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Technical Report 006 • 2020 Water-quality indicators of human impacts to the wetlands of Door County, Wisconsin David Hart Sarah Gatzke Michael Grimm Nicole Van Helden Technical Report 006 • 2020 Water-quality indicators of human impacts to the wetlands of Door County, Wisconsin David Hart Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey University of Wisconsin–Madison Division of Extension Sarah Gatzke The Nature Conservancy Michael Grimm The Nature Conservancy Nicole Van Helden The Nature Conservancy Suggested citation: Hart, D., Gatszke, S., Grimm, M., and Van Helden, N., 2020, Water-quality indicators of human impacts to the wetlands of Door County, Wisconsin: Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey Technical Report 006, 47 p., https://wgnhs.wisc.edu/pubs/000974/. Published by: Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey 3817 Mineral Point Road • Madison, Wisconsin 53705 608.263.7389 • www.WisconsinGeologicalSurvey.org Kenneth R. Bradbury, Director and State Geologist ISSN: 2159-9351 ISBN: 978-0-88169-976-0 Photo credits Front: Mink River Estuary, Peter Chase Back: Three Springs, David Hart All other photos by David Hart, except figure 4a (p. 11) by Kari Hagenow, and the MR3 well (p. 22) and the Ridges (p. 43) by Peter Chase. Contents Introduction . 1 Photographs Wetland sampling locations, arranged Study design and methods . 3 from north to south in Door County. Site descriptions . 3 Mink River Estuary Water sampling. 3 Mink River Big Spring . 13 Flow measurements . 10 MR3 wells . 22 Monitoring well reconstruction. 12 MR4 wells . 23 Wetland capture zone analysis . 13 Davis Spring . 19 Three Springs Results . 15 Three Springs . 29 Water quality—field and Piel Creek laboratory results. 15 Piel Creek . 32 Flow measurements . 30 Ridges Sanctuary Zones of contribution and The Ridges . 43 land-use analysis . 32 Dunes Lake Discussion . 39 Dunes Lake NE Spring . 42 Dunes Lake West Spring . 47 Conclusions and Shivering Sands Steel Bridge . 45 recommendations . 43 Gardner Marsh Gardner Marsh South Spring . 46 Acknowledgments . 43 Gardner Marsh Spring . 46 References . 44 Appendix A: Water sampling results . 46 Appendix B: Project data . 47 vi WAT E R - QUALITY I N D I C ATO R S OF HUMAN IMPACTS TO THE WETLANDS OF DOOR COUNTY Figures 11a. Mink River Estuary, showing Tables 1. Wetlands, rivers, and streams zones of contribution, land 1. Field parameters in sampled in Door County . .1 use, and residences (2017) . 33 wetland springs, streams, and 2a. Mink River Estuary and 11b. Three Springs, showing zones groundwater wells . 16 sampling points . .4 of contribution, land use, and 2. Major ions in sampled wetland residences (2017) . 34 2b. Three Springs wetland and springs, surface waters, and sampling points . .5 11c. Piel Creek, showing zones of groundwater. 20 contribution, land use, and 2c. Piel Creek wetland and 3. Concentrations of residences (2017) . 35 sampling points . .6 pharmaceuticals and personal 11d. The Ridges wetlands, showing care products in sampled 2d. The Ridges Sanctuary wetland zones of contribution, land wetland springs, surface and sampling points . .7 use, and residences (2017) . 36 waters, and groundwater. 24 2e. Dunes Lake, wetlands, and 11e. Dunes Lake, showing zones 4. Concentrations of pesticides sampling points . .8 of contribution, land use, and in sampled wetland springs, 2f. Gardner Marsh and sampling residences (2017) . 37 surface waters, groundwater . 26 points . .9 11f. Gardner Marsh, showing 5. Water-quality indicators in 3a. For springs, tubing was placed zones of contribution, land sampled wetland springs, at the vent . 10 use, and residences (2017) . 38 surface waters, and groundwater. 28 3b. For streams, tubing was 12. Plot of percent land in placed in the center third of ZOCs in corn versus nitrate 6. Stream flows into and out of the stream’s width and the concentration seen in spring Three Springs and center third of the stream’s discharge . 42 Gardner Marsh . 31 depth . 10 13. Plot of total phosphorus 7. Areas, number of residences, 4a. Mink River Big Spring during related to residential density . 42 and percent area in crops in low water levels in 2014 . 11 ZOCs for the study wetlands . 31 4b Mink River Big Spring during 8. Summary of water-quality high water levels in 2018 . 11 indicators in spring discharge 5. Stream flow measurement and surface water samples . 39 downstream from Davis 9. Correlation coefficients (r) Spring . 11 for land-use parameters and 6. Monitoring well construction water-quality indicators . 40 for wells MR3 and MR4 . 12 7. ZOCs and sample locations for Mink River Big Spring and Davis Spring in the Mink River Estuary . 14 8. Conceptual model of differing heads and water chemistry observed in wells MR3 shallow and deep . 15 9. Stiff diagrams for surface water, groundwater, and spring discharge samples . 18 10. Cross plot showing correlation between calcium concentrations and conductivity . 