The northern route would pass through the Blackhawk Lake Recreation Area and green fields to the east.  It would then pass alongside the northern border of Governor Dodge State Park.  The line would also traverse the Dodgeville and Wyoming Oak Woodlands/Savanna Conservation Opportunity Area located along County Roads Z and ZZ.  The proposed corridor then would turn east through twenty miles or so of green area hills, bluffs, and valleys of high conservation value before cutting through the Black Earth Creek Watershed Area. (ELPC, p. 27)

The southern route would pass south of Platteville and then follow and cut across the Pecatonica State Trail. East of Montfort there are two proposed corridors that run parallel to each other 1-3 miles apart.  While there are existing transmission lines along these two corridors, the fact that the green field corridor between these two parallel routes is included in the proposed corridor suggests that the proposed high-voltage Cardinal-Hickory Creek line would potentially be installed in areas other than where there currently are existing lines.  East of Dodgeville the two corridors meet and continue east and north for about 25 miles along the northern edge of the Military Ridge Prairie Heritage Area and the Southwest Wisconsin Grasslands and Stream Conservation Area.

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources considers the Military Ridge Prairie Heritage Area to be of the utmost priority for landscape-scale grassland protection and management, and this area has been identified by the Nature Conservancy as critical for the protection of Midwest prairie remnants and area-sensitive species, such as grassland birds. http://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/regions/northamerica/unitedstates/wisconsin/placesweprotect/priority-area-military-ridge-prairie-heritage-area.xml

Near the villages of Ridgeway, Barneveld, and Blue Mounds, the line also passes close to the Military Ridge State Trail, open to the public for biking, running, and hiking.  The plan is to extend this 40-mile bike trail to create a Dodgeville-Madison-Milwaukee bike trail expected to attract up to 300,000 riders a year. (ELPC, pp. 28-29)

The affected areas mentioned above do not include all the environmentally sensitive and protected conservation areas that would be impacted by the high-voltage Cardinal-Hickory Creek line.  Other areas include the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge, the Grant River, the Platte River, the Jack Oak Slough, the Cassville Slough, Blue Mound State Park, Pleasant Valley Conservancy State Natural Area, Belmont Prairie State Natural Area, and Erbe Grassland Preserve.  The proposed high-voltage Cardinal-Hickory Creek line would also cross over twenty classified streams in Dane and Iowa Counties.