Pea Creek Sedge Meadow

State Natural Area (No. 315)

Location: Eau Claire County. T25N-R5W, Sections 3, 4. 200 acres.

Access: From the intersection of Highways 12 and H in Fairchild, go north on H 5.2 miles and park along the road (about 0.25 miles past Highway M). The open sedge meadow lies west of the highway.

Description: Pea Creek Sedge Meadow features a large, undisturbed acid meadow that is the headwaters of Pea Creek, a tributary of the Eau Claire River. Dominant plants include few-seeded sedge, beaked sedge, tussock sedge, blue-joint grass, bog birch, and leather-leaf over a patchy cover of sphagnum. Other characteristic herbs and shrubs are steeplebush, bog willow, swamp candles, marsh fern, wild iris, swamp loosestrife, northern bog goldenrod, and swamp dewberry. The meadow is more open along the edges and becomes brushy toward the center. Patches of tamarack are also present, mostly near the eastern margins of the wetland. A tall shrub zone of speckled alder, black chokeberry, mountain holly, and common winterberry occupies a portion of the upland-wetland interface. Several small stands of white pine-red maple forest are present along the edges of the meadow while uplands are sandy and mostly second-growth white pine, oak, aspen, and birch. Notable birds include sedge wren (Cistothorus plantensis), northern harrier (Circus cyaneus), and sandhill crane. Pea Creek Sedge Meadow is owned by Eau Claire County and was designated a State Natural Area in 1996.