VILAS COUNTY: Vilas County Stream Crossing Inventory 2019

Vilas County Land and Water Conservation Department is sponsoring a project to identify problem stream crossings in 3, possibly 4 HUC 12 watersheds.

Specific Project Goals: 1) Identify stream crossings that may be defective or ineffective for fish passage, soil erosion, or stormwater runoff management; 2) Collect field data at stream crossings from 3 selected sub-watersheds (HUC 12s); 3) Analyze and interpret the field data using Excel and Survey 123 for ArcGIS; 4) Host a public workshop to educate participants about proper considerations of placing culverts or other stream crossing options; 5) Administer and close out the grant.

Project deliverables include: 1) Create HUC 12 sub-watershed maps that show locations of existing crossings; 2)Create a completed data collection app that could be used statewide for similar projects; ease of capturing field data; 3) Train Conservation Department staff in the proper culvert inventory methods to eliminate bias in data interpretation; 4) Travel to pre-selected sites and gather data / take photos via the protocol; 5) Identified and mapped areas that can be uploaded to the DNR Surface Water Data Viewer; Visual and tabular data can be shared with responsible parties of the crossings (private, local, county, state, federal, or tribal); 6) Trained participants are educated about the importance of longer term planning and placement of crossings to save on long term budgets AND protecting the environment; 7) A professionally written report of project delivered electronically to DNR; public press release; report will be shared with Vilas County Highway Commissioner for future planning purposes; report will be placed on Vilas County Land & Water Conservation website for public viewing