Official State Historical Marker Dedication on Saturday, September 26 at 11 a.m.
The Friends of the Namekagon Barrens Wildlife Area will install and dedicate a Wisconsin Historical Society marker to note the natural and human historical significance of the Namekagon Barrens.
The marker, only the second official state historical marker to be erected in Burnett County, will be dedicated at 11 a.m. on Saturday, September 26, 2026. The ceremony will take place at the marker location on Namekagon Trail in the wildlife area’s South Unit, approximately three miles north of Hwy 77 in Burnett County. The public is invited. A short program is planned with presentations on the history and ecology of the Barrens.
The Namekagon Barrens Wildlife Area includes more than 6,000 acres in Burnett and Washburn County, in the midst of Wisconsin’s Northwest Sands ecological landscape. The wildlife area is a globally rare landscape that is home to scrub oak, jack pine, many shrubs and flowers. For decades it has been a focal point in the restoration of sharp-tailed grouse.
The marker will commemorate the robust history of the barrens. For centuries this land was part of Dakota and Ojibwe seasonal rounds and served as an indigenous transportation connection between Lake Superior and the Mississippi River region. By the mid-19th Century, trails here were used by wagons and then for stagecoach travel.
European and American settlers started settling in the area around 1900 and tried farming the sandy terrain. But since the 1950s the wildlife area has been preserved as habitat for grouse and other species. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources manages the wildlife area by the use of controlled fire to keep the land as barrens for the species that rely on this open habitat.
The Wisconsin Historical Society has more than 600 markers throughout the state, telling stories about events, individuals, buildings and sites of significance to the state’s historical heritage.
“The Friends of the Namekagon Barrens Wildlife Area are pleased to invite the public to this dedication. The Friends’ Board members worked for years to get an official marker to share the Barrens’ historical and ecological significance,” said Kathy Bartilson, Board President. “We’re looking forward to the celebration.”
For more information contact Kathy Bartilson at 715-520-2984 or at oh2paddle@gmail.com