A tiny remnant of the millions of barrens acres that once covered the region, the Namekagon Barrens Wildlife Area lies in the heart of Wisconsin’s Northwest Sands, a band of pine and oak barrens stretching across northern Wisconsin from Bayfield to the Minnesota border at St. Croix Falls. In Sand and Fire, out this spring from the Wisconsin Historical Society Press, Dave Peters shares the natural and human history of the barrens—including the cycle of fire and regeneration that makes this fragile ecosystem home to sand-loving scrub oak and jack pine, blueberries and sweet fern, creating an ideal habitat for wolves, sharp-tailed grouse, and more.
On a mild, sun-filled July morning, I was picking blueberries about a quarter mile south of the pristine Namekagon River in northwestern Wisconsin. The sky was a fresh blue, a promise of afternoon heat kissed the air, and I was daydreaming about the Christmas blueberry cobbler that has become a tradition in my family. Not far away in the brush was a family from nearby Spooner, also picking berries and chatting.
Suddenly one of the women stood up from we?”
