DCPSHL-2017-00094 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Brooklyn Wildlife Area Ditch fill Project Brooklyn Wildlife Area is 2608 acres of state-owned land, with an additional 488 acres of leased or eased lands in Dane and Green County. It provides a variety of uses, including hiking, binding, biking, fishing, trapping, and hunting. Story Creek runs through the Brooklyn Wildlife Area and is a Class II trout stream with naturally reproducing brook trout populations. The goal of this project is to improve the hydrology of the creek for brook trout thereby improving their habitat and increasing the population. With these improvements, angler access and fishing opportunities will also be created. The project boundaries are outlined in the accompanying maps near Bellbrook Road (GPS point, 42.875104, -89.46155). Historically, the area was heavily farmed and ditched to improve agricultural yields by ditching and channelizing the creek. The low gradient nature of the stream corridor and beaver activity have created a braided, ditched, ponded. and otherwise fragmented stream channel. These dynamics divert water from what would be a cold water main channel into several wide, warmer, braided ditches/ ponds rendering the habitat less suitable to brook trout. We will restore the main channel connectivity into a more natural brook trout habitat by filling the several ditches that run along each side of the main channel of the creek (see photos and map). By filling in the adjacent ditches that divert cold water from the main channel with mineralized clay, the hydrology will be improved by forcing that water into the main channel again: increasing flows, velocity, depth, and decreasing temperature-all of which will benefit brook trout populations. The project will occur on the stream at the Bellbrook Road crossing. The major ditches we will address are on the south side of the road but there is a smaller ditch network on the north side that we will also address if time and funding allow. Donor soil and material to fill the ditches will be taken from a State owned ag bean field on the north side of Bellbrook Road. We've conferred with the wildlife biologist on the property and the donor site will be become a wetland scrape. It is designed to be 4 feet deep with tapered banks at a 1:3 slope. This will not only serve as habitat for migratory birds but also as another water source for other wildlife. Our estimates indicate we will need approximately 7800-8500 cubic meters of fill from the donor site (see attached maps) and we will use an excavator to collect material from the borrow site and track dumps to transport donor soil and fill the ditches. Our long-term plan for this property after the lateral ditches are filled and flow is reestablished in the main channel is to return and re-meander the stream following historical photos (see attached photos).