19 WISCONSIN GEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY SURVEY 1 Introduction etlands are areas where the We selected six representative were collected from springs dis- water table is at or near the wetlands for contaminant sampling charging into each wetland. We also Wsurface for much of the year and flow measurements made over collected groundwater samples from with plant species adapted to wet soil the course of a year (September wells and surface water samples from conditions. Wetlands exist between 2017–June 2018). Those wetlands are streams at locations near some of the terrestrial and aquatic systems and Mink River Estuary, Three Springs, Piel wetlands. are important for water purification Creek, the Ridges, Dunes Lake, and The six study wetlands were chosen and providing plant and animal Gardner Marsh (fig. 1). These wetlands because they had been previously habitat. Door County, the narrow ranged in ecological quality from high studied or were important habitat. peninsula in eastern Wisconsin, is quality with a Ramsar designation The Mink River Estuary, Three Springs, home to numerous wetlands, many of (Ramsar Sites Information Service, Piel Creek, the Ridges, and Gardner which are fed by groundwater. Poor- 2015)—Mink River Estuary—to Marsh were all identified as habitat quality groundwater discharging to severely degraded by excess nutri- for the Hine’s emerald dragonfly, an a wetland can alter the ecology of a ents—Dunes Lake. Water samples insect on the federal and Wisconsin wetland and harm native plant and animal communities. Protecting and sustaining these wetlands and the Figure 1. Wetlands, rivers, and streams in Door County. The six wetlands in the habitat they provide must include study are labeled. consideration of groundwater quality. The addition, or loading, of nutrients and contaminants to Door County’s coastal wetlands may support the Washington invasion and spread of aggressive Island non-native plants (Surratt and others, 2012) and may harm the viability of Wetlands Gills Rock the population of the endangered Europe Populated Hine’s emerald dragonflies. Ellison Bay Lake In most of Door County, private septic 42 system effluent and landscape/agri- Sister Bay Mink River Estuary Chambers cultural chemicals have the potential Island Ephraim Three Springs to move through the thin soil layer into the underlying karst bedrock Fish Creek and groundwater aquifer. Once in the aquifer, this nonpoint source Piel Creek The Ridges pollution (organic matter, nutrients, Egg Harbor Baileys Harbor Kangaroo Lake bacteria, viruses, herbicides, and N A various chemicals) has the potential Y A G I to rapidly move down gradient, and B Jacksonport H discharge into a receiving lake, river, N 57 C E Clark Lake I E 42 stream, or wetland with little filtration G R M or attenuation. E K Gardner Marsh A Sturgeon Bay Dunes Lake L 57 Brussels Forestville 0 2.5 5 Miles 2 WAT E R - QUALITY I N D I C ATO R S OF HUMAN IMPACTS TO THE WETLANDS OF DOOR COUNTY endangered species lists. Cobb We designed this study to assist land groundwater to the wetlands with the and Bradbury (2008) determined managers of the six wetlands by (1) contaminants observed in the water groundwater-contributing areas for documenting the current state of discharging to the wetlands. Some these five wetlands. Groundwater water quality and quantity discharg- contaminants, such as caffeine and flows and geology at the Mink River ing to the wetlands and (2) linking artificial sweeteners, indicate a human Estuary were studied by Bradbury land use to the contaminants found source, most likely a septic system and others (2012) and by Heimstead in the wetlands. For the first goal, we (Nitka and others, 2019). Other con- and Muldoon (2012). Evenson (2004) tested the wetlands for the presence taminants, such as ESA metolachlor, and Sager and others (2007) studied of major ions (sodium, potassium, a metabolite of a common herbicide, the surface and groundwater at the calcium, magnesium, chloride, sulfate, indicate an agricultural source (Cook Ridges. Evenson (2004) found high and bicarbonate), nitrate, phosphorus, and others, 2017). chloride levels in some of the samples metals, caffeine, artificial sweeteners, To link land use to potential nutrients and considered whether the source enterococci bacteria, and pesticides and contaminants, we identified the was road salt or septic systems. (including neonicotinoids). We also zone of contribution (ZOC), or the Dunes Lake, the most degraded of measured surface water flows into land area that contributes water, for all the wetlands was the subject of a and out of the wetlands. These data each of the sampled wetland springs. comprehensive study by Johnson and provide a snapshot of water quality Within each ZOC we then used others (2013) including groundwater and flows that was not available locations of housing/septic systems contributing zone analysis and nutri- for most of these wetlands before to determine residential densities and ent loading. this study. The second goal was to agricultural crop data to determine link land use in areas contributing percent of cropland and within the cropland areas, the percent of corn in the ZOCs.

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