Lower Wisconsin Riverway

Woodland Phlox along LWR slough
Nesting prothonotary warbler along LWR slough
Bluff woodland  along LWR
River paddlers
Lower Wisconsin Riverway
Lower Wisconsin Riverway
Lower Wisconsin Riverway
Lower Wisconsin Riverway
Lower Wisconsin Riverway
Lower Wisconsin Riverway
Lower Wisconsin Riverway
Lower Wisconsin Riverway

Lower Wisconsin Riverway

  • Country: 
    United States of America
  • Site number: 
    2417
  • Area: 
    17,700 ha
  • Designation date: 
    14-02-2020
  • Coordinates: 
    43°09'N 90°21'W
Materials presented on this website, particularly maps and territorial information, are as-is and as-available based on available data and do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the Ramsar Convention concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

Overview

The site covers the longest free-flowing stretch of river in the Midwest and includes approximately 17,700 hectares from the Prairie du Sac dam to the confluence with the Mississippi River (where it meets another Wetland of International Importance, Upper Mississippi River Floodplain Wetlands). Its importance is magnified through common boundaries with the nationally and internationally significant Mississippi River, the Driftless Area, and the Upper Mississippi migratory bird flyway. Its sloughs and marshes, forested bottomlands, sand terraces and bluff tops harbour a large number of species and diverse and rich communities. The Riverway has one of Wisconsin’s highest concentrations of rare and threatened species, providing habitat for 121 rare animal species such as the wood turtle (Glyptemys insculpta) and the Blanding’s turtle (Emydoidea blandingii) with 17 species listed on the IUCN Red list including the chimney swift (Chaetura pelagica), the rusty blackbird (Euphagus carolinus) and the ornate box turtle (Terrapene ornata). It is also important for the federally endangered Higgins’ eye pearly mussel (Lampsilis higginsii), a species endemic to the upper Mississippi River and its tributaries. Threatened plants include the pale green orchid (Platanthera flava herbiola) and algal-leaved pondweed (Potamogeton confervoides). The site is listed as an Important Bird Area (IBA), supporting 25 breeding bird species such as lark sparrow (Chondestes grammacus), whooping crane (Grus americana) and worm-eating warbler (Helmitheros vermivorum). The Riverway is one of Wisconsin’s most significant conservation and recreational areas because of its relatively wild, continuous natural area with a wide variety of native plant-animal communities. The area’s natural resources attract hundreds of thousands of tourists each year who come to hunt, fish, paddle, and relax, fuelling the region’s economy. However, the ecological value of the site is under constant threat from invasive species of aquatic and terrestrial plants and invasive animals and pests.

Administrative region: 
The LWR is located in the Midwest U.S. in southwestern Wisconsin, United States of America.

  • Last publication date: 
    26-08-2020

Downloads

Ramsar Information Sheet (RIS)