Wisconsin Council of Trout Unlimited NONPROFIT ORG. 1423 Storytown Road U.S. POSTAGE News and Views from Wisconsin Trout Unlimited Oregon, WI 53575 PAID wicouncil.tu.org PERMIT NO. 1 MADISON, WI Wisconsin Trout Fall 2018 Disastrous floods becoming the new normal Photos by Duke Welter by Duke Photos JERSEY VALLEY DAM BREACHED DESTRUCTIVE FLOOD WATERS REACHED AMAZING HEIGHTS Six flood control dams failed in Vernon and Monroe counties, leading to Ontario was one of many towns inundated by torrential rains and truly evacuations of downstream communities and rapid water level increases. The destructive flood waters. Flooding devastated low-lying areas in the Coon Jersey Valley Dam in Vernon County, shown here, was among them. Creek, Kickapoo River and Baraboo River watersheds. By Duke Welter increases in a matter of minutes. ers checked out damage to Black and breaches of the Jersey Valley Emergency workers in Vernon Earth Creek near Black Earth and and Mlsna dams in the West Fork Record-breaking rainfalls in late County, such as volunteer firefight- Mazomanie. We haven’t yet visited led to heavy flushes of water and August and early September tested ers and EMTs, police and DNR Black Earth or the Sugar River, more damage in those subwater- communities, infrastructure and wardens, evacuated more than 350 both of which carried significant sheds. In addition, techniques used trout streams in the heart of the people with boats and wheel load- amounts of rainfall, but hope others in the past weren’t engineered to Driftless Area. Rebuilding will go ers. A dozen valley-floor towns will visit and report. withstand such heavy flows, and on, with help from disaster funding, faced significant losses of homes In many of the tributaries to couldn’t survive this time. but the events have left many peo- and personal property. those larger streams, restoration As a result of the heavy flush of ple wondering what the future holds In Readstown after the first work has been under way since the water down Rullands, older work for this area. storms August 28, I watched a resi- 1970s and possibly before. Some of above and below its confluence with A statewide 24-hour rainfall re- dent paddle his kayak across the that work is still in place and has Timber Coulee was badly damaged. cord of 15.33 inches was set in mid- flooded lawns to check the condi- been doing its job. Some older work on the West Fork August near Cross Plains. Over the tion of his and his mother’s homes. Some of that work suffered badly of the Kickapoo also gave way, es- next 10 days, up to 23 inches of rain- They were both mostly ruined by in these floods. Why? Several rea- pecially downstream of the Highway fall was measured in Elroy in the the mud and water, he said. sons. We’ve seen a dramatic in- P bridge below Bloomingdale Road West Branch of the Baraboo River. How did the many restoration crease in the number of short- and above the Highway S bridge at Nearly similar amounts were noted projects in the region fare? With duration, high-intensity rain events Avalanche, and some older work on in Ontario, Westby and other towns. roads and bridges still under repair, in the last decade. Bohemian Valley suffered, too. But Flooding devastated low-lying it’s still difficult to get a full picture, In other recent storms, work in in contrast, more recent work on homes in the Coon Creek, Kicka- but we’ve toured many of the affect- higher-gradient upper reaches of Coon Creek and lower Timber Cou- poo River and Baraboo River wa- ed areas and can report the impacts, streams tended to have more dam- lee held up very well, in the Bob tersheds. some devastating and some quite age (Reads Creek, Harrison Hol- Jackson reach and the Neperud Six flood control dams failed in manageable. On September 11 low) than the middle reaches where property above Coon Valley. Vernon and Monroe counties, lead- Dave Vetrano joined me for a tour floods lose some of their force. In ing to evacuations of downstream of the Coon Creek, West Fork and this set of storms, a dam failure in communities and rapid water level Kickapoo watersheds. Earlier, oth- the upper end of Rullands Coulee See FLOODING, page 8 Council leaders at National meeting Do you know By Kim McCarthy, are making donations to recovery efforts and contribut- someone who National Leadership Council Representative ing to a local economy that has been hit hard by the fires. We have been thanked numerous times for com- deserves an I’m writing this NLC Report from Redding, Califor- ing. nia. Yes, this is the Redding, California that has been in The