Details

The Oak Creek Watershed is located entirely within Milwaukee County. Oak Creek originates in the City of Franklin, with the majority of flow contributed by urban runoff. As it makes its way east, Oak Creek receives flows from the North Branch and the Mitchell Field Drainage Ditch. In South Milwaukee, Oak Creek meanders through to Grant Park, and ultimately into Lake Michigan. The stream drains about 26 square miles. Principal land cover in the Oak Creek Watershed is a mix of urban and grassland (38% and 32% respectively). The remaining land uses include agriculture (11%), Forest (14%) and Wetland (3%). Oak Creek drains portions of the Cities of Greenfield, Franklin, Oak Creek, South Milwaukee, and Milwaukee. The one named lake found in this watershed is the Oak Creek Parkway Pond, an impoundment created by the Old Mill Dam, located in Grant Park in South Milwaukee. The Pond is 5 acres in size.

Date  2018

Ecological Landscapes

The Southern Lake Michigan Coastal Ecological Landscape is located in the southeastern corner of Wisconsin along Lake Michigan. The landforms in this Ecological Landscape are characteristic of glacial lake influence, with ridge and swale topography, clay bluffs, and lake plain along Lake Michigan. Further inland, ground moraine is the dominant landform. Soils typically have a silt-loam surface overlying loamy and clayey tills. The historic vegetation in the northern part of this Ecological Landscape was dominated by sugar maple-basswood-beech forests with some oak while the southern part was dominated by oak forest, oak savanna and prairies. Wet, wet-mesic, and lake plain prairies were common in this area. Black ash and relict cedar and tamarack swamps were found in this Ecological Landscape. Today, most of the area is dominated by dairy and cash grain agriculture and intense urban development. Only about 8% of the Ecological Landscape is forested. Maple-beech forests are about half of the remaining forest types with the remainder split equally between oak-hickory and lowland hardwood forest types. There are some areas of wet-mesic and wet prairie but only small preserves remain since the landscape is heavily disturbed and fragmented. Because of this isolation, fragmentation, and high level of disturbance, non-native plants are abundant.

Date  2010

Fisheries

Fish species found in the Oak Creek Watershed include the white sucker, black bullhead, brook stickleback, and largemouth bass. In addition, rainbow (steelhead), brown, Chinook salmon, coho salmon and brook trout are present to the mill dam in Grant Park due to Lake Michigan stocking efforts. Tolerant fish species found in the Watershed include the creek chub, fathead minnow, central mudminnow, golden shiner, and green sunfish.

Date  2002

The historic impacts of channelization, toxics, and hydrological modification have combined with urban runoff and stream bank erosion to degrade the water and habitat quality of Oak Creek. Of the total combined length of 21.2 miles, 13 miles, or 61% are listed on the State’s impaired waterbody 303(d) list. The factor influencing inclusion on the list is the toxic levels of contaminants found in contaminated sediments.

Date  2002

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.

Goals

Priorities