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Upper Wapsi Watershed Open Houses

By |2017-10-31T10:43:23-05:00October 31st, 2017|Categories: Clean Water, Flood Mitigation, Uncategorized, Watershed Management|

Residents and landowners in the Upper Wapsi Watershed are invited to a series of Public Meeting Open Houses. Who might want to come? Anyone who is interested in... Keeping communities and landowners in the Upper Wapsi protected from flooding. Sustaining clean water. Learning about urban conservation practices that can beautify communities and help better manage stormwater [...]

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Rain Gardens: Beautiful and Beneficial

By |2021-01-11T11:24:19-05:00October 2nd, 2017|Categories: Clean Water, Community Stormwater Management, Flood Mitigation, Uncategorized|

Rain gardens utilize good soil and deep-rooted plants to infiltrate runoff from a smaller area, such as a roof, driveway, or a section of street or parking lot. Often rain gardens are beautifully landscaped with brightly colored flowers that attract butterflies and other pollinators. Properly constructed rain gardens are in the natural path of runoff and [...]

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Presidential disaster declared following July flooding

By |2017-08-29T10:27:17-05:00August 29th, 2017|Categories: Uncategorized|

Areas of the Upper Wapsi Watershed experienced severe flash flooding in July, prompting a presidential disaster declaration. Check out the video, shared by Bremer County Emergency Management, of flooding in the community of Sumner.

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Water Sampling in the Upper Wapsi

By |2017-06-12T08:09:51-05:00June 12th, 2017|Categories: Clean Water, Uncategorized|

Elaine Hughes prepares to draw samples from Buffalo Creek near Quasqueton. A couple of times a month, volunteers collect water samples from streams, creeks and the Wapsipinicon River. Samples are sent to Coe College, where they are tested for nitrates, phosphorous, chlorine, sulfate and total suspended solids. Monitoring is a critical component of improving [...]

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Spring Flooding in the Upper Wapsipinicon Watershed

By |2017-04-17T16:04:51-05:00April 17th, 2017|Categories: Flood Mitigation, Uncategorized|

The Plum Creek Bike & Nature Trail was under water on Easter Sunday. Heavy spring rains contributed to sodden fields, washed-out bridges and overflowing creeks in the Upper Wapsipinicon watershed over the weekend. Together the partners in the Upper Wapsi WMA are creating a plan to reduce the risk of flooding in the watershed.

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The Daily Erosion Project

By |2017-03-21T12:45:09-05:00March 21st, 2017|Categories: Uncategorized|

The Daily Erosion Project (DEP) estimates precipitation, runoff, sheet and rill erosion, and hillslope delivery in near real time, on over 2000 watersheds in the Midwest (Figure 1). It does this by running the Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP) model with a combination of remotely-sensed precipitation weather stations, remotely-sensed crop and residue cover, remotely-sensed topography, and [...]

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The Upper Wapsi Watershed Management Authority

By |2015-02-13T21:23:07-05:00February 13th, 2015|Categories: Uncategorized|

The Upper Wapsi Watershed Management Authority is currently signing up entities that would like to join. Watershed Management Authorities form under a 28E agreement authorized by Iowa code. Entities eligible to join a WMA are County boards of supervisors, Soil and Water Conservation Districts, and communities that lie on or within the watershed boundary. There is [...]

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The Wapsipinicon River

The Wapsipinicon River stretches over 290 miles from the Iowa/Minnesota border all the way to the Mississippi River near Clinton, Iowa. Although it only extends two miles into Minnesota, the Wapsipinicon River is the fifth largest Iowa tributary of the Mississippi, being surpassed in length only by the Des Moines, Cedar, Iowa, and Skunk rivers. It is a long narrow watershed that for 180 miles averages barely more than 15 miles wide and thus it has no major tributary.

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Even though it is narrow, this watershed covers 4.5% of Iowa. The Wapsipinicon River boasts the longest, continuous stretch of natural and scenic river corridor in the Iowan Surface Region of Iowa. Much of that river corridor is in public ownership and dominated by wooded wetlands and riparian forests that provide habitat for birds, reptiles and other animal species, as well as birders, boaters, paddlers and anglers.

The Upper Wapsi

The Upper Wapsipinicon River, or Upper Wapsi, is a section that includes the 270 miles of river above Anamosa, Iowa. The Upper Wapsi Watershed drains over 1 million acres and encompasses all or portions of 11 counties, 27 communities, 17 unincorporated villages, 120 lakes and 8 major rivers and streams totaling over 2,000 river miles.

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