Watershed - Plum Creek (LC02)
Plum Creek Watershed

Details

A major shift from forest to agriculture occurred in the Plum Creek watershed since the original surveys of the mid-1800s. The effect on water quality is evident in eroding streambanks and the loss of in-stream habitat for aquatic organisms. Increasing concern about the water quality of Nugget Lake has raised local awareness of impacts on surface water quality in this watershed. A small portion of the Tiffany State Wildlife Area on the west side of the Chippewa River is in the Plum Creek Watershed. The majority of this wildlife area lies within the Bear Creek Watershed on the east side of the Chippewa River.

Date  1996

Ecological Landscapes for Plum Creek Watershed

Ecological Landscapes

The Western Coulee and Ridges Ecological Landscape in southwestern and west central Wisconsin is characterized by its highly eroded, driftless topography and relatively extensive forested landscape. Soils are silt loams (loess) and sandy loams over sandstone residuum over dolomite. Several large rivers including the Wisconsin, Mississippi, Chippewa, Kickapoo and Black flow through or border the Ecological Landscape. Historical vegetation consisted of southern hardwood forests, oak savanna, scattered prairies, and floodplain forests and marshes along the major rivers. With Euro-American settlement, most of the land on ridgetops and valley bottoms was cleared of oak savanna, prairie, and level forest for agriculture. The steep slopes between valley bottom and ridgetop, unsuitable for raising crops, grew into oak-dominated forests after the ubiquitous presettlement wildfires were suppressed. Current vegetation is a mix of forest (40%), agriculture, and grassland with some wetlands in the river valleys. The primary forest cover is oak-hickory (51%) dominated by oak species and shagbark hickory. Maple-basswood forests (28%), dominated by sugar maple, basswood and red maple, are common in areas that were not subjected to repeated presettlement wildfires. Bottomland hardwoods (10%) are common in the valley bottoms of major rivers and are dominated by silver maple, ashes, elms, cottonwood, and red maple. Relict conifer forests including white pine, hemlock and yellow birch are a rarer natural community in the cooler, steep, north slope microclimates.

Date  2010

Watershed Documents
Watershed Grants
Grant Details
Aquatic Invasives Education
Date
2/15/2015
Waters Involved
Chippewa River
Status
Complete

Friends Of Beaver Creek Reserve, Inc.: Lower Chip. Ais Coord.: The Friends of Beaver Creek Reserve proposes to fund positons to coordinate AIS control outreach, training, monitoring and rapid response efforts in the Lower Chippewa River. Major project elements to include: 1) Volunteer training and coordination, 2) AIS monitoring, mapping, and SWIMS data entry 3) Development of AIS control plan, 3) Outreach and events.


Grant Details
Aquatic Invasives Education
Date
2/15/2015
Waters Involved
Dells Pond
Status
Complete

Friends Of Beaver Creek Reserve, Inc.: Lower Chip. Ais Coord.: The Friends of Beaver Creek Reserve proposes to fund positons to coordinate AIS control outreach, training, monitoring and rapid response efforts in the Lower Chippewa River. Major project elements to include: 1) Volunteer training and coordination, 2) AIS monitoring, mapping, and SWIMS data entry 3) Development of AIS control plan, 3) Outreach and events.


Grant Details
Lake Protection Grant
Date
9/1/2010
Waters Involved
Bensel Pond
Status
Complete

Buffalo County: Lco-Shoreland Ordinance Rev.: Buffalo County proposes to amend or create a shoreland zoning ordinance that complies with the requirements of NR 115, Wisconsin Administrative Code (as revised effective February 1, 2010) and retain existing regulations that exceed the water resource protections of NR 115 or are specific or unique to local needs.

Project deliverables include: 1. Copies of any fact sheets or handouts created for public hearings. 2. A summary of the comments received at public hearings. 3. A certified copy of the County Board-approved updated shoreland ordinance or ordinance language (if integrated into other codes). 4. Any GIS maps of the shoreland zone or shoreland condition surveys related to the project.

