Crex Meadows Wildlife Area

Management And History

Crex Meadows is part of the Northwest Sands Ecological Landscape. This landscape extends from northern Polk County to southern Bayfield County and covers nearly 2,000 square miles. This large, sandy plain was left when the glacier retreated approximately 12,000 years ago. The southern portion of the landscape, where Crex is located, contains huge marshes. These marshes are leftovers from when the glacier carved out an ancient lake called Glacial Lake Grantsburg.

When Euro-Americans first arrived, the sandy soil produced scattered red and jack pines, brush and various prairie grasses and flowers. Naturally occurring wildfires maintained these plant communities. Since wildfires were no longer common after settlement, the landscape grew into an oak-jack pine forest. Beginning in the mid-1800s, settlers tried to farm the sandy soil, but most soon gave up. The lack of wildfires and land clearing for farming resulted in the near elimination of brush prairie. Large-scale drainage of wetlands in the 1890s caused a decline in nesting and migrant waterfowl and other wetland animals.

In 1912, the Crex Carpet Co. purchased 23,000 acres of what is now Crex Meadows. The carpet company was an eastern corporation that produced grass rugs. Three carpets "camps" were located in the area. The grass rug industry continued successfully until the development of linoleum for floor covering. The Crex Carpet Co. went bankrupt in 1933, but the name Crex remained.

During the Depression and drought years of the 1930s, further drainage and agricultural attempts failed. By 1940, nearly two-thirds of the land in the area was tax delinquent. In 1946, the state purchased 12,000 acres of this tax-delinquent land to start the Crex Meadows Wildlife Area.

Management Objectives

Two state natural areas are located within Crex Meadows — Crex Sand Prairie and Reed Lake Meadow. Crex is a critical Important Bird Area and is one of the few sites in Wisconsin that provides landscape-level management opportunities for pine-oak barrens, northern sedge meadows and marshes and emergent marsh/wild rice habitats. It is a Land Legacy Place and a Northwest Sands Ecological Landscape for pine-oak barrens of global significance and large sedge meadows, fens and prairies of upper Midwest/regional significance in the Wisconsin Wildlife Action Plan.

Crex Meadows Wildlife Area is managed to provide opportunities for public hunting, trapping and other outdoor recreation while protecting the qualities of the unique native communities and associated species found on the property. It is intensively managed using a wide variety of wildlife management practices. Wetland and prairie restoration and maintenance practices are employed more here than at any other wildlife area in Wisconsin. To date, 22 miles of dike have been constructed to create 29 flowages that flood 6,000 acres. Water levels are managed with 34 water control structures, eight miles of water transfer ditches and a diversion pump.

Clearing and prescribed burning restored over 7,000 acres of brush prairie. Approximately 4,000 acres of brush prairie and sedge marsh are burned annually for maintenance purposes. Firebreak construction, mowing and herbicide application are also employed to restore and maintain brush prairie habitat.

Wetland management is employed primarily to increase waterfowl production. Management practices include water level manipulation, construction and maintenance of waterfowl nesting islands, the establishment of dense nesting cover and the construction of breeding pair ponds.

Various surveys are conducted to monitor wildlife populations and harvest levels, evaluate management practices and determine levels of public use. Other management practices include planting agricultural crops for migrating and, to a lesser extent, resident wildlife, waterfowl banding (using swim-in and cannon netting), and construction of nesting structures for waterfowl, eagles, osprey, herons and cormorants.

Property Implementation Plan

DNR staff developed an Annual Property Implementation Plan for the Glacial Lake Grantsburg (GLG) Work Unit, comprised of Crex Meadows, Fish Lake and Amsterdam Sloughs Wildlife Areas. 

The Annual Property Implementation Plans contained the major management and infrastructure projects planned for the property for the upcoming year, such as forest/habitat management treatments and recreation development projects. The GLG Annual Property Implementation Plan also contains the 2024 GLG Water Management Plan and results from the 2023 Water Management Plan.

The GLG Annual Property Implementation Plan can be found on the DNR’s Annual Property Implementation Plan (APIP) webpage. 

Local Closures

The department received complaints regarding unauthorized manipulation or interference with water control structures. This behavior impedes the department’s ability to manage and protect the natural resources on the property. Furthermore, alteration to these structures, their components or embankment soils can damage or undermine these structures and associated public roads, which poses a risk to public health and safety.

Therefore, the department closes the identified water control structures and their immediate vicinity, pursuant to s. NR 45.04 (1)(b). Signage notifying the public of this closure (and identifying the closed area) shall be installed. The closure of these water control structures will not impact nor impede public conveyance over adjacent public roads or public access to the flowages.

View the affected portions of this property.

Questions can be sent to: dnrglg@wisconsin.gov.