Ecological Significance
of the Badger Army
Ammunition Plant Site

Adapted from the Biological Inventory
and Investigations Conducted at the
Badger Army Ammunition Plant in 1998,
prepared by the Aldo Leopold Chapter of the
Society for Conservation Biology

Badger lies strategically between the Wisconsin River and the Baraboo Hills, which is the largest remaining stand of mature hardwood forest in the state. A moraine divides the Badger Army Ammunition Plant property from north to south continuum. The eastern half, characterized in pre-settlement days by rolling savannas and kettle ponds, was covered by glacial ice during the most recent ice age. Outwash from the melting glacier formed the plains on the western half of the property. From this flat glacial outwash grew a prairie with soil that was among the richest found in the state.

Aerial view of the Badger lands

The Ho Chunk Nation proposes reintroducing bison to Badger

The biological importance of the property is considerable. Despite the history of intensive land use, remnants of nine natural plant communities survive, including oak savannas and dry prairie. These habitats have been all but eliminated elsewhere in the state. Prior to settlement in the 1800s, savannas and prairies were common features of the Wisconsin landscape, but today less than 1% of the prairies and 0.02% of the savannas remain.

An inventory of the plants at Badger indicates that although much of the property is overrun by non-native species of grasses and woody plants, there is still an abundance of native species. The list of species in a 1993 study includes eight listed as threatened or endangered at the state or federal level and several other species either nominated for listing or listed as "special concern." The small pockets of remnant native communities and scattered patches of native plant species are extremely valuable as seed banks for restoration efforts on site and at other locations in the area.

endangered, threatened, or over special concern in Wisconsin, as well as 6 species under "watch" status due to steep population declines. The extensive high-quality, mature pastures at the plant provide habitat for meadowlarks, dickcissels, bobolinks, upland sandpipers, and many other species that were once common across the state, but have declined precipitously with the conversion of pasture agriculture to mowed forage crops and row crops. With over half of Wisconsin's grassland bird species in decline, the Badger lands are critical to their survival and eventual recovery.