Meudt Creek and Knight Hollow Subwatershed 9 Key Element Plan Report
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Purpose

The Meudt Creek (HUC 070700050703) and Knight Hollow (HUC 070700050704) subwatersheds fall within the Mill and Blue Mounds Creek watershed (LW15). This watershed is located along the western edge of Dane County and most of northeastern Iowa County, partially including the Wisconsin River outwash plain, and borders the northern edge of the Southwest Savanna ecoregion. The basin is 187 mi2 large, containing 383 miles of streams, 107 acres of lakes, and 6,587 acres of wetlands. Due to the rough terrain typical of the Driftless region, the amount of land in agricultural production is minimal compared to the land use categories across most of the rest of Wisconsin. Broad-leaf, deciduous forests cover most of the basin, including grasslands and a small percentage of wetlands and wet meadows along small streams and rivers. Most of these large rivers, namely the Wisconsin, Mississippi, Chippewa, Black, and Kickapoo rivers, border or flow through the edges of the basin. Many of the waterbodies in this basin are listed in good condition, with 57% of fish and aquatic life in rivers and streams reporting good quality waters. Although there are many positive condition reports in this basin, 43% of these waters’ quality are unknown and untested, and there are 33.3 reported miles of impaired streams in 7 steam systems. Many of these habitats support rare plant and animal communities that are in fair condition. These habitats include dry cliff, dry prairie, moist cliff, oak opening, pine relict, sand barrens, sand prairie, southern drymesic forest, southern mesic forest, ephemeral pond, emergent aquatic, forested seep, shrubcarr, southern sedge meadow, and fast, cold and hard stream. They are also home to a range of rare plant and animal species, including 1 species of beetle, 5 species of birds, 4 species of dragonflies, 14 species of fish, 1 species of frog, 9 species of mussels, 44 plant species, 1 mammal species and 2 species of leafhoppers. The purpose of this plan largely is centered around the mission of the Uplands Farmer-Led Watershed Group; that is, to build community and dialogue among producers and community members alike around how best to protect our watersheds and stream systems we all enjoy for recreation, beauty, and resources. Mindfulness of producers’ needs from the watershed as well as how our practices impact communities outside of our own is also an underlying message behind this plan. Coupled with this purpose, our goals are to evaluate current conditions of the watershed, identify best practices and critical, highly vulnerable areas, and work with producers to develop a plan that helps them reduce our collective loading of nutrients, sediment, and other pollutants.

Objective

The Uplands Farmer Led Watershed Group started in 2016. That same year, the group decided to create a cultural relationship with Gulf fishermen, which generated considerable press and interest, as we invited fishermen to join us for a seafood dinner celebrating conservation practices and then traveled to the Gulf the following spring. The group's adopted "brand" of always serving some form of Gulf seafood at our public events has helped us reinforce our message of the downstream significance of farming practices within our watershed, including with a statewide episode of Wisconsin Foodie devoted to this relationship. In subsequent years, supported by grants from the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection's (DATCP) Producer-Led Watershed Protection program and federal funding sources, farmers in the group have planted cover crops, created stream buffers, stream crossings, installed a no-till drill that farmers in the area can rent, and created a citizen-based Water Action Volunteers program for stream monitoring. From the start, Uplands Watershed Group farmers have sought to maintain a diverse mix of farmers, from large to small, organic to conventional, including dairy, livestock, cash grain, hay, and fresh market produce farms. This diversity of background, practices, and thought gives this group an opportunity to communicate among and with a broader set of farmers, including our work to draw in conventional farmers to engage them in the vigorous dialogues among Uplands farmers. This may be one reason the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) reached out to us to create a plan for two of the sub-watersheds in the Uplands watershed area of influence. The purpose of this plan largely is centered around the mission of the Uplands Farmer-Led Watershed Group; that is, to build community and dialogue among producers and community members alike around how best to protect our watersheds and stream systems we all enjoy for recreation, beauty, and resources. Mindfulness of producers’ needs from the watershed as well as how our practices impact communities outside of our own is also an underlying message behind this plan. Coupled with this purpose, our goals are to evaluate current conditions of the watershed, identify best practices and critical, highly vulnerable areas, and work with producers to develop a plan that helps them reduce our collective loading of nutrients, sediment, and other pollutants.

Related Reports

Run Project Summary Report
View Umbrella-Projects
View Related-Projects

Water Quality Planning
Nine Key Element Plan
NKE110
2019
Active
 
Reports and Documents
Meudt Creek and Knight Hollow Subwatershed 9 Key Element Plan Report
The purpose of this plan largely is centered around the mission of the Uplands Farmer-Led Watershed Group; that is, to build community and dialogue among producers and community members alike around how best to protect our watersheds and stream systems we all enjoy for recreation, beauty, and resources. Mindfulness of producers’ needs from the watershed as well as how our practices impact communities outside of our own is also an underlying message behind this plan. Coupled with this purpose, our goals are to evaluate current conditions of the watershed, identify best practices and critical, highly vulnerable areas, and work with producers to develop a plan that helps them reduce our collective loading of nutrients, sediment, and other pollutants.
 
Activities & Recommendations
Nine Key Element Plan
DNR and Partners Iowa County and Iowa County Uplands Watershed Group Driftless Area Land Conservancy, Michael Fields Institute
 
Watershed
Mill and Blue Mounds Creek
 
Waters
Meudt Creek
Monitoring Data