Fox River Watershed Investigation - Publication Details

Report Type: fulltext    Format: Paper Copy    

Abstract:
Over the years, significant land-use changes have occurred on the Fox River watershed. These changes and the geographical location of the Fox River have resulted in extensive sediment deposition within the Fox Chain of Lakes. This is especially true for those lakes in the direct path of the Fox sediment deposition. The average depth of Grass Lake in 1975 was 2.7 feet, and the sediment is extremely soft. Within the present research activity, the orginal research conducted in 1974-1975 by the authors is being examined along with additional data collected by others within the last 25 years. These initial analyses indicated that both in-lake and off-lake sediment management techniques must be implemented to increase water depths within the lakes and decrease sediment loads. Among the in-lake management alternatives that should be considered are dredging and disposing of sediment outside the lake, discharging hydraulically dredged sediment into geotubes or some other type of containment facility within the lake, and creating artificial islands within the lake with dredged sediments. The watershed-based sediment management alternatives could include implementation of best management practices on the watershed, flow and sediment retention basins, side channel sediment traps, sediment management whithin the stream channel, and the implementation of a systemwide sediment management alternative.

Data Record Period: 1974-1975
Data Record Notes: Lake circulation data collected by USGS

Data Sources: USGS

Features: Lake, River/Stream, Sediment

Parameters: Suspended sediment