Watershed - East Fork Black River (BR07)
East Fork Black River Watershed

Details

Major portions of this watershed were logged in the late-1800's. Transport of these logs was largely accomplished by placing them on frozen waterways in winter and waiting until the high flows of spring to carry them to the Black River via the East Fork. Coffer dams on some creeks helped store water which provided higher spring flows to carry logs (Eswein). The next major resource harvested in the watershed was sphagnum moss. This industry continues today in the marshes of the East Fork of the Black River watershed. The culture of cranberries appeared in the early 1900s and has grown considerably since then in the southwestern portion of this watershed. Cranberries naturally reproduced in wetland areas where conditions were right. Many streams in this watershed are ditched to provide water for the culture of cranberries. Very little water quality or fisheries information is available for the streams in this watershed. Only 14% of the watershed contains agricultural activities. Partly due to state and county ownership, the majority of the forest and wetland areas remain intact from pre-settlement times. This watershed contains approximately 31,000 acres of wetlands, the largest area of wetlands within any watershed of the Black River basin. The water in this watershed is generally characterized as dark and infertile, but largely free of sediment. The streams have not been surveyed recently, but many streams are expected to contain forage fish. The major limiting factor for many streams in this watershed is lack of streamflow due to natural causes or agricultural use.

Date  1999

Nonpoint and Point Sources

Hewitt's Meat Processing is the only permitted point source in this watershed. They landspread waste in the extreme western edge of this watershed. This facility is not shown on the East Fork Black River Watershed map.

Date  1999