lunch speaker today was Chuck Bonham. Bon- award? the news this summer for the huge wildfires that at one ham leads California’s Department of Game and Fish, The Wisconsin State Council of point swept into the west side of Redding and destroyed and reported on the incredible impacts California is see- TU is seeking nominations of indi- more than 1,100 homes. The fires are mostly contained, ing due to climate change. He also reported that his viduals, groupss and businesses for but smoke is very present and red-flag fire warnings state is spending billions of dollars to make their re- its annual awards. come and go as the wind rises and falls. Signs thanking sources as climate-resilient as possible. It was a frighten- Awards are presented at the the fire fighters are posted on many buildings and just ing, yet uplifting, speech acknowledging the very Council’s annual banquet and about everyone knows someone who lost a home. realness of climate change, while outlining an aggressive awards presentation in February. I really admire the persistence of TU in sticking with effort by government to fight back. For information on the awards, the plan to come to Redding. The people here appreci- See NATIONAL MEETING, page 9 please go to page 5. ate the fact that we chose not to cancel. TU members Fall 2018 Wisconsin Trout Page 2 Chairman’s Column 2018 Summer wrap up By Linn Beck or that program, and no one is ex- pected to give to everything. The By the time this goes to print, a only thing we ask is that hopefully lot of our chapters will be wrapping you can support your local chapters. up their summer season of work With the banquet season starting days, youth programs and chapter shortly, it is a great opportunity to picnics. A big thank you goes out to come out and support your local all who participated in these activi- chapter and then hopefully make it ties. The efforts and hard work of all to the State Council banquet the really demonstrates the support for first Saturday in February. These TU. banquets are a great opportunity to I know a lot of our chapters have thank all the people who work hard DNR people on their membership to improve our watersheds and pro- rosters and they deserve a lot of vide an opportunity for our youth to praise for their help on our work learn more about fishing and con- days and youth programs. After a servation. Another opportunity that long work week, these folks still take banquet provide is a chance to meet the time to come out for Saturday other members and develop rela- workdays and give the chapters the tionships to learn about other direction and equipment to make streams and fishing opportunities. their workdays a success. And in the We have another season starting: case of our WITU Youth Camp, the the legislative season. We haven't guys from the Wild Rose office gave heard any reports about where this up their weekend to present, mentor year will compare to the past years, and guide the youth to a great expe- but there will certainly be issues rience. So, if you know any of these we'll need to stay on top of. When people, make sure you thank them you see our emails asking to you to for all they do for our resources, our act, please take the time to do so. youth and our chapters. Again, thank you for another Now that the fun portion of our great summer, and let's have an work is finishing up, we turn our fo- even better fall banquet season. cus to the fundraising time of the Please support your local chapters year. A lot of these projects and and take in a chapter meeting. programs can't be successful or en- Tight Lines joyable without the funds to make them possible. I know we all get in- undated with requests to give to this Popular Driftless Projects Bus Next Council Tour filling up fast meeting October 6 Still room to sign up for the October 16 event The State Council will hold its fall meeting on Saturday, October 6 in Rhinelander. The meeting will be held from 9 a.m. until about 2 p.m. at the James Williams Middle School, 915 Acacia Lane. The Council requests that each chapter have at least one member in attendance. If you plan to attend, please inform Council Chair Linn Beck so we TU PRESIDENT CHRIS WOOD AT A DRIFTLESS AREA TOUR can estimate food for lunch, Wisconsin’s inland trout season and the losses suffered by river val- closes Monday, October 15. What ley towns. We’ll hear from stream which is always provided at better way to follow the season’s project designers, expert equipment end than to take an informative bus operators, biologists and others con- Council meetings.