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The Area We PreserveThe Baraboo Range is a unique example of an exhumed mountain range which is composed of Precambrian Quartzite. The range covers 144,000 acres in Sauk and Columbia Counties. It stands as high as 800 feet above the Wisconsin River and is one of the most ancient rock outcrops in North America. The Baraboo Range includes 55,000 acres of forest. This is the largest tract of mostly unfragmented deciduous forest remaining in the upper Midwest. The differences in elevation, exposure, and soils of the Baraboo Hills creates a variety of ecological habitats including high, dry rock strata where white pine predominates; rocky cliffs covered with lichens and mosses; cool steep valleys and ravines of hemlock; dry and wet prairie, and marshes. At least 28 different natural communities have been identified. This ecoregion is home to over 1,800 species of plants and animals, including135 species of breed birds. Of these plant and animal species 77 of them are rare or imperiled in the state and 23 are on the state or federal lists of threatened or endangered species. The significance of the area has been recognized by the National Park Service since 1974 when they designated the Southern Range of the Baraboo Hills as a "Natural National Landmark". (No funding or active role by the park service is associated with this designation.) The Nature Conservancy designated the Baraboo Range as one of their "Last Great Places", one of only 77 such sites in the world. One section of the South Range is widely know for its special natural beauty. The state's second state park -Devils Lake was created in 1911 to preserve the unique area where the pre-glacial Wisconsin River cut through the bluffs leaving a deep gorge surrounded by cliffs of quartzite. A second state park in the range is Natural Bridge State Park. This small park with its natural sandstone bridge contains evidence of having been a campsite for prehistoric humans at the time of the glaciers. Humans have lived and been a part of this eco-system for hundreds of years. Baraboo Range Protection Association is interested in preserving the eco-system of the bluffs. This is not just rocks, plants and animals but it is also a rural culture that lives in harmony with that eco-system.
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Baraboo Range Preservation
Association
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