The Pecatonica River

Excerpt from The Nature Conservancy

The 120-mile-long Peca­ton­ica River, as well as its 50-mile East Branch, orig­i­nate in and flow through south­west­ern Wis­con­sin, where rem­nants of oak savanna and tall­grass prairie pro­vide glimpses of pre-settlement Wisconsin.

Along with the rem­nant grass­lands, some high-quality wet­lands also remain in the Peca­ton­ica River water­shed. The oxbow lakes, shal­low water marshes, low­land forests and south­ern sedge mead­ows pro­vide crit­i­cal habi­tat for a vari­ety of plant and ani­mal species, some of which are on Wisconsin’s threat­ened and endan­gered species lists.