run into a lot of bluebirds late in the summer when they start gathering to move after breeding, with as many as 60 to 70 in one tree." In addition to the birds, 36 species of mammals, 13 species of amphibians, 5 species of turtles (including threatened Blanding's turtles), and numerous fish have been documented in the floodplain. Eastern Butler garter snakes, western plains garters, and unusual snakes with markings of both are just a few of the 11 species of snakes recorded.

Visitors can hike, canoe, and fish the preserve from dawn to dusk. In most seasons, hikers should wear waterproof boots. Bicycling is limited to paved or gravel trails. Pets must be leashed. To volunteer, call John Steinbrink, Jr., (262) 694-1403.

— April Anderson