6.42 Miles
0 - 6.42
Cool-Cold Headwater, Coldwater
2017
Poor
Degraded Biological Community, Degraded Habitat
Sediment/Total Suspended Solids
Sauk
No
No
Yes
Fish and Aquatic Life
Overview
Babb Creek is a 6-mile tributary to the Baraboo River. The creek supports a warm water forage fishery. Sampling conducted in the summer of 2000 found the water to be of fair quality. The stream is considered impaired as a result of nonpoint sources of pollution and is listed on the EPA's list of impaired waters. This nonpoint pollution comes from general erosion as well as streambank pasturing. Babb Creek was a baseline monitored stream in 2000. A rare aquatic species has been found in the creek in past surveys.
A cursory habitat evaluation was conducted during the summer of 2001. The evaluation found the creek to have good in-stream habitat at the mouth and fair to poor habitat upstream. In the upper reaches of the creek, there is evidence of heavy watershed erosion and nonpoint sources of pollution. In addition, unstable banks were noted. These nonpoint sources of pollution have contributed sediment to the system and increased the amount of sediment found on the bottom of the stream.
Ripp, Coreen, Koperski, Cindy and Folstad, Jason. 2002. The State of the Lower Wisconsin River Basin. PUBL WT-559-2002. Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Madison, WI.
Date 2002
Author Cynthia Koperski
Impaired Waters
Babb Creek was recently evaluated during the ten-year period of 2009 through 2018 for results that were reported to the USEPA for the 2020 Clean Water Act condition report. The waterbody is considered impaired, or in poor condition for designated uses which include the quality of fish and aquatic life, recreational use, and public health and welfare (fish consumption and related). Pollutants or problems encountered during sampling (impairments) are determined based on water quality standards outlined in Wisconsin 2020 Consolidated Assessment and Listing Methodology (WisCALM). Assessment results show water conditions that are potentially harmful for Aquatic Life use due to values for biological indicators that fall into the range expected for an aquatic community in poor health, therefore this water is listed as impaired. This water is part of the Wisconsin River Basin TMDL, which was approved by the USEPA in 2019.
Assessment results during the 2020 listing cycle show degraded biological community based on bug sample data (i.e., at least one macroinvertebrate Index of Biotic Integrity (IBI) scored in the poor condition category). This water has been listed as impaired since 1998 for total suspended solids. Based on the most updated information, an unknown pollutant was added to the listing of this already impaired water.
Date 2019
Author Ashley Beranek
Impaired Waters
The creek supports a warm water forage fishery. Sampling conducted in the summer of 2000 found the water to be of fair quality. The stream is considered impaired as a result of nonpoint sources of pollution and is listed on the EPA's list of impaired waters.
This nonpoint pollution comes from general erosion as well as streambank pasturing. Babb Creek was a baseline monitored stream in 2000. A rare aquatic species has been found in the creek in past surveys. A cursory habitat evaluation was conducted during the summer of 2001. The evaluation found the creek to have good in-stream habitat at the mouth and fair to poor habitat upstream.
In the upper reaches of the creek, there is evidence of heavy watershed erosion and nonpoint sources of pollution. In addition, unstable banks were noted. These nonpoint sources of pollution have contributed sediment to the system and increased the amount of sediment found on the bottom of the stream.
Date 2011
Author Cynthia Koperski
Condition
Wisconsin has over 84,000 miles of streams, 15,000 lakes and milllions of acres of wetlands. Assessing the condition of this vast amount of water is challenging. The state's water monitoring program uses a media-based, cross-program approach to analyze water condition. An updated monitoring strategy (2015-2020) is now available. Compliance with Clean Water Act fishable, swimmable standards are located in the Executive Summary of Water Condition in 2018. See also the 'monitoring and projects' tab.
Reports
Management Plans
Management goals include reducing nonpoint sources of phosphorus to reduce in-stream concentrations of nutrient resulting in overproduction of algae.
Date 2002
Author Cynthia Koperski
Monitoring
Monitoring the condition of a river, stream, or lake includes gathering physical, chemical, biological, and habitat data. Comprehensive studies often gather all these parameters in great detail, while lighter assessment events will involve sampling physical, chemical and biological data such as macroinvertebrates. Aquatic macroinvertebrates and fish communities integrate watershed or catchment condition, providing great insight into overall ecosystem health. Chemical and habitat parameters tell researchers more about human induced problems including contaminated runoff, point source dischargers, or habitat issues that foster or limit the potential of aquatic communities to thrive in a given area. Wisconsin's Water Monitoring Strategy was recenty updated.
Grants and Management Projects
| Project Name (Click for Details) | Year Started |
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Monitoring Projects
| WBIC | Official Waterbody Name | Station ID | Station Name | Earliest Fieldwork Date | Latest Fieldwork Date | View Station | View Data |
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| 1279100 | Babb Creek | 10031228 | Babb Creek Lavalle Street | 8/6/2010 | 8/6/2010 | Map | Data |
| 1279100 | Babb Creek | 10031633 | Babb Creek Preston Ave. Bridge | 10/25/2010 | 9/28/2017 | Map | Data |
| 1279100 | Babb Creek | 10031227 | Babb Creek Fish Pond Rd. | 6/9/2010 | 9/28/2017 | Map | Data |
| 1279100 | Babb Creek | 10044151 | Babb Creek - Hwy K bridge near Theman Mill Rd. | 8/21/2015 | 8/21/2015 | Map | Data |
| 1279100 | Babb Creek | 10008283 | Babb Creek Station 1 Coon Valley Rd | 8/6/2010 | 9/28/2017 | Map | Data |
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Watershed Characteristics
Babb Creek is located in the Crossman Creek and Little Baraboo River watershed which is 213.80 mi². Land use in the watershed is primarily forest (36.40%), grassland (32.90%) and a mix of agricultural (20.40%) and other uses (10.30%). This watershed has 466.61 stream miles, 244.11 lake acres and 6,321.59 wetland acres.
Nonpoint Source Characteristics
This watershed is ranked Not Available for runoff impacts on streams, Not Available for runoff impacts on lakes and High for runoff impacts on groundwater and therefore has an overall rank of High. This value can be used in ranking the watershed or individual waterbodies for grant funding under state and county programs.However, all waters are affected by diffuse pollutant sources regardless of initial water quality. Applications for specific runoff projects under state or county grant programs may be pursued. For more information, go to surface water program grants.
Babb Creek is considered a Cool-Cold Headwater, Coldwater under the state's Natural Community Determinations.
Natural communities (stream and lake natural communities) represent model results and DNR staff valiation processes that confirm or update predicted conditions based on flow and temperature modeling from historic and current landscape features and related variables. Predicated flow and temperatures for waters are associated predicated fish assemblages (communities). Biologists evaluate the model results against current survey data to determine if the modeled results are corect and whether biological indicators show water quaity degradation. This analysis is a core component of the state's resource management framework. Wisconsin's Riverine Natural Communities.
Cool (Cold-Transition) Headwaters are small, usually perennial streams with cold to cool summer temperatures. Coldwater fishes are common to uncommon (<10 per 100 m), transitional fishes are abundant to common, and warm water fishes are uncommon to absent. Headwater species are abundant to common, mainstem species are common to absent, and river species are absent.
The creek supports a warm water forage fishery but is identified as as impaired due to excess phosphorus leading to eutrophication.
Date 2002
Author Cynthia Koperski