Visit Faville Grove Sanctuary and witness a lost landscape returning to life. 

Walk off-trail to experience the landscape as the Native Americans did. Get your feet wet in the prairies of the Crawfish River floodplain; sit in the shade of centuries-old bur oaks on outcroppings of pre-Cambrian quartzite bedrock; or stand in a dry, short-grass prairie and watch a harrier hunt over a floating bog of sphagnum, sedges and tamarack. Faville Grove is open to the public and welcomes individuals from every walk of life. Come out and explore this unique sanctuary where rich history and biodiversity intersect.

Faville Grove: a LEGACY OF CONSERVATION

Since establishing the sanctuary in 1998, Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance (formerly Madison Audubon) has acquired title to or permanent conservation easements on more than 900 acres of land at Faville Grove (pronounced FAY-vil), most of which is open to the public. In cooperation with neighboring landowners, including the University of Wisconsin-Madison, SoWBA is permanently protecting and restoring a total of nearly 1200 acres of diverse habitat in the area.

Our love for the land includes a respect for its resources. We installed a 26-panel solar array in 2018 to offset the energy use at the Faville Grove Sanctuary land steward’s home. Check out the array’s energy production by clicking here!

Visitor’s Information

• Visitor’s Kiosk: W7490 Prairie Lane, Lake Mills. Click here for directions

• Buddy’s Prairie access: N7710 Wisconsin 89, Waterloo, WI. Click here for directions

• View the sanctuaries brochure

• Print the Faville Grove map to bring with you

• Explore the sanctuary through our interactive Faville Grove Storymap

• Keep track of your sightings with the Faville Grove bird list

• Visit nearby Snapper Prarie and Hope Lake Bog

• Read our Public Use policy here

• Contact us: faville@swibirds.org

RETURNING A LOST LANDSCAPE TO LIFE

The landscape of south-central Wisconsin has been so thoroughly transformed since European settlement that it is difficult for most to imagine its original diversity, productivity and beauty. By the 1930s when Aldo Leopold began working on wildlife management with local farmers in the area north of Lake Mills known as Faville Grove, he and his students found a fragmented landscape and decimated or declining wildlife populations where the Native Americans had found bounty beyond description.

Today, Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance has made tremendous progress bringing this diverse and captivating landscape of wetlands and uplands, of prairies, savannas and woodlands back to life.

An overview: The landscapes of Faville Grove

Conservation projects at Faville Grove Sanctuary

In addition to year-round restoration projects on the land, Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance facilitates a variety of conservation-related efforts at Faville Grove, including the following:

• Nest box construction and monitoring for Wood Ducks, American Kestrels, Eastern Bluebirds, and more.

• Endangered and threatened species monitoring and research for a variety of rare plants, including the eastern prairie white-fringed orchid

• A robust native seed collecting program that helps to preserve local-genotype seeds from remnant and restored prairies

Banner photo: Faville Prairie by Joshua Mayer