MONITORING BACKWATERS OF THE LOWER WISCONSIN RIVER

The lower Wisconsin Riverway is comprised of 148 kilometers of free-flowing river, 182 square kilometers of publicly owned land, and is designated as a Ramsar Wetland of International Importance.  There are numerous sloughs, backwaters, and floodplain lakes within the riverway that serve as important habitat for a number of Wisconsin’s rare and threatened plants and animals.  Due to their unique characteristics, these waterbodies do not fit into standard river or lake assessment protocols and lack data.  We developed a monitoring strategy to better understand the fish and plant communities and water quality within these waterbodies on a gradient of backwaters that differ in size, orientation, and connectivity to the lower Wisconsin River.  We investigated temporal trends by monitoring Long Lake, Bakkens Pond, and Helena Lake every year since 2021. We also investigated spatial heterogeneity between backwaters by monitoring three additional waterbodies in each of 2022 and 2023.  Water quality differed over time and by location, particularly by orientation.  Fish assemblages depend on connectivity to the river; Starhead Topminnow (Fundulus dispar), a state threatened species, and Lake Chubsucker (Erimyzon sucetta) a state special concern species, were identified at a majority of the waterbodies monitored.  In most cases, the timed meander survey was the best method to assess the quality of these shallow open water wetlands.  This baseline information will be used to identify future monitoring and management priorities within the riverway.

Primary Presenter: Kimberly Kuber, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (Kimberly.Kuber@wisconsin.gov)

Authors:

Kimberly Kuber, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources  (Kimberly.Kuber@wisconsin.gov)

Melissa Gibson, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources  (Melissa.Gibson@wisconsin.gov)

Shawn Giblin, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources  (Shawn.Giblin@wisconsin.gov)

Camille Bruhn, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources  (Camille.Bruhn@wisconsin.gov)