Greetings to all who are interested in the health of our beautiful Kickapoo Watershed. It’s been an interesting year thus far, weather wise. One year ago we were suffering from drought conditions that left us approximately ten inches short of our normal precipitation. The spring and summer of 2004 will most likely not be forgotten for sometime, due to heavy downpours, flash floods and saturated low lands. I for one prefer the latter over the former, but must confess I live on high ground. Whatever your perspective, our springs, seeps, wetlands, streams and rivers have benefited greatly with recharged waters. We can be thankful for the abundance of water resources that surround us at nearly every coulee we encounter within the Watershed.

New Activities
In addition to the baseline data collected, the Kickapoo Citizen Water Monitors (KCWM) have begun a new project with a small group of monitors in the Middle and Upper Watershed. Beginning around Memorial Day weekend, VSN along with advisors from the DNR and Land and Water Conservation Dept.(LWCD), began an extensive project monitoring bacteria levels in the main branch of the Kickapoo River. The project is being funded by LWCD along with a DNR River Planning Grant secured by VSN. It ran through the end of September and will resume again in the spring of 2005. Lab results thus far have revealed that there is work to be done to restore our beloved “Crooked River” to the quality recreational river we all love to experience. We have been discussing possible strategies for improving water quality with the agencies involved, as well as other concerned stakeholders. This winter we will be investigating workable solutions for improving water quality. We ask all landowners, business owners, paddlers, anglers and people who love the scenic solitude of the Kickapoo to please let us know if you would like to be a part of protecting and restoring our beautiful river.

The Water Action Volunteers, KCWM’s statewide affiliate, will be introducing new programs by 2005 including crayfish surveys, macroinvertebrate wildcards, family-level macroinvertebrate identification key, bacteria monitoring pilot program and a booklet for understanding river-monitoring data.

Thank You
We are grateful to the Kickapoo Reserve for continuing to educate people about our water resources. Recently the Reserve presented a weeklong class entitled, “Exploring the Outdoor Classroom,” with a section on the importance of water quality. From this experience two individuals have agreed to join the KCWM and they will bringing the total of locations being monitored within the Watershed to fourteen. We welcome our new monitors. A big thank you to our existing monitors who examine our waters for the benefit of everyone. If you would like to begin monitoring a nearby tributary, contact the VSN office. Training, equipment and support are provided. Be a part of those making a difference.