Details

The watershed's 152 square mile (393 square kilometers) land area is 62 percent in Outagamie County with the remaining 38 percent in Brown County. Land use in the Duck Creek Watershed is predominately agricultural in the upstream portions with growing residential use in and near the Green Bay Metropolitan area. Overall water quality and stream habitat is rated poor to fair, with documented problems of sedimentation, phosphorus, filamentous algae, and heavy metals (Beaver Dam Creek). Streams in this watershed are partially meeting their potential uses due to pollution from nonpoint sources. Sedimentation and phosphorus from upland agricultural fields are the major sources of nonpoint pollution in the watershed. Upland areas account for well over 80 percent of the overall load. Eroding streambanks and improperly managed livestock operations are also contributors. In addition, land use changes in riparian and upland areas, in concert with the destruction of nearly 70 percent of the area's historical wetlands, have led to the `flashy' characteristics exhibited by area streams. Consistently low summer water levels and periods of `no flow' play a major role in limiting aquatic life throughout the watershed (WDNR 1997).

Date  1998

Nonpoint and Point Sources

There are two municipal point source dischargers and three industrial point source dischargers in the Duck Creek Watershed: Freedom Sanitary District No. 1, Sanger B Powers Correctional Center, Anamax, New Harvest Foods Inc and Provimi Inc. The Duck Creek Watershed was selected as a Priority Watershed Project (PWS) in 1994 and a Priority Watershed Plan was completed in 1997 (WDNR 1997). The Duck, Apple and Ashwaubenon Priority Watershed Project joined approximately 80 similar watershed projects statewide in which nonpoint source control measures are being planned and implemented. The plan was prepared cooperatively by the WDNR, the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (WDATCP), the Brown County Land Conservation Department, and the Outagamie County Land Conservation Department, Oneida Nation Planning Department with assistance from the University of Wisconsin-Extension and the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).

Date  1998

Ecological Landscapes

The Duck Creek Watershed lies primarily in the Central Lake Michigan Coastal Ecological Landscape which stretches from southern Door County west across Green Bay to the Wolf River drainage, then southward in a narrowing strip along the Lake Michigan shore to central Milwaukee County. Owing to the influence of Lake Michigan in the eastern part of this landscape, summers there are cooler, winters warmer, and precipitation levels greater than at locations farther inland. Dolomites and shales underlie the glacial deposits that blanket virtually all of the Central Lake Michigan Coastal Ecological Landscape. The dolomite Niagara Escarpment is the major bedrock feature, running across the entire landscape from northeast to southwest. Series of dolomite cliffs provide critical habitat for rare terrestrial snails, bats, and specialized plants. The primary glacial landforms are ground moraine, outwash, and lakeplain. The topography is generally rolling where the surface is underlain by ground moraine, variable over areas of outwash, and nearly level where lacustrine deposits are present. Important soils include clays, loams, sands, and gravels. Certain landforms, such as sand spits, clay bluffs, beach and dune complexes, and ridge and swale systems, are associated only with the shorelines of Lake Michigan and Green Bay. Historically, most of this landscape was vegetated with mesic hardwood forest composed primarily of sugar maple, basswood, and beech. Hemlock and white pine were locally important, but hemlock was generally restricted to cool moist sites near Lake Michigan. Areas of poorly drained glacial lakeplain supported wet forests of tamarack, white cedar, black ash, red maple, and elm, while the Wolf and Embarrass Rivers flowed through extensive floodplain forests of silver maple, green ash, and swamp white oak. Emergent marshes and wet meadows were common in and adjacent to lower Green Bay, while Lake Michigan shoreline areas featured beaches, dunes, interdunal wetlands, marshes, and highly diverse ridge and swale vegetation. Small patches of prairie and oak savanna were present in the southwestern portion of this landscape.

Date  2010

Lakes and Impoundments

Impaired Waters

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.