Brooklyn Wildlife Area
Brooklyn Wildlife Area is located between the villages of Oregon, Brooklyn and Belleville, straddling the Dane/Green county line about 15 miles south of Madison. Access to the property is from Dane County Highway D, 2 miles east of Belleville and off State Highway 92.
The property currently consists of 2,608 acres of state-owned land, 337 acres of easement and 151 acres of leased lands. Dominant cover types include sedge meadow marsh, riparian hardwoods, oak ridges, restored prairie and farmed cropland.
Story Creek, a Class 2 trout stream, runs north to south through the property. About 435 acres are eased as part of the Story Creek Stream Bank Protection project to protect the stream and buffer the wildlife area.
In total, 3,531 acres are available for public hunting, fishing and other recreation.
The Friends of Brooklyn Wildlife Area supports the property. To find out more, call 608-835-5144. The Dane County Chapter of the Ice Age Trail Alliance [exit DNR] has also done work on this property for many years.
Management Objectives
The acquisition of Brooklyn Wildlife Area began in 1945. Since 2004, the department has been making a concerted effort to convert annual public hunting ground leases of private lands to easements in cooperation with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service through the Farm and Ranch Protection Program. These easements allow public hunting and fishing in perpetuity while allowing the landowner to continue agricultural use of their land. This program depends on good hunter conduct for its success. Please be on your best behavior while using leased and eased private land and be careful not to damage soybeans or other crops before harvest.
The inception of the Story Creek Stream Bank Protection project provided state funds to match the NRCS Farm and Ranch Protection Program, protecting 435 acres adjacent to the creek with easements allowing public hunting and fishing. Story Creek has also received a great deal of habitat improvement work from department fisheries staff using Trout Stamp funding. The work includes re-meandering stretches previously channelized and installing lunker structures to provide bank cover for trout, significantly improving fishing.
For more information on master planning for this and other wildlife areas around the state, visit the property planning page.
Recreation
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The Brooklyn Wildlife Area offers many recreational opportunities:
- Auto travel (on public roads through and adjacent to the property);
- Biking (on public roads through and adjacent to the property);
- Birding (known for yellow-breasted chat, Bell's vireo, cerulean warbler and Henslow's sparrow)'
- Fishing (Story Creek, a quality trout stream runs through the property);
- Canoeing (Story Creek, limited to small canoes during high water due to brush and logs);
- Hiking (Ice Age Trail [exit DNR] runs through the property);
- Cross-country skiing (along Ice Age Trail);
- Hunting (especially noted for stocked and wild pheasant [noon closure], deer, turkey, rabbit, squirrel, some waterfowl, quail, gray partridge and mourning doves);
- Trapping;
- Wild edibles/gathering; and
- Wildlife viewing.
Maps
Download [PDF] a map of this property.
Brooklyn Wildlife Area and Stream Bank Protection Area, Story Creek Fishery Area and Scattered
If you are interested in exploring this property further, you can access an interactive map.
Find out more about how to adopt this wildlife area.