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.

Reservoirs are inextricable parts of our natural landscapes;
they cannot be isolated or dismissed in conservation management. Constructed to meet a variety of human needs, they impact almost every major river system in the United States, affecting to various degrees habitat for fish and other aquatic species and, in turn, affected by the health of the watershed in which they reside. Reservoirs, their associated watersheds, and their downstream flows constitute interdependent, functioning systems. Effective management of these reservoir systems – maintaining their ecological function and biological health – is essential to the conservation of our nation’s aquatic resources and their habitats. It requires that we minimize the adverse impacts of reservoirs on their watersheds (and watersheds upon reservoirs) and maximize their utility for aquatic habitat.


www.reservoirpartnership.org