Southern Driftless Grasslands (SDG) is a dynamic partnership of public and private organizations working together to conserve the grasslands of Southwest Wisconsin through landscape-scale change. Southern Driftless Grasslands is a partnership of government agencies, non-profit organizations and other stakeholders who actively support the conservation of grasslands in Southwest Wisconsin to benefit
the region’s wildlife, water, farms and communities. We envision Southwest Wisconsin to be a place rich with healthy grasslands, successful working farms, clear flowing streams, diverse wildlife and people who value and enjoy this landscape. The partnership assists landowners of working and non-working lands to create, steward and protect grassland, prairie and savanna habitat in Southwest Wisconsin. SDG is committed to finding solutions for conservation in the region that protects clean water, grassland habitat, and our threatened local resources. We recognize that this area is made up of farms small and large, and it is the farming tradition that garners pride in the region. As conservation folks living and working in the region, we are here to encourage and support solutions to this conservation crisis that complement thriving farms and rural communities, and we will. The southwest corner Wisconsin, the Driftless Area, abounds with beauty. Here in these rolling hills, there is still the opportunity to live independently on a chunk of land, farm and produce food, eat locally, hunt and fish, and be a part of a small community of neighbors and friends alike. The southwest region of WI also harbors one of the largest expanses of grassland habitat in the upper Midwest - prime summer habitat for grassland birds. Through our voluntary actions on our farms and landholdings, we can incorporate solutions to alter the trend of declining grassland birds and pollinator populations while still working the land and honoring the farming legacy of the area. Grazing pasture, hay fields, idle pasture, open land put into set aside programs such as CRP, and prairie and savanna habitat are all lands suitable for grassland birds and pollinators.
