Kickapoo River
Encyclopedia
The Kickapoo River is a 126 miles (202.8 km) tributary of the Wisconsin River
in the state of Wisconsin
, United States
. It is named for the Kickapoo
Indians who occupied Wisconsin before the influx of white settlers in the early 19th century.
and Mill Bluff State Park
and flows south through a deep valley cut into the hilly Driftless Zone of southwest Wisconsin. It empties into the Wisconsin River just south of Wauzeka, Wisconsin
. Kickapoo is an Algonquian
word meaning “one who goes here, then there”, a fitting name as the river is very crooked, frequently doubling back on itself as it flows through the Wisconsin landscape. Because of the extremely crooked path of the river, its source north of Wilton is just 60 miles (96.6 km) from its mouth at Wauzeka, although the river is nearly 130 miles (209.2 km) long. The Kickapoo, the longest tributary of the Wisconsin River, drains over 800 square miles (2,072 km²) of land in Monroe
, Vernon
, Richland, and Crawford counties. The Kickapoo River watershed encompasses 492000 acres (1,991.1 km²) in southwest Wisconsin.
There are many small tributaries with the most significant being Moore Creek, Billings Creek, the West Fork of the Kickapoo, Reads Creek and Tainter Creek.
Wetlands have largely been drained for pasture and comprise a tiny portion of the lands in the Kickapoo River watershed, 0.8%, whereas agriculture accounts for 50.4% of the land use followed closely by forest land at 48%.
and the Kickapoo Valley Reserve form a continuous protected area. Most of the tributary streams and the Kickapoo River itself, upstream of Gays Mills
, are good trout habitat due to the baseflow from coldwater springs and watershed and stream projects carried out over the recent decades. The river "contains over 500 miles (804.7 km) of coldwater streams with populations of Brown trout
(Salmo trutta) and Brook trout
(Salvelinus fontinalis). Half of these streams have naturally reproducing trout populations.
Recently a movement called "Save Taryn's Beaver" was launched to save a family of beavers on Weister Creek
, a tributary of the Kickapoo. The beaver is a keystone species
, increasing biodiversity in its territory through creation of beaver ponds and wetlands. Not only are riparian habitats enlarged as the circumference of a beaver pond is much greater than the circumference of the two banks of a stream, but aquatic plants colonize newly available watery habitat. Insect, invertebrate, fish, mammal, and bird diversity are also expanded. Beavers benefit bird diversity in numerous ways. Trumpeter swan
s (Cygnus buccinator) and Canada geese
(Branta canadensis) often depend on beaver lodges as nesting sites. As trees are drowned by rising beaver impoundments they become ideal nesting sites for obligate cavity nesters such as wood duck
s (Aix sponsa), goldeneye
s (Bucephala spp.), mergansers (Mergus spp.), and owl
s (Titonidae, Strigidae). In addition, beaver ponds have been shown to increase the number of trout, their size, or both, in a study of brook trout
(Salvelinus fontinalis), rainbow trout
(Oncorhynchus mykiss) and brown trout
(Salmo trutta). These findings are consistent with a study of small streams in Sweden
, that found that brown trout were larger in beaver ponds compared with those in riffle
sections, and that beaver ponds provide habitat for larger trout in small streams during periods of drought. The importance of winter habitat to salmonids afforded by beaver ponds may be especially important (and underappreciated) in streams without deep pools or where ice cover makes contact with the bottom of shallow streams. Cutthroat trout
(Oncorhynchus clarki) and bull trout
(Salvelinus confluentus) were noted to overwinter in Montana beaver ponds, brook trout congregated in winter in New Brunswick and Wyoming beaver ponds, and coho salmon in Oregon beaver ponds.
In spite of the benefits of beaver to trout and bird abundance and diversity, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
continues to recommend removal of trees and brush from the banks of several Kickapoo river watershed streams to reduce beaver colonization.
