When a tornado wrapped in rain ripped through a valuable remnant prairie in the Driftless Region of Wisconsin, land managers had to adapt. Increasingly extreme weather due to climate change poses challenges to biodiversity and to conservation planning. NRF helped land managers with the disaster response by funding storm cleanup efforts.
Bluffs in peril
In August of 2021, an EF3 tornado strong enough to lift cars off the ground and rip bark off trees moved through Grant County, Wisconsin. In its path were the Boscobel Bluffs. The rain-wrapped tornado caused destruction along a path more than 10 miles long. This included remnant prairie at Boscobel Bluffs that the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and Mississippi Valley Conservancy work hard to maintain. By the end of the severe weather event, the area was covered in fallen trees, limbs, and debris.
Boscobel Bluffs is known for its high-quality woodland and prairie ecosystems, most of which have remained undisturbed since before settlers arrived. But in the face of the tornado, valuable and rare remnant prairie plants were damaged. The resulting damage from the storm created a concerning situation for the land stewards of the Boscobel Bluffs, including the Southern State Natural Areas Crew. To manage the prairie in a way that encourages native plants, the management crew uses prescribed burns. But with the newly damaged and debris-covered firebreaks, burning was not an option.
The State Natural Areas Crew cut up a tree that had fallen across the fire break following the tornado. Photo by Arik Waldinger
Beloved bluff biodiversity
In the southwest corner of the Driftless Region lies Boscobel Bluffs State Natural Area. Carved into the Lower Wisconsin River valley and chiseled by the wind and water, this public preserve is tended by both the Mississippi Valley Conservancy and the Wisconsin DNR. Here, you can find important native species such as bottlebrush grass, hickory trees, blazing star, silky aster, bur oak, and more. The two organizations have worked hard to maintain and preserve the biodiversity here since the land was purchased in 2013 with support from Wisconsin’s Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Fund. Two generous landowners, Jim and Rose Sime, helped steward the Bald Bluff section of the SNA after purchasing the land in 1985.
The best thing we can do in the face of a changing climate is to support native biodiversity. Remnant plant communities support the highest diversity of species per acre, support rare plants and animals, and provide our greatest opportunities for conservation.
An oak savanna illuminated by warm, low sunlight. Don’t you want to waltz through there? Photo by Joshua Mayer
Climate change’s impacts on the bluffs
One of the impacts of a changing climate is an increase in severe weather events. Wisconsin has never been a stranger to unpredictable weather. However, UW-Madison’s Extreme Weather Index shows that since records on Wisconsin weather patterns started being collected in 1895, the 2010s were the most extreme. It was the wettest and second-warmest decade, with the warmest decade being the 1950s. The index shows that Wisconsin has also been experiencing a 28% increase in annual average temperature and precipitation since record-keeping began. Change is evident.
Cars amidst flooding in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin on August 10, 2025. Photo by Eddee Daniel
The cost of climate disasters can be devastating. Since 1980, Wisconsin has experienced severe weather events with an estimated cost of more than $1 billion in damage. The symptoms of a changing climate can take many costly forms including tornadoes, floods, hailstorms, and even droughts. The August 2025 flood in the Milwaukee area resulted in an estimated cost of more than $240 million in damages to private and public property. The August 2021 tornado that went through the Boscobel Bluffs resulted in an estimated $430,000 in damages.
The response
Increasingly intense and unpredictable weather events pose a challenge to the careful planning done by land managers in Wisconsin, including at Boscobel Bluffs. Prescribed fire is a crucial tool for keeping the prairies there strong and healthy, but the downed trees and other debris from the tornado made prescribed fire unsafe. As more frequent and extreme weather events continue, creating and executing land management plans may become exceptionally challenging.
Thanks to support from the Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsin, five acres of downed trees and debris at Boscobel Bluffs were cleared. The grant helped the Southern State Natural Areas crew join the major cleanup effort that the Mississippi Valley Conservancy had already begun. The team was able to clear enough debris from the firebreaks in the oak savanna and prairie to make prescribed fire possible again.
The workdays funded by this donation allowed the crew to cut up large “jackpots” of burnable wood that had fallen near the fire breaks, as well as cut down hazardous dead trees that would have posed great risk to those working on the prescribed burn.
The State Natural Areas Crew works on clearing the debris after the tornado. Photo by Arik Waldinger
The restored promise of prescribed fire provides many benefits to the landscape of the Boscobel Bluffs. Prairie plants will receive sunlight, invasive species will be removed, and oak trees will regenerate. Supporting prescribed fire and other conservation practices helps to preserve and improve the unique, beloved landscapes of the Driftless Region.
This project has helped ensure the continued maintenance and improvement of the unique ecological landscape found at Boscobel Bluffs.
Sunny area where the tree line meets a prairie at Boscobel Bluffs SNA. Photo by Joshua Mayer
NRF’s work in the Driftless Region
The Foundation has been supporting larger-scale conservation efforts to preserve key landscapes in Wisconsin’s Driftless Region for several years. In 2022, the Foundation helped create the Driftless Conservation Plan, a landscape-scale approach to conserving ecosystems like prairies, oak savannas, grasslands, and barrens. To create this plan, NRF facilitated a working group of six organizations to leverage knowledge and expertise on the region. NRF also continues to host workshops that build connections between landowners and conservationists in the area.
In the face of climate change and habitat degradation, land managers and stewards have been working to restore healthy ecosystems at various scales. While severe weather events poses challenges to restoration work, it can also inspire collaboration and changes on a larger level that have great, positive potential. This story of the Boscobel Bluffs shows us what is possible when we work together. It is in our best interest not to wait for climate disasters and unprecedented extreme weather to do so.
What sets the Driftless area apart is how it goes from prairie to oak savannas to bluffs to hills. Supporting organizations like the Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsin is preserving the Driftless.
40 years of conservation
NRF has been protecting Wisconsin’s lands, waters, and wildlife since 1986. In those first 40 years, we have given out over $14 million in grants to 3,321 conservation projects all over the state, from the Driftless to Lake Michigan, and from the southern Kettle Moraine to the northwoods.
We couldn’t achieve our mission without our members, supporters, and partner organizations. We thank you as we celebrate our 40th anniversary!
Written by Jamie Kollman, communications coordinator