Lafayette
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Fish and Aquatic Life
Overview
This 9 mile long tributary to the Galena River serves as a smallmouth bass nursery stream. The stream also contains a diversity of warm and coolwater transitional non-game species, including the Ozark minnow, a state threatened species. Pats Creek runs through an almost entirely agricultural sub-watershed with heavy pasturing and row cropping. During periods of high flows, the banks exhibit heavy erosion throughout its length. However, the gradient is quite high (23 feet/mile) providing scouring which leaves a bottom mostly of gravel and rubble/cobble.
Date 2010
Author James Amrhein
Overview
Pats Creek is a small tributary to the Galena River in Lafayette County. Pats Creek provides variable yet important spawning and juvenile habitat for smallmouth bass (Forbes, 1989). A study done by USGS on Pats Creek showed the stream carries a median unit-area load (tons per square mile) of sediment of 254 tons per square mile with a maximum load of 309 tons of sediment per square mile. The same study showed the stream receiving a median unit-area load of 1,210 pounds of phosphorus per square mile with a maximum loading of 1,750 pounds per square mile (Corsi, et.al, 1997). While, no recent assessment of water quality or instream habitat conditions has been done the creek is know to suffer from agricultural non-point source pollution problems (Fix, 1991). Land management practices in its sub-watershed need to be improved in order to improve water quality and instream habitat. An aquatic species listed on Wisconsin’s threatened and endangered species list has been found in Pats Creek (WDNR, 1997).
Date 2001
Author Aquatic Biologist
Historical Description
Pats Creek is a warm water drainage stream which is tributary to the Fever River (Galena). Much flooding occurs along its banks during the spring thaw and after periods of heavy precipitation. As a result, its banks exhibit heavy erosion throughout its length. There are no feeders which flow year round. The vegetative cover of the floodplain is mostly firm pasture with some cropland and fresh meadow. The uplands are either farmed intensively or are in wooded pasture. The common bottom type throughout the stream is gravel. The sport fishery consists of smallmouth bass with an abundance of forage fishes. Since over 90 percent of the watershed is farmed intensively the game species are confined to the upland varieties such as pheasants, Hungarian partridge, deer, rabbits, and squirrels. Aquatic game species are limited. Four town and one state road bridge provide access to the stream. There is no public land ithe watershed.
Pats Creek, T2N, R1EJ, Sections 16-12, Surface acres = 6.4, Miles = 7.0, Gradient = 22.8 feet per mile, Total alkalinity = 251 mg/l, Volume of flow = 2.0 cfs.
From: Piening, Ronald; Poff, Ronald; Threinen, C.W., 1967. Lake and Stream Classification Project. Surface Water Resources of Lafayette County, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Madison, WI.
Date 1967
Author Aquatic Biologist
Impaired Waters
This water was assessed by the regional biologist and based on current and historical Poor mIBIs it was recommended for listing for degraded biological community during the 2016 listing cycle. This water is considered impaired and not meeting its Fish and Aquatic Life use.
Date 2015
Author Aaron Larson
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 Goals
Wisconsin's Water Quality Standards provide qualitative and quantitative goals for waters that are protective of Fishable, Swimmable conditions [Learn more]. Waters that do not meet water quality standards are considered impaired and restoration actions are planned and carried out until the water is once again fishable and swimmable
Management goals can include creation or implementation of a Total Maximum Daily Load analysis, a Nine Key Element Plan, or other restoration work, education and outreach and more. If specific recommendations exist for this water, they will be displayed below online.
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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| 939800 | Pats Creek | 10012764 | Pats Creek - (atCenter Drive Rd) | 10/25/1985 | 1/1/2015 | Map | Data |
| 939800 | Pats Creek | 10015417 | Pats Creek-Upstream Sales Barn Rd | 3/27/2007 | 1/1/2015 | Map | Data |
| 939800 | Pats Creek | 10021257 | Pats Creek At Pine Tree Rd | 8/6/2007 | 1/1/2015 | Map | Data |
| 939800 | Pats Creek | 333086 | Pat'S Creek at Center Drive | 10/15/1980 | 9/30/1982 | Map | Data |
| 939800 | Pats Creek | 10015149 | Pats Creek - (130m) Downstream Of Sales Barn Rd | 9/27/2012 | 1/1/2015 | Map | Data |
| 939800 | Pats Creek | 333095 | Pats Creek - Back Rd. (Bi) | 10/31/1979 | 1/1/2015 | Map | Data |
| 939800 | Pats Creek | 10012128 | Pats Creek - Upstream Of Sth 81 | | | Map | Data |
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Watershed Characteristics
Pats Creek is located in the Galena River watershed which is 241.84 mi². Land use in the watershed is primarily agricultural (63.10%), grassland (26.40%) and a mix of forest (5.70%) and other uses (4.60%). This watershed has 572.33 stream miles, 65.18 lake acres and 681.01 wetland acres.
Nonpoint Source Characteristics
This watershed is ranked Not Ranked 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.