The river has a relatively low capacity for water, leading it to quickly and frequently flooding after heavy rain. In the late 1960s, the frequent floods prompted the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to begin a dam project on the Kickapoo River near La Farge, Wisconsin
. The proposed dam would have created a 1,780 acre (7.2 km²), 12-mile (19 km) long reservoir to control downstream flooding. In preparation for the construction, the government used eminent domain
to buy 149 farms comprising 8,569 acres (35 km²) of land from mostly unwilling sellers. This land would have either been flooded by the dam or used as a tourist area around the lake. Construction of the dam began in 1971, amid heavy opposition from local residents. After many lawsuits and numerous environmental and economic studies highlighting the negative impact of the dam, the government elected to halt construction in 1975, after spending more than $19 million and building nearly half of the dam. The 8,569 acres (35 km²) of land bought by the government remained in the possession of the Corps of Engineers until 1996, when it was split and parts were given to the state of Wisconsin and the Ho-Chunk
Native American Tribe. The Kickapoo today is a popular canoe
ing river.
in 2007 and again from the June 2008 Midwest floods
. After several years of discussion, a planned relocation of the village began in 2010.
Wisconsin River
-External links:* * * , Wisconsin Historical Society* * * *...
in the state of Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. It is named for the Kickapoo
Kickapoo
The Kickapoo are an Algonquian-speaking Native American tribe. According to the Anishinaabeg, the name "Kickapoo" means "Stands here and there". It referred to the tribe's migratory patterns. The name can also mean "wanderer"...
Indians who occupied Wisconsin before the influx of white settlers in the early 19th century.
Watershed
The river begins midway between Wilton, WisconsinWilton, Wisconsin
Wilton is a village in Monroe County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 519 at the 2000 census. The village is located partially within the Town of Wilton and partially within the Town of Wellington.-Geography:...
and Mill Bluff State Park
Mill Bluff State Park
Mill Bluff State Park is a state park of Wisconsin, USA, preserving several prominent sandstone bluffs. The park is located in eastern Monroe and western Juneau counties, near the village of Camp Douglas, and is a unit of the Ice Age National Scientific Reserve. The park protects several...
and flows south through a deep valley cut into the hilly Driftless Zone of southwest Wisconsin. It empties into the Wisconsin River just south of Wauzeka, Wisconsin
Wauzeka, Wisconsin
Wauzeka is a village in Crawford County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 768 at the 2000 census. The village is located within the Town of Wauzeka.-Geography:Wauzeka is located at ....
. Kickapoo is an Algonquian
Algonquian languages
The Algonquian languages also Algonkian) are a subfamily of Native American languages which includes most of the languages in the Algic language family. The name of the Algonquian language family is distinguished from the orthographically similar Algonquin dialect of the Ojibwe language, which is a...
word meaning “one who goes here, then there”, a fitting name as the river is very crooked, frequently doubling back on itself as it flows through the Wisconsin landscape. Because of the extremely crooked path of the river, its source north of Wilton is just 60 miles (96.6 km) from its mouth at Wauzeka, although the river is nearly 130 miles (209.2 km) long. The Kickapoo, the longest tributary of the Wisconsin River, drains over 800 square miles (2,072 km²) of land in Monroe
Monroe County, Wisconsin
Monroe County is a county in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of 2000, the population was 40,899. Its county seat is Sparta.-Geography:According to the U.S...
, Vernon
Vernon County, Wisconsin
Vernon County is a county in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of 2009, the population estimate was 29,324. Its county seat is Viroqua.-History:...
, Richland, and Crawford counties. The Kickapoo River watershed encompasses 492000 acres (1,991.1 km²) in southwest Wisconsin.
There are many small tributaries with the most significant being Moore Creek, Billings Creek, the West Fork of the Kickapoo, Reads Creek and Tainter Creek.
Wetlands have largely been drained for pasture and comprise a tiny portion of the lands in the Kickapoo River watershed, 0.8%, whereas agriculture accounts for 50.4% of the land use followed closely by forest land at 48%.
Ecology and conservation
Wildcat Mountain State ParkWildcat Mountain State Park
Wildcat Mountain State Park is a state park in Vernon County, Wisconsin in the United States. The park is on the Kickapoo River in Wisconsin's Driftless Area. Sandstone bluffs topped with limestone, two of which are Wildcat Mountain and Mount Pisgah, provide views over the narrow valley of the...
and the Kickapoo Valley Reserve form a continuous protected area. Most of the tributary streams and the Kickapoo River itself, upstream of Gays Mills
Gays Mills, Wisconsin
Gays Mills is a village in Crawford County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 625 at the 2000 census.- History :In 1847 James B. Gay, a native of Indiana, built a dam and a sawmill on the Kickapoo River, which proved to be a flourishing success. When his health started to fail, James...
