Natural Heritage Land Trust

Giant teardrops. Whale profiles. Sculpted mounds. People get creative when describing drumlins: steep, narrow hills that clump in large fields, like massive memories of longgone glaciers. One fine example is in Dane County, in south-central Wisconsin, where parallel drumlins interrupt the simple green landscape.

Because the lands at Westport Drumlin are steep and unsuitable for grazing, they still support rare remnants of native prairie. Together, the Madison-based Natural Heritage Land Trust, The Conservation Fund, the town of Westport and our government and private partners are working to protect this magical region.

The potential expansion of two nearby quarries threatened to consume this land, including such native plants as the threatened prairie bush clover. Instead, armed with financing from The Conservation Fund, The Trust purchased two tracts totaling 130 acres in 2010. Much of this land will be planted with native prairie grass and wildflowers. All of it will be protected for generations to come.

Photo: Members from the Natural Heritage Land Trust look out from a drumlin at Westport Drumlin / Mario Quintana