Iowa Department of Natural Resources employees electrofish for trout in North Bear Creek on the Walter Langland Farm near Highlandville, Iowa, during a tour of Driftless Area watersheds that have recently been restored.

An Iowa Department of Natural Resources fisheries employee displays a wild brown trout from North Bear Creek, part of a recently restored Driftless Area watershed near Highlandville, Iowa.

A joint resolution signed by the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, and the governors of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, and Illinois to collectively promote and facilitate restoration of watersheds in the Midwest Driftless Area was introduced to the public on April 19 at a festive news conference hosted by Trout Unlimited at the Radisson Hotel in La Crosse, Wis.

  Dignitaries who addressed a standing room audience at the event included Dr. Mark Rey (U.S. Department of Agriculture, Under Secretary of Natural Resources and Environment), Ron Kind (U.S. Representative, Wisconsin 3^rd Congressional District), Barabara Laughton (Wisconsin Lieutenant Governor), Pat Leavenworth (U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resource Conservation Service State Conservationist for Wisconsin), and Chris Wood (Trout Unlimited, Vice President for Conservation).  Past land management practices in this unique, unglaciated region of the upper Midwest have frequently caused massive soil erosion, stream degradation, and poor water quality in portions of this scenic landscape for more than a century.  Federal efforts to reverse these trends began in southwestern Wisconsin with the Coon Creek Watershed Project, the nation's first large-scale demonstration of soil and water conservation farming practices that began during the Dust Bowl era of the 1930s.  However, many Driftless Area streams and the communities through which they flow continue to be adversely impacted by accelerated rates of water runoff and soil erosion. 

The new resolution commits state and federal agencies to work with local land owners to improve the region's land and water quality and use farm-bill programs to help pay for it.  Changes in farming, grazing, and forest management practices can control water runoff and stem soil erosion, leading to cleaner water, healthier cropland, stronger economies, and an enhanced quality of life in the region.  The benefits of watershed restoration became self-evident as Service staff from the La Crosse Fishery Resources Office and the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge chauffeured dignitaries and guests on an afternoon auto tour of the region. Recently completed restoration work along Mill Creek near Chatfield, Minn., and North Bear Creek near Highlandville, Iowa, has stabilized these stream banks, improved trout habitat, attracted more anglers, provided new business opportunities, and benefited landowners and businesses that were previously threatened by severe bank erosion. 

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is also playing an active, long-term role in the Midwest Driftless Area Restoration Effort (MDARE) and has pledged $100,000 from the National Fish Habitat Initiative in support of this work for 2006.  For more information on the role of the Service in the MDARE, contact Louise Mauldin at the La Crosse Fishery Resources Office or visit http://www.fws.gov/midwest/lacrossefisheries/projects/Driftless.html.