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Fish Creek landowners slow the flow of runoff through CBAP project

December 20, 2012

Anne and Craig Wickman have a passion for wildlife. With the help of the Chequamegon Bay Area Partnership(CBAP), the Bayfield County couple put their passion to use with a special "pond project" this year. CBAP organizations coordinated and funded the wetland restoration project to involve landowners in ongoing efforts to restore theLake Superior Watershed.

The Wickmans, who own 170 acres near Fish Creek, called the Bayfield County Land and Water Conservation Department looking for more information about wetland restoration on their property.

"The idea with the ponds is to provide wildlife habitat, particularly for ducks and geese," says Craig Wickman.

Not only would the ponds provide an aquatic habitat for waterfowl, but they would also act as a buffer for water running off the land.

The wetland restoration project was funded in part through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI). The Bayfield County Land and Water Conservation Department and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service - CBAP members and lead coordinators of the project - also provided cost sharing for the ponds.

The Wickman wetlands mark the beginning of the Fish Creek Partnership, a new CBAP initiative that works with landowners on "slow the flow" projects. The initiative was created as part of the Fish Creek Watershed Restoration and Management Plan. The Ashland County Land and Water Conservation Department developed the plan to address changes in land use that have contributed to increased runoff.

"Over the course of a year, Fish Creek delivers more than 1,000 dump truck loads of sediment to Chequamegon Bay-and most of the sediment reaches Chequamegon Bay over a handful of days when it rains or during snowmelt," says research hydrologist Faith Fitzpatrick with the U.S. Geological Survey.

One year later, the Wickmans now have seven ponds of varying depths, shapes and sizes on their property.

"It was one of our best projects this year," says Ted Koehler, a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Koehler says the wetlands have helped reduce the rate at which sediment flows into the Fish Creek Slough, a 1200-acre coastal wetland that links the watershed to the Chequamegon Bay. At the same time, a variety of species are thriving in the wetland ponds, including marsh wrens, sora rails and green herons.

The Fish Creek Partnership hopes to encourage landowners to find and implement more solutions to sediment issues. In addition to wetland restoration projects, the partnership is encouraging landowners to use rain barrels, tree plantings and many other techniques to maintain or improve conditions in the watershed.

The Chequamegon Bay Area Partnership is a unique coalition of federal, state and local natural resource agencies, tribes, municipalities, nonprofit organizations, county land and water conservation professionals, Northland College staff and faculty. CBAP collaborates to provide more effective and efficient natural resource management in the Chequamegon Bay region of Lake Superior. For more information and a list of the partners, visit the CBAP website at https://www.northland.edu/cbap.htm.