Specific conditions for this Project: The WDNR will be provided electronic and hard copies of all data and or reports or surveys generated as a result of this project.


Grant Details
Lake Protection Grant
Date
9/1/2010
Waters Involved
Nugget Lake
Status
Complete

Pierce County: Lco-Shoreland Ordinance Rev.: Pierce County proposes to amend or create a shoreland zoning ordinance that complies with the requirements of NR 115, Wisconsin Administrative Code (as revised effective February 1, 2010) and retain existing regulations that exceed the water resource protections of NR 115 or are specific or unique to local needs.

Project deliverables include: 1. Copies of any fact sheets or handouts created for public hearings. 2. A summary of the comments received at public hearings. 3. A certified copy of the County Board-approved updated shoreland ordinance or ordinance language (if integrated into other codes). 4. Any GIS maps of the shoreland zone or shoreland condition surveys related to the project.

Specific conditions for this Project: The WDNR will be provided electronic and hard copies of all data and or reports or surveys generated as a result of this project.


Grant Details
Lake Protection Grant
Date
9/1/2010
Waters Involved
Plum Creek
Status
Complete

Pierce County: Lco-Shoreland Ordinance Rev.: Pierce County proposes to amend or create a shoreland zoning ordinance that complies with the requirements of NR 115, Wisconsin Administrative Code (as revised effective February 1, 2010) and retain existing regulations that exceed the water resource protections of NR 115 or are specific or unique to local needs.

Project deliverables include: 1. Copies of any fact sheets or handouts created for public hearings. 2. A summary of the comments received at public hearings. 3. A certified copy of the County Board-approved updated shoreland ordinance or ordinance language (if integrated into other codes). 4. Any GIS maps of the shoreland zone or shoreland condition surveys related to the project.

Specific conditions for this Project: The WDNR will be provided electronic and hard copies of all data and or reports or surveys generated as a result of this project.


Grant Details
Large Scale Lake Planning
Date
4/8/1991
Waters Involved
Nugget Lake
Status
Complete

Pierce County: Nugget Lake Water Quality And Sedimentation Study: RATE OF SEDIMENTATION TO BE DETERMINED. TRIBUTARY WATERSHED WILL BE EVALUATED TO ASSESS STREAMBANK EROSION, BACTERIA CONTRIBUTIONS FROM FEEDLOTS IN THE WATERSHED, THE PERCENT OF THE WATERSHED CURRENTLY USING CONSERVATION PRACTICES. WATER CHEMISTRY SAMPLES. PARTICIPATION IN THE EXPANDED SELF-HELP MONITORING PROGRAM. DATA COLLECTION AND INFORMATION DISSEMINATION.


Grant Details
Large Scale Lake Planning
Date
11/23/1992
Waters Involved
Silver Birch Lake
Status
Complete

Pepin County: Silverbirch Lake Management Planning: Conduct water quality, zooplankton and phytoplankton monitoring during 1993-94, on schedule, at depths, and for parameters described under 'Determining current water quality,' attached to the application. Prepare a bathymetric map. Describe the statusof lake fish populations. Conduct two aquatic plant surveys in 1993. Collect winter dissolved oxygen data. Information will be disseminated to the public by public meetings, local newspaper articles, TV/radio spots and sportsman club meetings. Projectresults will be reposited at the Land Conservation Department.


Grant Details
Large Scale Lake Planning
Date
10/19/1995
Waters Involved
Silver Birch Lake
Status
Complete

Pepin County: Silver Birch Lake Winter Dissolved Oxygen Monitoring: (1) Monitor the winter dissolved oxygen concentrations at four sites on Silver Birch Lake for four years. Project costs include labor and equipment. (2) Prepare a final report including the results of task 1. The sponsor will provide the DNR with a paper copy and an electronic copy of the final report. Information on the project results will be disseminated to the public by public meeting, radio spots, and newspaper articles.


