March 10, 2010 FBR monthly meeting: Sandhill Wildlife Area and Wildlife Biologist, Dick Thiel

Wednesday, March 10, Friends of the Black River will host wildlife biologist and outdoor educator, Dick Thiel, from Sandhill Wildlife Area. The 7:00 PM program, held in the Black River Falls CCU   Communityroom is, open to the public.

Sandhill Wildlife Area, near Babcock Wisconsin is an area rich in natural and human history, experiencing much change over the past 150 years. Settlers found an abundance of wildlife including deer, grouse, bear, wolves and bobcats. Great flocks of Passenger pigeons nested in the area during the 1870’s. The last one was shot near Sandhill in 1899 and by the 1920’s few deer remained in Wood County. Only 15 breeding pairs of Sandhill cranes were believed to remain in Wisconsin by the 1930’s; most of these in and around Sandhill. Now endangered Prairie chickens were plentiful in the region during the early 1900’s. Fire was a dominant force with the last major fire sweeping through the 500 square miles of central Wisconsin in 1930. Since then aspen, jack pine, oak and grass shrub wetlands have become dominant. The low sandy upland forests, large marshes and flowages provide homes for a small herd of bison as well as deer, cranes, shorebirds, hawks, owls and furbearers.
Today this 9,150 acre State Wildlife Area is also used for wildlife research, recreation, hunting and is home to the Sandhill Outdoor Skills Center. Dick Thiel, wildlife instructor and the center’s coordinator will share his lifetime of knowledge gained studying Wisconsin’s wildlife. He will talk about some of the outdoor learning opportunities offered at Sandhill and about a high school porcupine ecology research project ongoing at the center. The public is invited to enjoy this program on native Wisconsin wildlife and to learn about the recreation and learning opportunities available at Sandhill Wildlife Area.