Wyalusing Hardwood Forest

Wyalusing Hardwood Forest occupies the steep sides and top of a ridge just east of the confluence of the Wisconsin and Mississippi Rivers and contains four major southern forest types illustrating John Curtis’ classic concept of a vegetation continuum. The wooded bluffs rise more than 400 feet above the Wisconsin River and provide a variety of exposures over different bedrock types including Prairie du Chien and Platteville-Galena dolomites and St. Peter sandstone. The major soil types, Fayette and Seaton silt loams, developed in loess.

The river bottoms have wet-mesic forest dominated by silver maple. Upslope there are areas of mesic, dry-mesic, and dry forest. The ground layer species are equally diverse, changing in composition with a change in microclimate. Nesting birds are characteristic of locations much farther south and include several rare forest interior species. Also present are blue-gray gnatcatcher and tufted titmouse. The forest was dedicated to Dr. John T. Curtis, the first chair of the State Board for the Preservation of Scientific Areas, in May 1966. Wyalusing Hardwood Forest is owned by the DNR and was designated a State Natural Area in 1952.