The Baraboo River A Rebounding Fishery Healthy Watersheds and its Watershed River Facts The Baraboo River fishery is recovering after removal of the Make Healthy Rivers ELROY-SPARTA STATE TRAIL • The Baraboo is once again a free-flowing river. An effort began last dams that impeded fish passage into the upstream waters. The quality of our lakes and rivers is a reflection of how we take in the mid-1990s to restore the river through dam removal, Native Americans praised the fishery and local newspapers in the care of our land. Waterfront property owners, inland residents, culminating in October, 2001 with removal of the Linen Mill 1860s report 30-pound northern pike, stringers full of bass and recreational users, agricultural producers and other businesses all catfish, and 100-pound sturgeon being caught. Valley C dam. Now recognized nationally, the Baraboo is the longest ydon re play a role in maintaining and improving the water quality in our L ek stretch of U.S. river restored through dam removal. 80 At the same time however, the developing communities were lakes and rivers. KENDALL • The DNR’s Priority Watershed Program was a key to river building dams to provide power to meet the needs of an 71 F There are a number of simple steps you can take to protect the o u n 82 k renewal. More than 500 participating landowners, especially expanding population. The dams benefited the new residents t ee a Cr river or lake in your watershed. i er n v Clea C farmers, installed conservation practices, reduced pollution and but also had a negative impact on the rich Baraboo River fishery. r Jeff Seering photo e e k helped improve water quality. The dams obstructed fish passage by limiting the movement into • Properly dispose of garbage while on the river. It can Gene Dalhoff photo A quiet stretch between Wonewoc and La Valle. upstream cooler, shallower waters, their ideal spawning habitats. be easy to lose track of your garbage if you tip your canoe. • About 120 miles long, with a watershed area of 655 square Please keep all garbage secured in your boat so you can dispose ELROY The impoundments behind the dams slowed water flows and Autumn view upstream from the miles, the Baraboo River begins in Monroe County near Kendall of it when you return home. Highway 12 bridge in Baraboo. deposited sediment on the gravel and rock riffles, the best habitat and ends at the Wisconsin River near Portage. It is the fourth Paddling Information for fish to spawn. • Properly dispose of household hazardous waste. Do not largest tributary to the Wisconsin River. • The average annual flow is 383 cubic feet per second (cfs). By the 1990s these combined impacts had taken their toll. The pour old oil or pesticides in the ditch or wash paintbrushes at the • The river falls about 150 feet in elevation over its length, Real-time daily flow downstream of Baraboo can be seen end of your driveway. Storm sewers connect directly to our rivers Sey Baraboo fishery had become dominated by carp, bullhead and mo at: http://waterdata.usgs.gov/wi/nwis/current/?type=flow ur Cre but one-third, or about 50 feet, occurs in the five-mile stretch and lakes. To learn more about how to dispose of household ek UNION suckers. Removal of the last dams along the river is reversing through Baraboo. That portion was named the “Baraboo (select site number 05405000). hazardous waste contact your Land Conservation Department. CENTER these impacts. H i 82 lls 33 80 Rapids” by early inhabitants. Use of this term gradually Cr HILL COUNTRY TRAIL • Most land along the river is privately owned. Respect private • Direct downspouts on to your lawn or landscaping not eek 33 disappeared after most of this stretch became “tamed” by Almost immediately after removal of the last dam fish started HILLSBORO property rights along the banks. No camping is allowed onto hard surfaces. Allowing water to soak in rather than k e moving back upstream. Spring runoff events began to scour the 33 e dams, but has now returned since the dams were 33 82 r along the river, but public and private campgrounds are West Branch C run off your property filters out pollutants and replenishes our k removed and the rapids re-exposed. accumulated sediment off of the gravel beds and rock riffles. e 82 WONEWOC e available nearby; contact the local Chamber of Commerce for r groundwater. C r ig k e e B e n r r more information. Reports of crappies, bluegills, and channel catfish are common. d