Kickapoo River

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title: "Kickapoo River" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["rivers-of-wisconsin", "national-natural-landmarks-in-wisconsin", "driftless-area", "rivers-of-crawford-county,-wisconsin", "rivers-of-vernon-county,-wisconsin", "rivers-of-richland-county,-wisconsin", "rivers-of-monroe-county,-wisconsin", "dams-in-wisconsin", "united-states-army-corps-of-engineers-proposed-dams"] topic_path: "geography/united-states" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kickapoo_River" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::data[format=table title="Infobox river"]

FieldValue
nameKickapoo River
imageFile:Kickapoo River photos.jpg
mapKickapoo River Map.png
map_captionKickapoo River watershed map
subdivision_type1Country
subdivision_name1United States
subdivision_type2State
subdivision_name2Wisconsin
subdivision_type3Region
subdivision_name3Monroe County, Vernon County,
Richland County, Crawford County
source1Midway between Wilton and Mill Bluff State Park
source1_locationMonroe County, Wisconsin, United States
source1_coordinates
source1_elevation1200 ft
mouthConfluence with the Wisconsin River
mouth_locationWauzeka, Wisconsin, Crawford County, Wisconsin
mouth_coordinates
mouth_elevation623 ft
tributaries_leftBillings Creek
tributaries_rightMoore Creek, Weister Creek, West Fork of the Kickapoo River, Reads Creek, Tainter Creek
::

| name = Kickapoo River | name_native = | name_native_lang = | name_other = | name_etymology = | image = File:Kickapoo River photos.jpg | image_caption = | image_size = | map = Kickapoo River Map.png | map_size = | map_caption = Kickapoo River watershed map | pushpin_map = | pushpin_map_size = | pushpin_map_caption= | subdivision_type1 = Country | subdivision_name1 = United States | subdivision_type2 = State | subdivision_name2 = Wisconsin | subdivision_type3 = Region | subdivision_name3 = Monroe County, Vernon County, Richland County, Crawford County | subdivision_type4 = | subdivision_name4 = | subdivision_type5 = | subdivision_name5 = | length = | width_min = | width_avg = | width_max = | depth_min = | depth_avg = | depth_max = | discharge1_location= | discharge1_min = | discharge1_avg = | discharge1_max = | source1 = Midway between Wilton and Mill Bluff State Park | source1_location = Monroe County, Wisconsin, United States | source1_coordinates= | source1_elevation = 1200 ft | mouth = Confluence with the Wisconsin River | mouth_location = Wauzeka, Wisconsin, Crawford County, Wisconsin | mouth_coordinates = | mouth_elevation = 623 ft | progression = | river_system = | basin_size = | tributaries_left = Billings Creek | tributaries_right = Moore Creek, Weister Creek, West Fork of the Kickapoo River, Reads Creek, Tainter Creek | custom_label = | custom_data = | extra =

The Kickapoo River is a 126 mi tributary of the Wisconsin River in the state of Wisconsin, United States. It is named for the Kickapoo Indians who occupied Wisconsin before the influx of white settlers in the early 19th century.

Watershed

The river begins midway between Wilton, Wisconsin, and Mill Bluff State Park and flows south through a deep valley cut into the hilly Driftless Zone of southwest Wisconsin. It empties into the Wisconsin River just south of Wauzeka, Wisconsin. Kickapoo is an Algonquian word meaning "one who goes here, then there", a fitting name as the river is very crooked, frequently doubling back on itself as it flows through the Wisconsin landscape. Because of the extremely crooked path of the river, its source north of Wilton is just 60 mi from its mouth at Wauzeka, although the river is nearly 130 mi long. The Kickapoo, the longest tributary of the Wisconsin River, drains over 800 sqmi of land in Monroe, Vernon, Richland, and Crawford counties. The Kickapoo River watershed encompasses 492000 acre in southwest Wisconsin.

There are many small tributaries with the most significant being Moore Creek, Billings Creek, the West Fork of the Kickapoo, Reads Creek and Tainter Creek.

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c6/West_Fork_Kickapoo_River.jpg" caption="West Fork Kickapoo River"] ::

Wetlands have largely been drained for pasture and comprise a tiny portion of the lands in the Kickapoo River watershed, 0.8%, whereas agriculture accounts for 50.4% of the land use followed closely by forest land at 48%.

Ecology and conservation

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/98/A_palm_warbler.jpg" caption="[[Palm warbler]]s breed in the Kickapoo Valley" alt="Palm warbler's breed in the Kickapoo Valley"] ::

Wildcat Mountain State Park and the Kickapoo Valley Reserve form a continuous protected area. Most of the tributary streams and the Kickapoo River itself, upstream of Gays Mills, are good trout habitat due to the baseflow from coldwater springs and watershed and stream projects carried out over the recent decades.

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/39/Bald_Eagle_on_Weister_Creek,_WI_Beaver_Pond.jpg" caption="[[Bald eagle]] (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') attracted to Weister Creek beaver pond"] ::

Recently a movement called "Save Taryn's Beaver" was launched to save a family of beavers on Weister Creek, a tributary of the Kickapoo. The beaver is a keystone species, increasing biodiversity in its territory through creation of beaver ponds and wetlands. Not only are riparian habitats enlarged as the circumference of a beaver pond is much greater than the circumference of the two banks of a stream, but aquatic plants colonize newly available watery habitat. Insect, invertebrate, fish, mammal, and bird diversity are also expanded. Beavers benefit bird diversity in numerous ways. Trumpeter swans (Cygnus buccinator) and Canada geese (Branta canadensis) often depend on beaver lodges as nesting sites. As trees are drowned by rising beaver impoundments, they become ideal nesting sites for obligate cavity nesters such as wood ducks (Aix sponsa), goldeneyes (Bucephala spp.), mergansers (Mergus spp.), and owls (Titonidae, Strigidae). These findings are consistent with a study of small streams in Sweden, that found that brown trout were larger in beaver ponds compared with those in riffle sections, and that beaver ponds provide habitat for larger trout in small streams during periods of drought. The importance of winter habitat to salmonids afforded by beaver ponds may be especially important (and underappreciated) in streams without deep pools or where ice cover makes contact with the bottoms of shallow streams. Cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarki) and bull trout (Salvelinus confluentus) were noted to overwinter in Montana beaver ponds, brook trout congregated in winter in New Brunswick and Wyoming beaver ponds, and coho salmon in Oregon beaver ponds.

