Grant–Little Maquoketa River Watershed (WI) HUC: 7060003 Wisconsin Rapid Watershed Assessment Grant–Little Maquoketa River Rapid watershed assessments provide initial estimates of where conservation investments would best address the concerns of landowners, conservation districts, and other community organizations and stakeholders. These assessments help landowners and local leaders set priorities and determine the best actions to achieve their goals. Wisconsin October 2007 The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, and marital or family status. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require alternative means for communication of program information (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA’s TARGET Center at 202-720-2600 (voice and TDD). To fi le a complaint of discrimination, write USDA, Director, Offi ce of Civil Rights, Room 326W, Whitten Building, 14th and Independence Avenue, SW, Washington DC 20250-9410, or call (202) 720-5964 (voice and TDD). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer. Grant–Little Maquoketa River Watershed (WI) HUC: 7060003 Contents Introduction 1 Common Resource Area Descriptions 2 Physical Description 2 Assessment of Waters 3 Soils 5 Drainage Classifi cation 5 Farmland Classifi cation 6 Hydric Soils 7 Highly Erodible Land (HEL) 8 Land Capability Classifi cation 9 Resource Concerns/Watershed Assessment 10 PRS and Other Data 11 Census and Social Data (Relevant) 12 Watershed Projects, Studies, Monitoring, Etc SW Savannah Ecological Landscape 13 Management Opportunities Partner Groups 14 Footnotes/Bibliography 15 Grant–Little Maquoketa River Watershed (WI) HUC: 7060003 Introduction The Grant–Little Maquoketa River Watershed is located in the Driftless Region of Southwest Wisconsin and northeast Iowa. The Wisconsin highly agricultural watershed is 714,953 acres in size, with slightly over 80% of that area in farms. Agricultural operations are a mix of cash grain and livestock farms. Corn, soybeans and alfalfa are the dominant fi eld crops. Livestock operations consist of dairy, beef and hog enterprises, in both confi nement and grass-based systems. The largest nearby city is Dubuque, Iowa, located just south of the watershed. G I MOUNT HOPE WINGVILLE EDEN I Fennimore MENDON 18 18 Montfort PATCH GROVE Mount Hope MOUNT IDA FENNIMORE K P WYALUSING Patch Grove 13 35 61 E Livingston CLAYTON LIBERTY FARMERSBURG LITTLE GRANT NORTH LANCASTER Bagley IOWA Bloomington CLIFTON 128 BLOOMINGTON A A MIFFLIN A 52 Lancaster A VV BEETOWN U G GARNAVILLO V LIMA 52 SOUTH ELLENBORO D GLEN HAVEN LANCASTER N 80 61 129 VV GRANT BELMONT B JEFFERSON B 151 CLAYTON Platteville POTOSI CASSVILLE N HARRISON U WATERLOO Cassville 133 PLATTEVILLE TTE O LLE Potosi ELK GROVE 151 D BUENA VISTA PARIS MILLVI 52 61 AYE SMELSER Dickeyville JEFFERSON H Cuba City DELAWARE CONCORD LAF PERU LIBERTY 52 151 61 N DUBUQUE JAMESTOWN IOWA Acres % acres CENTER Dubuque DUBUQUE in HUC in HUC DUBUQUE Grant 490,791 68.5 JODAVIES Dubuque 121,725 17 TAYLOR VERNON DODGE 20 Clayton 88,518 12.4 Lafayette 9,864 1.4 Iowa 5,613 0.8 1 Grant–Little Maquoketa River Watershed (WI) HUC: 7060003 Common Resource Area 1. 105.WI1 Description The Grant–Little Maquoketa watershed is 93B.WI2 located entirely within CRA 105.WI1. This CRA 92.WI1 93B.WI1 is made up of highly dissected hills and valleys 90A.WI1 90A.WI1 including the Mississippi, Chippewa, 91B.WI1 94D.WI1 and Wisconsin River valleys and the 90A.WI1 western Baraboo Hills. Well drained 90A.WI2 90A.WI1 94B.WI1 and moderately well drained silty soils 94B.WI2 over bedrock residuum. Predominantly 90B.WI1 90B.WI1 cropland and grazing land on ridge tops 90A.WI3 104.WI1 95A.WI2 and valley bottoms with a mix of dairy, 105.WI1 95A.WI1 beef and cash grain agricultural enterprises. 89.WI2 89.WI1 Deciduous forest on steep side Wisconsin MLRA slopes. Eau Claire, LaCrosse and Dubuque urban areas, and 89 94D 95B.WI2 90A 95A increasing demand for 105.WI1 90B 95B recreational land are infl uencing 91B 104 95B.WI1 land use in the area. Primary 92 105 Grant-Little Maquoketa 110.WI1 resource concerns are cropland 93B 110 soil erosion, surface water 94B quality, grazing land and forestland productivity, stream bank erosion, and erosion during timber harvest. Physical Description This unglaciated area consists of highly dissected hills and valleys with many spring-fed trout and smallmouth bass streams and very few natural lakes. Soils are mainly loess derived, well drained and moderately well 2. Elevation drained silt loams over bedrock (above sea level) residuum. Land use is predominantly Feet Meters cropland and grazing land on ridge 1400 427 1300 396 tops and valley bottoms. Deciduous 1200 366 forests are found on steep, side 1100 335 1000 305 slopes. Development pressure is 900 274 moderate with farms commonly being 800 244 700 213 parceled out for recreation or country <600 <183 homes. 