Even after extensive agricultural development, the hill country of southwestern Wisconsin had extensive prairie remnants. These were mainly on steep south- or southwest-facing slopes, generally far from the barn so that cows reached them rarely. Most of these remnants can be seen on early air photos, but they are almost all gone today. The principal reason for their demise was that farmers quit burning the hills, and red cedars, which are fire sensitive, began to develop and eventually obliterated the prairie vegetation.

Recent surveys made in southwestern Wisconsin using air photos revealed numerous unwooded areas that could have been prairie remnants. However, visits to these sites generally showed that the prairie vegetation was depauperate or essentially nonexistent. Only a few percentage of these sites retained prairie vegetation, and those with "good" prairie species were very few in number.

The term "prairie sod" is sometimes used to refer to these remnants. Authentic prairie sod, with original prairie grasses forming thick mats are quite rare.

When restoration work began, Pleasant Valley Conservancy had two small remnant prairies that had remained more or less intact in spite of the absence of fire. On the vegetation map, these are units 1 and 4. Both are on the steep south-facing slope and both would traditionally have been called "goat prairies". (The term "goat prairie" refers to a hill so steep that only goats would graze upon it.)

We often visited unit 1 before restoration work began, enjoying the early show of bird's foot violet (Viola pedata) and wood sorrel (Oxalis violacea). Other characteristic prairie plants were purple prairie clover (Dalia purpureum), lead plant (Amorpha canescens), and whorled milkweed (Asclepia verticillata).

Unit 4 is an interesting prairie remnant because it was completely hidden from view by woody vegetation, especially buckthorn and red cedar. We only discovered it by viewing the south slope from across the wetland on County Highway F. After seeing this open area from a distance, we bushwacked through the thick underbrush to see what was there. Here, high and isolated, was a large patch of Indian grass (Sorgastrum nutans), with small amounts of lead plant (Amorpha canescens), little blue stem (Schizacyrum scoparius), and side-oats grama (Bouteloua curtipendula). After a good burn of this tiny remnant, a nice population of Indian grass developed, and became our seed source for planting other prairies.

After a few years of burns in Unit 4, a threatened species, prairie turnip, turned up (see photo, below). A diamond in the rough!

The species lists of these two small remnant prairies are given in the tables below.

Other areas on the south-facing slope, units 2, 3, and 6, were mostly wooded but still had scattered prairie plants. They were the first units to be cleared when restoration began.