In spite of the benefits of beaver to trout and bird abundance and diversity, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources continues to recommend removal of trees and brush from the banks of several Kickapoo river watershed streams to reduce beaver colonization.

Demise of La Farge Dam

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f5/La_Farge_Lake_and_Dam_uncompleted.jpg" caption="km2}} of land from mostly unwilling sellers. This land would have either been flooded by the dam or used as for the recreational park planned for the area around the lake."] ::

Construction of the dam began in 1971. Questions about the Corps of Engineers' benefit-cost calculations, its environmental analysis and the prospect of ecological problems like the eutrophication of the dam's impoundment led to opposition from environmental organizations, some residents of the Kickapoo Valley, and Wisconsin Sen. Gaylord Nelson. After many lawsuits and numerous environmental and economic studies by outside activists highlighting the negative impact of the dam, the government elected to halt construction in 1975, after spending more than $19 million and building nearly half of the dam and leaving local residents vulnerable to future flooding. The halting of the project also doomed the 1983 attempt by local residents to get government support for a smaller flood-control dry dam. Lawsuits by local residents in the valley to force completion of the project were rejected.http://www.williamcronon.net/place_papers/460ppr_Janowski_2003.pdf , Two Visions of the Kickapoo River: Voices For and Against the Lake LaFarge Dam Project, Cronon and Janowski 2003, Retrieved December 16, 2013

The 8569 acre of land bought by the government remained in the possession of the Corps of Engineers until 1996, when it was split and parts were given to the state of Wisconsin and the Ho-Chunk Native American Tribe. The Kickapoo today is a popular canoeing river.

Flooding

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6f/KickapooRiverMuseumGaysMillsWIS171.jpg" caption="Kickapoo River in Gays Mills in 2010"] ::

Main article: Gays Mills, Wisconsin, Soldiers Grove, 2007 Midwest flooding

After a record-setting 6–12 in of rainfall at the headwaters of the Kickapoo River, much of the area around the Kickapoo River faced major flooding on August 28–30, 2018. Villages along the Kickapoo were hit by water 7–12 ft above flood stage. With a flood stage of 16 ft, Ontario saw the floods crest at 28.5 ft. In Readstown, the flood stage is 11 ft with the 2018 flood cresting at just over 23 ft. Though the area faced extensive property damage with villages discussing the high cost of flood mitigation projects up to and including the relocation of entire villages, no deaths occurred during or immediately after the flooding.

Gallery

::data[format=table] | [[File:Kickapoo River photos-7.jpg|thumb|Kickapoo River]] | [[File:Kickapoo River photos-3.jpg|thumb|]] | [[File:Kickapoo River by La Farge.jpg|thumb|228px|Kickapoo River by [[La Farge, Wisconsin|La Farge]]]] | |---|---|---| ::

References

References

  1. {{cite gnis
  2. "The National Map". U.S. Geological Survey.
  3. Gannett, Henry. (1905). "The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States". Govt. Print. Off..
  4. (July 2008). "Rapid Watershed Assessment Kickapoo River Watershed".
  5. "The LaFarge Dam Project".
  6. The river "contains over {{convert. 500. mi. km of coldwater streams with populations of [[Brown trout]] (''Salmo trutta'') and [[Brook trout]] (''Salvelinus fontinalis''). Half of these streams have naturally reproducing trout populations."[http://www.na.fs.fed.us/watershed/factsheets/WI_Kickapoo.pdf Wildlife Service PDF file] {{Webarchive. link. (2008-06-24 , Retrieved July 22, 2007)
  7. Wright, J.P.. (2002). "An ecosystem engineer, the beaver, increases species richness at the landscape scale". Oecologia.
  8. (2005). "Ecological impact of beavers Castor fiber and Castor canadensis and their ability to modify ecosystems". Mammal Review.
  9. Brenner, F.J.. (1960). "Canada geese nesting on a beaver lodge". The Auk.
  10. (1999). "Effects of beaver dams on the fish fauna of forest streams". Forest Ecology and Management.
  11. (2001). "The general ecology of beavers (Castor spp.), as related to their influence on stream ecosystems and riparian habitats, and the subsequent effects on fish – a review". Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries.
  12. "Middle Kickapoo Valley Watershed". Wisconsin Dept. of Natural Resources.
  13. link. (2007-07-26 , Retrieved July 22, 2007)
  14. "Record Crests on the Kickapoo from the Aug 28-30 Flood".
  15. "Summary of Significant Flooding and Severe Storms August 27-28, 2018".

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rivers-of-wisconsinnational-natural-landmarks-in-wisconsindriftless-arearivers-of-crawford-county,-wisconsinrivers-of-vernon-county,-wisconsinrivers-of-richland-county,-wisconsinrivers-of-monroe-county,-wisconsindams-in-wisconsinunited-states-army-corps-of-engineers-proposed-dams