, are good trout habitat due to the baseflow from coldwater springs and watershed and stream projects carried out over the recent decades. The river "contains over 500 miles (804.7 km) of coldwater streams with populations of Brown trout
Brown trout
The brown trout and the sea trout are fish of the same species....
(Salmo trutta) and Brook trout
Brook trout
The brook trout, Salvelinus fontinalis, is a species of fish in the salmon family of order Salmoniformes. In many parts of its range, it is known as the speckled trout or squaretail. A potamodromous population in Lake Superior are known as coaster trout or, simply, as coasters...
(Salvelinus fontinalis). Half of these streams have naturally reproducing trout populations.
Recently a movement called "Save Taryn's Beaver" was launched to save a family of beavers on Weister Creek
Weister Creek
Weister Creek is a stream, some long, in Vernon County in southwestern Wisconsin in the United States and is a tributary of the Kickapoo River. It lies in the Driftless Area which is characterized by hills and valleys apparently missed by the last glacial advance during the Pleistocene...
, a tributary of the Kickapoo. The beaver is a keystone species
Keystone species
A keystone species is a species that has a disproportionately large effect on its environment relative to its abundance. Such species play a critical role in maintaining the structure of an ecological community, affecting many other organisms in an ecosystem and helping to determine the types and...
, increasing biodiversity in its territory through creation of beaver ponds and wetlands. Not only are riparian habitats enlarged as the circumference of a beaver pond is much greater than the circumference of the two banks of a stream, but aquatic plants colonize newly available watery habitat. Insect, invertebrate, fish, mammal, and bird diversity are also expanded. Beavers benefit bird diversity in numerous ways. Trumpeter swan
Trumpeter Swan
The Trumpeter Swan, Cygnus buccinator, is the largest native North American bird, if measured in terms of weight and length, and is the largest living waterfowl species on earth. It is the North American counterpart of the European Whooper Swan.-Description:Males typically measure from and weigh...
s (Cygnus buccinator) and Canada geese
Canada Goose
The Canada Goose is a wild goose belonging to the genus Branta, which is native to arctic and temperate regions of North America, having a black head and neck, white patches on the face, and a brownish-gray body....
(Branta canadensis) often depend on beaver lodges as nesting sites. As trees are drowned by rising beaver impoundments they become ideal nesting sites for obligate cavity nesters such as wood duck
Wood Duck
The Wood Duck or Carolina Duck is a species of duck found in North America. It is one of the most colourful of North American waterfowl.-Description:...
s (Aix sponsa), goldeneye
Goldeneye (duck)
Goldeneye are small tree-hole nesting northern hemisphere seaducks belonging to the genus Bucephala. Their plumage is black and white, and they eat fish, crustaceans and other marine life....
s (Bucephala spp.), mergansers (Mergus spp.), and owl
Owl
Owls are a group of birds that belong to the order Strigiformes, constituting 200 bird of prey species. Most are solitary and nocturnal, with some exceptions . Owls hunt mostly small mammals, insects, and other birds, although a few species specialize in hunting fish...
s (Titonidae, Strigidae). In addition, beaver ponds have been shown to increase the number of trout, their size, or both, in a study of brook trout
Brook trout
The brook trout, Salvelinus fontinalis, is a species of fish in the salmon family of order Salmoniformes. In many parts of its range, it is known as the speckled trout or squaretail. A potamodromous population in Lake Superior are known as coaster trout or, simply, as coasters...
(Salvelinus fontinalis), rainbow trout
Rainbow trout
The rainbow trout is a species of salmonid native to tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. The steelhead is a sea run rainbow trout usually returning to freshwater to spawn after 2 to 3 years at sea. In other words, rainbow trout and steelhead trout are the same species....
(Oncorhynchus mykiss) and brown trout
Brown trout
The brown trout and the sea trout are fish of the same species....
