Big Woods refers to a type of

temperate hardwood forest Temperate broadleaf and mixed forest is a temperate climate terrestrial habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature, with broadleaf tree ecoregions, and with conifer and broadleaf tree mixed coniferous forest ecoregions. These fo ...

ecoregion found in western Wisconsin and south-central Minnesota. "Big Woods" is a direct translation of the name given to the region by French explorers: .

Trees and native vegetation

The dominant trees are American elm,

basswood ''Tilia americana'' is a species of tree in the family Malvaceae, native to eastern North America, from southeast Manitoba east to New Brunswick, southwest to northeast Oklahoma, southeast to South Carolina, and west along the Niobrara River to ...

, sugar maple, and red oak. The understory is composed of ironwood, green ash, and aspen. The Big Woods would have once covered in a diagonal strip long and wide. Today most of this region has been cleared for agriculture and urban development. Remnant and secondary stands of Big Woods remain in parks and other protected areas. Native vegetation based on soils information (note the bright green color) from the

Natural Resources Conservation Service Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), formerly known as the Soil Conservation Service (SCS), is an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) that provides technical assistance to farmers and other private landowners an ...

of the United States Department of Agriculture shows the historic extent of oak savannas in the Big Woods region (See accompanying

pie chart A pie chart (or a circle chart) is a circular Statistical graphics, statistical graphic, which is divided into slices to illustrate numerical proportion. In a pie chart, the arc length of each slice (and consequently its central angle and are ...

, below).

Ecology

The soil of the Big Woods is thick glacial till of crushed limestone, deposited by the Des Moines lobe of the Wisconsin glaciation 10,000 years ago. The landscape is characterized by round hills and numerous undrained lakes left by melting ice blocks. These hills and lakes suppressed fires that were instrumental forces on the prairie to the west and the oak savanna to the south and east. The Minnesota and Crow Rivers flow through the region, but many of the 100 or so lakes had no inlets or outlets. The Big Woods have a growing season of about 145–150 days and an average annual precipitation of .

Preservation

A fragment of the Big Woods in mostly pristine condition is preserved in

Nerstrand-Big Woods State Park Nerstrand-Big Woods State Park is a state park of Minnesota, US, northeast of Faribault just outside the small town of Nerstrand. The park derives its name from the Big Woods, a large, contiguous forested area covering much of southeast Minne ...

near

Nerstrand, Minnesota Nerstrand is a city in Rice County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 294 at th2018 census Minnesota State Highway 246 serves as a main route in the community. Minnesota State Highways Minnesota State Highway 56, 56 and Minnesota ...

In culture

'' Little House in the Big Woods'' by American author Laura Ingalls Wilder takes place near her home town of Pepin, Wisconsin.

References

{{reflist Ecoregions of Minnesota Forests of Minnesota Forests of Wisconsin Temperate broadleaf and mixed forests in the United States