Grant Details
River Protection Grant
Date
7/1/2001
Waters Involved
Chippewa River
Status
Complete

River County Rc&D Council, Inc: Lower Chippewa River Basin Buffers: In 2000, the Lower Chippewa River Basin Partnership Team determined that buffer strips are the most efficient methodd to reduce sediment and filter field run-off within the Basin. Research has shown that buffers remove up to 50% of the nutrients and pesticides, 60% of certain pathogens, and 75% of sediment; and provide various wildlife benefits. The goals and deliverables of this project are: 1. To install 1500 acres of conservation buffer strips within the Lower Chippewa River Basin in the next two years 2. Plant 50 acres of buffer to prairie grasses. 3. Contact 800 landowners with information about conservation buffers. 4. Buffer strips become an accepted on-farm practice within the Basin.


Grant Details
River Protection Grant
Date
7/1/2007
Waters Involved
Chippewa River
Status
Complete

Durand Sportsman'S Club: Chippewa Restore '08: The Durand Sportsman's Club proposes to continue its work with riparians on the Chippewa River in Dunn County to restore and armor streambank against shoreland erosion. Major project elements to include: Streambank sloping, placement of fabric and rock, reseeding.


Grant Details
River Protection Grant
Date
7/1/2010
Waters Involved
Chippewa River
Status
Complete

Durand Sportsman'S Club: Chippewa Restore '11: The Durand Sportsman's Club proposes to continue with it's efforts to stabalize the banks of the Chippewa River upstream of Durand in Dunn County for the purpose of improving water quality and aquatic habitat. Project area includes 1,400 feet of river bank. Major project elements to include: 1) re-sloping banks, 2) armor banks with fabric, rip-rap and toe installation, 3) revegetation of banks.


Grant Details
River Protection Grant
Date
7/1/2012
Waters Involved
Chippewa River
Status
Complete

Durand Sportsman'S Club: Chippewa Restore '12: The Durand Sportsmans Club proposes to continue with riverbank restoration on three private properties on the Chippewa River in Pepin County. Project to restore 300 ft. of riverbank on the Polzer property,700 ft. on the Hagness property, and 807 ft. on the Bauer property. Major project elements to include: 1) installation of rip-rap, and 2) re-vegetation of upland banks.


Monitoring & Projects

Projects including grants, restoration work and studies shown below have occurred in this watershed. Click the links below to read through the text. While these are not an exhaustive list of activities, they provide insight into the management activities happening in this watershed.

Grants and Management Projects
Plum Creek Watershed
Watershed Recommendations
Best Management Practices, Implement
Buffalo County Manure Storage
Date
Status
This project is a landowner installation of nonpoint source best management practices to contribute to the restoration of Wisconsin's waters and was funded by the 319 grant. The grantee will implement practices to address agricultural nonpoint sources of pollution through the installation of Best Management Practices (BMPs) addressing sediment and nutrient loading and violations of the NR 151 Agricultural Performance Standards and Prohibitions. Specifically, the grantee will implement: a waste transfer system; a barnyard runoff control system; animal trails and walkways; and animal trails and walkways critical area stabilization.
1/1/2018
In Progress
Projects
 
Best Management Practices, Implement
Buffalo County Feed Storage
Date
Status
This project is a landowner installation of nonpoint source best management practices to contribute to the restoration of Wisconsin?s waters and was funded by the 319 grant. The grantee will implement practices to address agricultural nonpoint sources of pollution through the installation of Best Management Practices (BMPs) addressing sediment and nutrient loading and violations of the NR 151 Agricultural Performance Standards and Prohibitions. Specifically, the grantee will implement: access roads and cattle crossings; and a feed storage runoff control system.
1/1/2018
In Progress
Projects
 
Best Management Practices, Implement
Buffalo County Barnyard Feedlot
Date
Status
This project is a landowner installation of nonpoint source best management practices to contribute to the restoration of Wisconsin's waters and was funded by the 319 grant. Specifically, the grantee will implement: a barnyard runoff control system, critical area stabilization, and diversions to address the NR 151 Agricultural Performance Standards and Prohibitions.
1/1/2017
In Progress
Projects
Documents
 