B C 80 r g • Manage your lawn to reduce pollution. Keep grass a i W B 40 G r eek 0 B B Northern and walleye pike are being caught again throughout Cr IK E E • When parking along road shoulders, pull completely off the clippings on the lawn, not on roads or sidewalks. Decomposing ek Plum re T C R the river. Smallmouth bass fishing along the rapids through the h A Lake nutrients then bond to the soil rather than flowing down storm c I pavement. L an Dutch Jeff Seering photo Br 33 Redstone th Hollow city of Baraboo is a regular occurrence. And, a small step toward Sou 58 sewers. Reduce fertilizer and pesticide applications to minimize Lake e n o the ultimate recovery of the river is the occasional report of a t s runoff pollution. Use no-phosphorus fertilizers to reduce the d Canoeing the Baraboo near Reedsburg. e R e sturgeon being seen spawning along the shallows of the river in k a availability of this water pollutant. L the spring of the year. • Plant native trees and shrubs. A recent Wisconsin study LA VALLE r e k v k e found that lawns created much more runoff than wooded i e e R e r r C k o C e r o 33 e e areas. As a consequence the runoff from lawns carried eight b n i r ra p a C p = Baraboo River w B T o y e l a C t times more phosphorus to the river than the runoff from t H i PORTAGE Paddling L similar sized wooded areas. REEDSBURG 58 IRONTON 51 Cover photo by Joe Van Berkel N 39 16 W sin 23 33 iscon 78 COUNTY COUNTY R CAZENOVIA 136 iv 33 e 12 r r 33 For additional information about the Baraboo River region B 23 y e ll including shuttle services, restaurants, and lodging contact the a V 90 r 12 r k a e 94 e following Chambers of Commerce: k C r 33 ee C ROCK McG Cr b n b SAUK lyn a COLUMBIA B 154 N SPRINGS Baraboo Area Chamber of Commerce a rr o 136 BARABOO w PO Box 442 s wely C C 33 Ro re Paddle re e e k 600 W Chestnut St k the RAILROAD Baraboo, WI 53913 Paddle CH ERN I CAG EST 23 O HW LIME RIDGE AND RT NO Sk 1 -800 BARABOO (227-2266) 154 ill et k Cre e ek Email: [email protected] Baraboo e k r the NORTH e C e y r 123 Website: www.baraboo.com e C l e e FREEDOM in 159 113 e P S Reedsburg Area Chamber of Commerce H 154 12 il l P 240 Railroad Street oint Creek LOGANVILLE Devil’s PO Box 142 Baraboo 23 Lake Reedsburg, WI 53959 (608) 524-2850 Email: [email protected] Website: www.reedsburg.org Hill Country Chamber of Commerce (Located in the Farmers State Bank) Historic view of the 435 Bridge Street/Highway 33 pedestrian bridge Union Center, WI 53962 to Effinger Park in Baraboo. (608) 462-2245 Natural and Human History Email: [email protected] The river tumbles out of the hill-and-valley country of un-glaciated indigenous peoples settled along Website: www.hillcountrywi.com Wisconsin northwest of Reedsburg before flowing lazily through the river in villages, often near “Paddle the Baraboo” map courtesy of: glacial lake Reedsburg and the Baraboo Valley. At Baraboo, the these mounds. • City of Baraboo, City of Reedsburg river breaks through the terminal moraine and spills rapidly • Baraboo Area Chamber of Commerce The search for food, fuel and through the city. Before the last glacier it may have turned south • Reedsburg Area Chamber of Commerce Reedsburg Woolen Mill (above). Confluence of the Baraboo River and water also spurred white settlers • Hill Country Chamber of Commerce Narrows Creek in Rock Springs (below). here and flowed through what is now Devil’s Lake. The last to settle first along the river. • Baraboo River Canoe Club glaciation forced the channel to its present mouth at the Wisconsin Every village along the river owes • Citizens for Waterfront Revitalization river near Portage. • Sauk County Board of Supervisors its start to the water power that At its confluence with the Wisconsin River, one story goes, there fueled early commerce. As many Created by: • University of Wisconsin - Extension Basin Initiative was a French trader and trapper, who, in the eighteenth century as 11 dams powered saw, grist • Sauk County University of Wisconsin - Extension A River had a trading post called Baribeau, after himself, and the river and textile mills and eventually • Sauk County Land Conservation Department came to be referred as such. There are other theories on the generated power for street lights origins of the river’s name, but the truth is lost in time. and other electrical needs. The last remaining dam was removed Renewed The Baraboo has always lured people to its shores.