Construction Update

Construction has wrapped on the Brothertown Creek streambank restoration! Learn more here →

Streambanks were regraded to slope more gradually, allowing water to flow through the creek all year without causing severe erosion.
Rip-Rap was laid strategically to prevent erosion on sharp corners and bends.
Rootwads were placed to help direct the water’s flow away from the banks on shallow corners. They will also provide habitat for fish!
Winter seeding of native plants was done further up on the streambanks to ensure that come spring, their deep roots will hold the streambank soil in place.

About the Project

Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance has partnered with Calumet and Fond du Lac Counties to renew the East Shore of Lake Winnebago in the Pipe Creek Watershed.

With this project, we will restore over 1/4 mile of Brothertown Creek streambank and install up to 3 ARTS in the watershed. This will not only stop hundreds of pounds of phosphorous and tons of sediment from entering Lake Winnebago, but also provide wildlife habitat, prevent future downstream erosion, and reduce flooding for homeowners and farmers.

Check out our project’s goals:

Use ARTS to treat, slow, and store 42,000,000 gallons of agricultural runoff, stopping 167 pounds of phosphorus and 215 tons of sediment from entering Lake Winnebago every year
Restore 0.36 miles of highly eroded streambank on Brothertown Creek, stopping 129 pounds of phosphorus and 35.2 tons of sediment from entering Lake Winnebago every year
Increase runoff storage capacity of the Pipe Creek Watershed to prevent flooding and erosion downstream
Show the impacts of these practices to those who live, work, and recreate play in the watershed

What’s the Problem?

Runoff, Flooding, & Erosion

The Pipe Creek Watershed is nestled between the Niagara Escarpment to the east, and Lake Winnebago to the west (making for some of the most beautiful sunsets in the watershed). Changes in the landscape have resulted in a watershed that can no longer store runoff. Coupled with the steep slopes of the Escarpment, there is too much runoff moving too quickly.

Learn more about why this matters →

Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance has partnered with Calumet and Fond du Lac Counties to restore some of the most eroded streambanks in the watershed and create more storage with ARTS to help prevent future erosion. Together, this will create a watershed that is better equipped to handle runoff and stop pollution from entering the lake.

Project Location

The narrow Pipe Creek Watershed is located along the east shore of Lake Winnebago, running through both Calumet and Fond du Lac Counties.

The Pipe Creek Watershed is a part of the Winnebago Waterways Recovery Area (WWRA). The WWRA is a section of the larger Upper Fox-Wolf Basin. The watersheds within the WWRA drain directly into the Winnebago Pool Lakes – Lake Poygan, Winneconne, Butte des Morts, and largest, Winnebago.

Water in the Pipe Creek Watershed is in a unique position due to how close it is to Lake Winnebago. Instead of running a long distance of land, streams, and creeks before reaching a larger waterbody, water here has a short trip before ending up in Lake Winnebago.

What are ARTS?

Agriculture Runoff Treatment Systems (ARTS) are a new, locally developed solution designed to treat and store stormwater runoff. ARTS effectively remove phosphorus, the nutrient that fuels algae, and sediment, while also helping to prevent flooding.

How ARTS work: Runoff water enters at the Sediment Forebay where it slows down and sediment settles out. From there, the water flows through Wetland Treatment Cells where wetland plants absorb phosphorus and trap sediment. In the final Cell, a deep Sediment Trap removes particulates that may remain. The last stop for the runoff water is the Phosphorus Removal System, which captures dissolved phosphorus. The now treated runoff water exits the ARTS into a local waterway, free of pollutants! ARTS may vary from site-to-site and may not include all parts of the system.

What’s Streambank Restoration?

There are two main components to streambank restoration: reshaping the banks to their nature state and installing features that protect the banks from future erosion.

Streambank reshaping is a pretty straightforward process that involves re-grading the banks to make them slope more gradually. The more gradual slopes allow for increased water flow during peak times of the year and reduce flooding. Streambanks can be protected with a few different practices, including rip-rap, stream barbs, root wads, and native plantings. These all help to protect fragile streambank soils from fast moving water, resulting in less erosive, more stable streambanks.