A River Runs Through Us: A Water Quality Strategy for the Land and Waters of the Red Cedar River Basin

Abstract

The Red Cedar river runs through a large portion of northwest Wisconsin, eventually draining into the Chippewa River about thirteen miles south of Menomonie. Its watershed is nearly 1,900 square miles and includes parts of Barron, Dunn, Chippewa, Washburn, Sawyer, Polk, Rusk, St. Croix, Burnett and Pierce Counties. The watershed features approximately 40,000 acres of open water and approximately 4,900 miles of rivers and streams. Because the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) for the Red Cedar River watershed (HUC 07050007) was written specifically for Lakes Tainter and Menomin near the bottom of the watershed, this strategy will focus on the portion of the entire Red Cedar River watershed that drains to these two lakes. As the TMDL explains, this area excludes just over 100,000 acres of the Red Cedar River watershed comprised of the area below the Lake Menomin Dam, and also the Wilson Creek watershed, which empties into Lake Menomin just above and near the dam. Being so near the dam, the flow from Wilson Creek is not considered to have much of a nutrient effect on the larger lake. It should be noted that the Red Cedar River is considered impaired below Lakes Tainter and Menomin as well, but the TMDL was written only for these lakes, and that will be the focus of this strategy. However, work will also be done below these lakes in an effort to improve water quality in the entire Red Cedar River watershed. The TMDL portion of the Red Cedar River watershed is shown in Figure 1.1 and includes the 53 smaller, twelve-digit hydrologic unit code (HUC 12) watersheds. Land cover in the watershed (see Table 1) is dominated by forest in the far north, and agricultural land in much of the rest of the watershed. A map of the land cover classes is shown in Figure 1.2. Although all figures and data shown in the remainder of this strategy are for the area of the Red Cedar River watershed above Lakes Tainter and Menomin, which is not comprehensive for the entire Red Cedar River drainage, it will still be referred to as the Red Cedar River watershed.