Parker Creek Update —Greg Dietl, chapter Vice President
Work on Parker Creek last winter, spring, and summer, included 3922 feet of stream and bank restoration. Sixty-one structures were built and placed. Work on Parker in 2009 year was pretty intensive and included a lot of restoration of steep banks with hand seeding and mulching. It looks like there will be more work on Parker over the winter and into the spring and summer of 2010. Stay tuned for announcements about winter work on Parker Creek. We have had excellent volunteer numbers on Parker.
The DNR and volunteers worked from the crossing at County J downstream to Pleasant Avenue, about one mile of stream. We averaged 12 volunteers per night. Approximately 40 structures were built and placed, many box elders were removed; a lot of seeding and mulching of stream banks had to be done by hand because of the meanders and some steep hill sides. Randy’s renovated mulcher continued to work without a hitch.
The Stream
Parker Creek is an important spring creek tributary to the Kinnickinnic River. Parker creek is known to be an excellent fishery for wild and native brook trout populations. In May of 1998 there was a catastophic fish kill on 4.5 miles of the creek. Due to the aplication of liquid manure, It is estimated that 3,500-4000 trout were killed. Downstream, at the confluence with the Kinnickknnic, it is estimated that 4,000 browns from the Kinni also perished.
In the Parker Creek case, the guidelines and practices that were acceptable in Wisconsin were not broken. This essentially "legal" application of manure resulted in a fish kill of almost 10,000 trout, not to mention the other aquatic life destroyed. How can a "legal" application in Wisconsin result in such a serious fish and invertebrate kill?
Kiap-TU-Wish continues its hard work and efforts to protect and restoring this important resource. Photos below show the project work.
Thanks to the very steady crew of volunteers who showed up and worked at Parker Creek last winter and through the spring and summer
Parker Creek after bank stabilization and seeding/mulching
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