Blue River Sand Barrens State Natural Area

The unstable, sandy soil of this 130-acre terrace along the Wisconsin River is one of the state's largest and best examples of a dry prairie-like landscape and -ômoving-ö sand dune communities. Moving sands are shaped by the wind, creating -ôblowouts-ö or large unvegetated depressions. A scattered forest of black and Hill-Æs oaks help to stabilize the sand in other areas providing habitat for false heather and bearberry that have adapted to the dry and harsh conditions. Reptiles like the six-lined racerunner live here along with many species of grassland birds and river turtles that nest in the dunes.