National Fish Habitat Action Plan

The Big Spring Branch is settled in northwest Iowa County and northeastGrant County, Wisconsin.  The project area is located on the Big Spring Fishery ground owned by the Wisconsin DNR (WiDNR) and a small segment owned and operated by Menke Brothers Farms.  It has been a stream under close surveillance by the WiNDR for the past several years, which continues to supply excellent information as to the effectiveness of the project.  It is in conjunction with projects from years past; as you can see in the map below upon completion of the 2009 planned project there will be a continuous stretch of approximately three and a half miles of restoration.

Glacial lakes are natural lakes that were formed by glacial activity and are an abundant and recognizable feature of the landscape over much of the upper Midwest.  For example, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin each boast of more than 10,000 natural lakes over 10-acres in size within their respective boundaries. The Prairie Pothole Region of the county is an important waterfowl production area for North America and includes portions of eastern Dakotas, western Minnesota, and northwestern Iowa. Clearly, these glacial lakes are a regionally and nationally significant economic and cultural natural resource and yet they are increasingly threatened by a number of human-driven factors affecting sustainable fish and wildlife habitats. These drivers are not universally distributed across the region, but rather most intensely affect glacial lakes on a gradient generally oriented from south to north.

http://www.midwestglaciallakes.org/