2 Grant–Little Maquoketa River Watershed (WI) HUC: 7060003 3 Average Annual Precipitation (inches) 30-32 32-34 4. Land Use / Land Cover 34-36 34-36 Acres Percent Acres Percent Pasture Hay 332,494.51 46.43 Low Intensity Residential 3,790.14 0.53 Deciduous Forest 163,678.58 22.85 High Intensity Residential 1,620.76 0.23 Row Crops 159,819.27 22.32 Evergreen Forest 1,494.44 0.21 Open Water 22,606.97 3.16 Mixed Forest 553.74 0.08 Woody Wetlands 11,738.47 1.64 Small Grains 453.67 0.06 Emergent Herbaceous Wetlands 7,501.78 1.05 Urban / Recreational Grasses 450.33 0.06 Commercial/Industrial / Transport 5,770.94 0.81 Quarries / Strip Mines, Gravel Pits 259.08 0.04 Grasslands / Herbaceous 3,957.38 0.55 Bare Rock / Sand / Clay 3.34 0.00 Total Acres 716,193.40 3 Grant–Little Maquoketa River Watershed (WI) HUC: 7060003 Assessment of Waters Section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act states that water bodies that are not meeting their designated uses (fi shing, swimming), due to pollutants, must be placed on this list. The 303(d) impaired Waters List is updated every two years. Wisconsin is required to develop TMDLs, Total Maximum Daily Loads, for water bodies on this list. ERW Surface waters (exceptional resource waters), which provide valuable fi sheries, hydrologically or geologically unique features, outstanding recreational opportunities, unique environmental settings, and which are not signifi cantly impacted by human activities may be classifi ed as exceptional resource waters. ORW waters (outstanding resource waters), and ERW differ in that ORW do not have an associated point source discharge, where ERW do. Borah Creek Mississippi River Rogers Branch Martin Branch Mississippi River–Sny Sandy Creek Martinville Creek Upper Grant River Platte Magill River Listed Waters 303d Listed Middle Grant River Exceptional Resource Little Chase Creek Waters Platte River Sub Watersheds Mississippi River Lower Grant Streams / Rivers Culver Branch Mississippi River–Panther Snowden Branch Little Platte River Little Maquoketa 303d Listed Streams 5. Degraded Dissolved Sediment Habitat Oxygen Phosphorous Mercury PCB’s Chase Creek XX Culver Branch XX Martin Branch XX Martinville Creek XX Rogers Branch XXX Sandy Creek XX Snowden Branch XX Mississippi R. (WI portion) XXX 4 Grant–Little Maquoketa River Watershed (WI) HUC: 7060003 Soils 6. The soils in this watershed have formed in a silty, wind blown covering. The deepest deposits are along the bluffs of the Mississippi River, but they thin towards the Northeast. The soils of the upland ridges have formed in the silty covering, but are underlain by bedrock at some depth. The valleys contain silty material that has been moved down the slope, following the drainage patterns. Higher benches along major rivers have reddish- brown lake clays. On the lowest area, next to the river, sandy outwash is exposed. Drainage Classifi cation Drainage class (natural) refers to the frequency and duration of wet periods under conditions similar to those under which the soil formed. Alterations of the water regime by human activities, either through drainage or irrigation, are not a consideration unless they have signifi cantly changed the morphology of the soil. Seven classes of natural soil drainage are recognized–excessively drained, somewhat excessively drained, well drained, moderately well drained, somewhat poorly drained, poorly drained, and very poorly drained. These classes are defi ned in the “Soil Survey Manual.” Drainage Classifi cation % Area Excessively drained 0.2 Somewhat excessively drained 7 Well drained 74 Moderately well drained 11 Somewhat poorly drained 0.7 Poorly drained 2 Very poorly drained 0.03 Water 5 Visit the online Web Soil Survey at http://websoilsurvey.nrcs.usda.gov for offi cial and current USDA soil information as viewable maps and tables. Visit the Soil Data Mart at http://soildatamart.usda.gov to download SSURGO certifi ed soil tabular and spatial data. 5 Grant–Little Maquoketa River Watershed (WI) HUC: 7060003 Farmland Classifi cation Farmland classifi cation identifi es map units as prime farmland, farmland of statewide importance, farmland of local importance, or unique farmland. Farmland classifi cation identifi es the location and extent of the most suitable land for producing food, feed, fi ber, forage, and oilseed crops. NRCS policy and procedures on prime and unique farmlands are published in the Federal Register, Vol. 43, No 21, January 31, 1978. Farmland Classifi cation % Area All areas are prime farmland 17 Farmland of statewide importance 33 Prime farmland if drained 0.5 Prime farmland if drained and 0.2 either protected from fl ooding or not frequently fl ooded during the growing season Prime farmland if protected from 0.3 fl ooding or not frequently fl ooded during the growing season Not prime farmland 49 Visit the online Web Soil Survey at http://websoilsurvey.nrcs.usda.gov for offi cial and current USDA soil information as viewable maps and tables.