Central Sands

TNC’s work in the Central Sands began with a 280-acre “seed” acquisition at Quincy Bluff and Wetlands in July of 1990. Supported by private donors and the newly established Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Fund, this purchase laid the foundation for decades of conservation success.

Over the following years, TNC expanded protection around the original tract, ultimately acquiring more than 3,792 additional acres. At the same time, the organization built a strong partnership with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) to restore and manage the landscape through targeted timber harvests, invasive species control and prescribed fire. The success of this collaboration eventually led to the transfer of all Quincy lands to WDNR, completed in 2013, along with a dedicated endowment to support their long-term care.

While the seeds of the Central Sands work were sown in the early 1990s, TNC’s focus in the area was reinvigorated in the early 2020s after findings from the Resilient and Connected Network, a proprietary TNC project focused on identifying areas of high biodiversity concern, reaffirmed the region’s importance. In 2022, TNC hired a dedicated Central Sands project manager and developed a long-term management framework for the project area. Restoring barrens habitat emerged as a driving focus for the work, and these efforts were kick-started with the acquisition of 3,243 acres in Adams County. Since then, more than 2,000 additional acres have been added across the region, bringing TNC’s total protection across the Central Sands to more than 7,000 acres!

One 150-acre Central Sands tract has received special attention through an ambitious partnership with the American Bird Conservancy and funding from USDA-NRCS. This work, centered on habitat improvement for the state-endangered Kirtland’s warbler, has seen the harvest of a stand of planted red pine (not native to the landscape), large-scale application of prescribed fire, native forb and grass seeding (including Karner blue-friendly wild lupine) and the planting of 120,000 jack pine seedlings. This project has helped transform the landscape, and it’s well on its way to becoming prime habitat for the warbler and many other species.

It’s worth mentioning the collaborative nature of the prescribed fire work at the site, with TNC’s own fire crews working alongside staff from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Fire Management Program (now part of the U.S. Wildland Fire Service), WDNR, personnel from two local fire departments and personnel from the Adams County Highway Department. This project and others across the Central Sands are great examples of how TNC and local partners can collaborate to achieve shared conservation goals.

The Central Sands is a truly unique landscape in the state and the Midwest and serves as a critical habitat and corridor for some incredible plant and animal species. Globally endangered pine and oak barrens and local prairies have been hit hard by historical disruptions such as farming and deforestation, and a lack of fire has interrupted natural regeneration cycles. Species such as the Kirtland’s warbler, greater prairie chicken and Karner blue butterfly, which are only found in a few places in North America, need the Central Sands’ landscapes to reproduce and thrive.

The Kirtland’s warbler, in particular, is a great example of a species that relies on dedicated management efforts to flourish. These travelers spend the winter in the Bahamas and return to nest sites in Wisconsin, Michigan and Ontario. They are an international success story, and our work in the Central Sands is aiding in their long-term survival.