Baraboo River Watershed RCPP

Melissa Keenan, Resource Conservationist

Sauk County Conservation, Planning, and Zoning Department

Baraboo River Watershed RCPP Partnerships

Columbia County Land & Water Conservation Department Vernon County Land & Water Conservation Department Monroe County Land Conservation Department Juneau County Land Conservation Department Richland County Land Conservation Department University of Wisconsin Extension Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade & Consumer Protection Wisconsin Land and Water Conservation Association, Inc. Madison Area Technical College – Farm Business Program Lake Redstone Protection District Lake Wisconsin Alliance River Alliance of Wisconsin Aldo Leopold Foundation The Nature Conservancy Trout Unlimited

Baraboo River Watershed RCPP Land use varies throughout the watershed

Diverse Agriculture Cold & Warm Water Fisheries Baraboo Range

Baraboo River Watershed RCPP Primary Resource

Concern Water Quality

Degradation High Sediment and

Phosphorus levels contributing to surface waters.

Baraboo River mean total phosphorus = 0.259 mg/l (state standard = 0.1 mg/l)

Baraboo River Watershed RCPP Secondary Resource Concern

Degraded Plant Condition Absence of adequate, vegetative systems in areas

susceptible to soil erosion. Increased row cropping systems & decreased perennial

vegetation

Baraboo River Watershed RCPP Project Objectives

Preventing soil loss on cropland and pastures Reducing agricultural runoff to surface and ground

water Improving aquatic and wildlife habitat

Baraboo River Watershed RCPP Identifying Priority Farms

Erosion Vulnerability Analysis for Agricultural Lands (EVAAL)

Identifies areas within a watershed which may be vulnerable to soil erosion

Assesses risk for sheet and rill erosion using USLE and gully erosion using the Stream Power Index (SPI) while de-prioritizing internally drained areas (IDA)

Produces an erosion vulnerability index value which can be used to prioritize fields within the watershed

Baraboo River Watershed RCPP

Image: dnr.wi.gov/topic/nonpoint/evaal.html

Baraboo River Watershed RCPP

Baraboo River Watershed RCPP

Baraboo River Watershed RCPP Goals on Priority Farms

Soil loss will be addressed on 50% of priority farms All cropland and pastures will be planned at or below

tolerable soil losses using RUSLE2 Agricultural runoff will be addressed on priority

farms Cropland and pastureland will meet 590 standard using

SNAP Plus software. Barnyards will be planned at or below acceptable

Wisconsin Barnyard Runoff Model (BARNY) levels.

Baraboo River Watershed RCPP Project Actions

Outreach & Education

Technical Assistance Financial Assistance Stream Monitoring

Baraboo River Watershed RCPP Stream Monitoring

Total Phosphorus & Total Suspended Solids (TSS) Baseline data collected at nine

sites 2006-2012 Samples will be collected

during final year of project (2019)

Additional sampling will occur throughout the project period

Fish, Macroinvertebrates, dissolved oxygen (DO) Two cool water stretches on

the main stem of the Baraboo River

Six cold water tributaries within the Baraboo River Watershed

http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/TMDLs/WisconsinRiver/

Baraboo River Watershed RCPP

Baraboo River Watershed RCPP Measureable Outcomes

Preventing soil loss on cropland and pastures Total Suspended Solids RUSLE2, Direct Volume Method

Reducing agricultural runoff to surface and ground water Total Phosphorus BARNY, SNAP Plus

Improving aquatic and wildlife habitat Dedicate 10% of funds for improving aquatic and

wildlife habitat Fish, Macroinvertebrate, DO sampling

Questions??