(Salmo trutta). These findings are consistent with a study of small streams in Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, that found that brown trout were larger in beaver ponds compared with those in riffle
Riffle
A Riffle is a short, relatively shallow and coarse-bedded length of stream over which the stream flows at higher velocity and higher turbulence than it normally does in comparison to a pool....
sections, and that beaver ponds provide habitat for larger trout in small streams during periods of drought. The importance of winter habitat to salmonids afforded by beaver ponds may be especially important (and underappreciated) in streams without deep pools or where ice cover makes contact with the bottom of shallow streams. Cutthroat trout
Cutthroat trout
The cutthroat trout is a species of freshwater fish in the salmon family of order Salmoniformes. It is one of the many fish species colloquially known as trout...
(Oncorhynchus clarki) and bull trout
Bull trout
The bull trout, Salvelinus confluentus, is a char of the family Salmonidae native to northwestern North America. Historically, S. confluentus has been known as the "Dolly Varden" , but was re-classified as a separate species in 1980. Bull trout are listed as a threatened species under the U.S....
(Salvelinus confluentus) were noted to overwinter in Montana beaver ponds, brook trout congregated in winter in New Brunswick and Wyoming beaver ponds, and coho salmon in Oregon beaver ponds.
In spite of the benefits of beaver to trout and bird abundance and diversity, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is an agency of the state of Wisconsin. Its purpose is to preserve, protect, manage and maintain the natural resources of the state. The WDNR has the authority to set policy for itself and to recommend regulations for approval by the State Legislature...
continues to recommend removal of trees and brush from the banks of several Kickapoo river watershed streams to reduce beaver colonization.
Demise of La Farge Dam
La Farge, Wisconsin
La Farge is a village along the Kickapoo River in Vernon County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 775 at the 2000 census. The residential community of Dreamtime Village is located near LaFarge.-Transportation:...
. The proposed dam would have created a 1,780 acre (7.2 km²), 12-mile (19 km) long reservoir to control downstream flooding. In preparation for the construction, the government used eminent domain
Eminent domain
Eminent domain , compulsory purchase , resumption/compulsory acquisition , or expropriation is an action of the state to seize a citizen's private property, expropriate property, or seize a citizen's rights in property with due monetary compensation, but without the owner's consent...
to buy 149 farms comprising 8,569 acres (35 km²) of land from mostly unwilling sellers. This land would have either been flooded by the dam or used as a tourist area around the lake. Construction of the dam began in 1971, amid heavy opposition from local residents. After many lawsuits and numerous environmental and economic studies highlighting the negative impact of the dam, the government elected to halt construction in 1975, after spending more than $19 million and building nearly half of the dam. The 8,569 acres (35 km²) of land bought by the government remained in the possession of the Corps of Engineers until 1996, when it was split and parts were given to the state of Wisconsin and the Ho-Chunk
Ho-Chunk
The Ho-Chunk, also known as Winnebago, are a tribe of Native Americans, native to what is now Wisconsin and Illinois. There are two federally recognized Ho-Chunk tribes, the Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin and Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska....
Native American Tribe. The Kickapoo today is a popular canoe
Canoe
A canoe or Canadian canoe is a small narrow boat, typically human-powered, though it may also be powered by sails or small electric or gas motors. Canoes are usually pointed at both bow and stern and are normally open on top, but can be decked over A canoe (North American English) or Canadian...
ing river.
Flooding
The Kickapoo River flooded over its banks in Gays MillsGays Mills, Wisconsin
Gays Mills is a village in Crawford County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 625 at the 2000 census.- History :In 1847 James B. Gay, a native of Indiana, built a dam and a sawmill on the Kickapoo River, which proved to be a flourishing success. When his health started to fail, James...
in 2007 and again from the June 2008 Midwest floods
June 2008 Midwest floods
The June 2008 Midwestern United States floods were flooding events which affected portions of the Midwest United States. After months of heavy precipitation, a number of rivers overflowed their banks for several weeks at a time and broke through levees at numerous locations. Flooding continued...
. After several years of discussion, a planned relocation of the village began in 2010.
External links
- Kickapoo Valley Reserve, main page, Retrieved April 29, 2010
- Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Retrieved July 22, 2007
- Valley Stewardship Network is a nonprofit watershed group working to preserve and protect the natural resources of the Kickapoo River area.
- KickTime is a community website that has a focus on events and news of concern to the residents of the Kickapoo Valley.
- Kickapedia is a community website that serves as a directory of local commerce and nonprofit groups in the Kickapoo Valley and wider region.
- Site for "Save Taryn's Beaver"
- "Worth a Dam" (beaver information and educational site)