Best Management Practices, Implement
Buffalo County Manure Management
Date
Status
This project is a landowner installation of nonpoint source best management practices to contribute to the restoration of Wisconsin's waters and was funded by the 319 grant. Specifically, the grantee will implement: a manure storage system to address the following NR 151 Agricultural Performance Standards and Prohibitions:manure storage facilities-new/significant alterations, process wastewater handling, prevention of unconfined manure piles in water quality management, and prevention of direct runoff from a feedlot or stored manure into waters of the state.
1/1/2017
In Progress
Projects
 
Best Management Practices, Implement
Pierce County Dairy BMPs
Date
Status
This project is a landowner installation of nonpoint source best management practices to contribute to the restoration of Wisconsin's waters and was funded by the 319 grant. Specifically, the grantee will implement: a manure storage system, critical area stabilization, livestock fencing, and roof runoff systems to remedy discharges of manure, sediment and phosphorus in runoff.
1/1/2017
In Progress
Projects
Documents
 
Monitor Fish Tissue
Confirm FCA: IW pre-2000 data
Date
Status
10/25/2011
Proposed
Projects
 
TMDL Development
Waumandee TMDL
Date
Status
The Waumandee Creek Watershed is located in Buffalo County, Wisconsin. The Waumandee Creek Watershed drains 204 square miles and is characterized by steep topography, narrow valleys and numerous streams.Surface water drains to the Mississippi River by direct runoff or via Waumandee Creek and its tributaries. Temperature and sediment impairments are found in Buell Valley Creek, Cochrane Ditch (Rose Valley), Irish Valley Creek, Jahns Valley Creek, Weiland Valley Creek. Coverage of the substrates with sediment constitutes ?an objectionable deposit? under the water quality standards criterion noted in S.NR 102.04(1) (a) cited below. The creeks are limited by excessive sediment loading and habitat unsuitable to support a coldwater fishery.
3/1/2006
In Progress
Projects
Documents
 
Water Quality Planning
Bear Creek Watershed Planning
Date
Status
The Bear Creek Watershed covers 76.5 square miles in Buffalo and Pepin counties. Bear, Little Bear, and Spring creeks are the three primary sub-watersheds within the Bear Creek Watershed. The watershed drains rolling agricultural and wooded areas with many of the tributaries originating in steep coulees. The watershed also drains one urban area, the City of Durand. All streams within the Bear Creek Watershed drain the eastern slope of the Chippewa River Valley. The Bear Creek Watershed contains typical steep topography characteristic of the driftless or un-glaciated area of the state. Because the most productive and level land is on the valley floor, most farming takes place immediately adjacent to streams. Former prairie and a portion of the forested lands have been converted to agricultural uses. The quality of trout streams in this watershed have improved or degraded as agricultural uses have diminished or increased. Earlier editions of the Lower Chippewa River Water Quality Management Plan indicated the Nelson wastewater treatment plant and Nelson Cheese actory discharged to the Lower Chippewa Basin. Due to a basin oundary change, both are in the Buffalo- Trempealeau River Basin. The majority of the wetlands in the watershed are adjacent to the Chippewa and Mississippi Rivers.
7/1/2010
In Progress
Projects
 
Plum Creek WatershedWatershed History Note

Plum City is located on the banks of Plum Creek in Pierce County in the Plum Creek Watershed. The area was used as hunting grounds by Native Americans and French traders over 300 years ago. But about 150 years ago, settlers followed the St. Antoine Trail east from the Mississippi River to this point. Here, at the junction of the trail and Plum Creek, land speculator Frank Moser acquired and had surveyed forty acres of land in 1857. Inspired by the profusion of wild plum trees in the area, he named the new settlement Plum City. Moser and his brother constructed a dam and sawmill, but the town grew slowly and after eleven years, only 10 log homes and two frame buildings had been constructed. The economy boomed in the 1870s when many pioneering farmers bought Plum City’s fencing lumber for farms in eastern Minnesota. After 1900, Plum City became a prosperous farming community with a large business district, but this too faded away. What has remained though, at the heart of Plum City, is the serene natural Spring Pond.

Date  2010