Trout Unlimited’s Driftless Area Restoration Effort’s has another busy field season ahead of it for 2026.
Work started in January, when we started construction on the partnership project on Fancy Creek.
In conjunction with the landowners, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Mississippi Valley Conservancy, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resourcesz, Pheasants Forever, Wisconsin Wetlands Association, Richland County Conservation District, U-W Madison, and others, the project has been designed to remove approximately one mile of ditched stream and restore a natural, meandering stream that connects to a 100-plus acre wetland complex on the floodplain.
Construction began in the depths of winter and despite some extremely cold conditions, the contractors were able to make good progress through to the spring. We anticipate the project being completed by early summer. We will be monitoring the recovery of the natural functions in the stream and wetland through groundwater wells, cameras, and monitoring stations. Partners will conduct herpetile and bird monitoring through the summer.
As that project winds down, others will just be getting started. We have several projects receiving funds from the Trout Unlimited Driftless Habitat for the Wild & Rare Regional Conservation Partnership Program. These NRCS funds are being paired with Trout Stamp funds in Dunn County to restore segments on the North Branch of Wilson Creek, led by Nate Anderson and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources habitat team.
That same team is in the process of securing funding for a new project on Gilbert Creek that will restore a 1-mile segment downstream from “The Triangle” west of Menominee. Clear Waters TU is a partner on the project and is helping to support a native plant buffer between the creek and the landowner’s farm field.
Trout Unlimited and NRCS are working on several projects along the Yellow River in Iowa. If funding allows, two projects totaling over 1-mile of stream would be installed later this year, including a popular access point at the Forest Mills bridge south of Waukon.
TU is also funding a project this year on Otter Creek in Fayette County, which is one of the newest easements in Iowa.
Additional sections of Otter Creek are being evaluated for future projects.
Lastly, staff are planning numerous site visits on other streams, including the popular Patterson Creek, near Waukon. Depending on funding, additional work on Patterson Creek could begin as soon as 2027.
In Minnesota, TU and MNTU are collaborating on project designs on Lynch Creek and Crooked Creek. Minnesota TU is leading work on a large restoration project on the South Branch of the Root River in Lanesboro that will be very visible to the public and has already included many public meetings.
Trout Unlimited will soon be hiring technicians for summer aquatic organism passage inventory work in Wisconsin, hoping to complete Dane County and surrounding areas. We are starting to see a light at the end of the culvert (ha!) for our inventory in Wisconsin, which will allow us to turn our attention to Iowa.