Wisconsin's rare plants

Western fescue is a graminoid, 40-110cm tall with tufted, erect, slender culms. It has basal leaves that are involute, sulcate, soft, smooth or nearly so and less than 3mm wide. Its panicle is 7-20cm long, open and loose, often drooping above. The branches are solitary or in pairs, spikelets loosely 3-5-flowered, 6-10mm long, mostly on slender pedicels. Lemmas are rather thin, 5-6mm long, scaberulous toward the apex, attenuate into a slender awn 3mm or longer. The summit of the ovary has bristly pubescence.

Blooming occurs throughout June, fruiting early-July through late-August.

Perennial. The optimal identification period for this species is early-July through August.

Associated species include Abies balsamea, Thuja occidentalis, Poa glauca, Rubus parviflorus, Acer saccharum, Betula papyrifera, Goodyera repens, Carex aurea, and Aralia nudicaulis.

Western fescue is found on cobble beaches and wooded coniferous dunes on Lake Michigan.

Avoid known individual plant locations and conduct operations elsewhere when they are least likely to cause damage. Ideally, this would involve frozen, snow-covered ground. However, in areas of the state where frozen conditions are unreliable, very dry soils late in the growing season might be the best available alternative. Consult with a biologist, if needed.

Avoid broadcast spraying of herbicides and use care with spot spraying.

Avoid locating landings, staging areas, or access routes in open sandy areas dominated by native grasses.

Avoid disturbance to shorelines and the forest-beach interface.

Follow BMPs, especially around streams and use care near ravines, steep slopes, cliffs, rock outcrops, etc.

Maintain partial canopy to encourage woodland species, avoid closed-canopy conditions.

Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN) are associated with habitats (or natural communities) and places on the landscape. Understanding relationships among SGCN, natural communities and ecological landscapes help us make decisions about issues affecting SGCN and their habitat and how to respond. Download the Wildlife Action Plan association score spreadsheet to explore rare species, natural communities and ecological landscape associations

Conservation actions respond to issues or threats, which adversely affect species of greatest conservation need (SGCN) or their habitats. Besides actions such as restoring wetlands or planting resilient tree species in northern communities, research, surveys and monitoring are also among conservation actions described in the Wisconsin Wildlife Action Plan because lack of information can threaten our ability to successfully preserve and care for natural resources.