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{{Use American English|date=February 2025}}
{{Infobox river
| 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 =
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| subdivision_type1 = Country
| subdivision_name1 = [[United States]]
| subdivision_type2 = State
| subdivision_name2 = [[Wisconsin]]
| subdivision_type3 = Region
| subdivision_name3 = [[Monroe County, Wisconsin|Monroe County]], [[Vernon County, Wisconsin|Vernon County]],<br />[[Richland County, Wisconsin|Richland County]], [[Crawford County, Wisconsin|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 =
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| source1 = Midway between [[Wilton, Wisconsin|Wilton]] and [[Mill Bluff State Park]]
| source1_location = [[Monroe County, Wisconsin|Monroe County]], [[Wisconsin]], [[United States]]
| source1_coordinates= {{coord|43|53|53|N|90|27|27|W|display=inline}}
| source1_elevation = {{convert|1200|ft|abbr=on}}
| mouth = Confluence with the [[Wisconsin River]]
| mouth_location = [[Wauzeka (town), Wisconsin|Wauzeka, Wisconsin]], [[Crawford County, Wisconsin]]
| mouth_coordinates = {{coord|43|04|36|N|90|52|59|W|display=inline,title}}<ref name="gnis">{{cite gnis |id=1567458 |name=Kickapoo River |entrydate= 29 August 1980 |accessdate=2010-04-29}}</ref>
| mouth_elevation = {{convert|623|ft|abbr=on}}
| progression =
| river_system =
| basin_size =
| tributaries_left = Billings Creek
| tributaries_right = [[Moore Creek (Kickapoo River tributary)|Moore Creek]], [[Weister Creek]], West Fork of the Kickapoo River, Reads Creek, Tainter Creek
| custom_label =
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}}

The '''Kickapoo River''' is a {{convert|126|mi|km|adj=mid|-long}}<ref name=NHD>{{cite web|url=http://viewer.nationalmap.gov/viewer/ |title=The National Map |publisher=U.S. Geological Survey |access-date=Feb 17, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120329155652/http://viewer.nationalmap.gov/viewer/ |archive-date=2012-03-29 }}</ref> tributary of the [[Wisconsin River]] in the state of [[Wisconsin]], [[United States]]. It is named for the [[Kickapoo people|Kickapoo]]<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9V1IAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA174 | title=The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States | publisher=Govt. Print. Off. | author=Gannett, Henry | year=1905 | pages=174}}</ref> 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 languages|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 {{convert|60|mi}} from its mouth at Wauzeka, although the river is nearly {{convert|130|mi}} long. The Kickapoo, the longest tributary of the Wisconsin River, drains over {{convert|800|sqmi}} of land in [[Monroe County, Wisconsin|Monroe]], [[Vernon County, Wisconsin|Vernon]], [[Richland County, Wisconsin|Richland]], and [[Crawford County, Wisconsin|Crawford]] counties. The Kickapoo River watershed encompasses {{convert|492000|acre|km2}} 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.<ref name=USDANRCS>{{Cite FTP |title=Rapid Watershed Assessment Kickapoo River Watershed |date=July 2008 |url=ftp://ftp-fc.sc.egov.usda.gov/WI/rwa/rwakickapoo.pdf |server=U.S. Dept. of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service |url-status=dead |access-date=April 29, 2010 }}</ref>

[[File:West Fork Kickapoo River.jpg|thumb|180px|center|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%.<ref name=USDANRCS/>

==Ecology and conservation==
[[File:A palm warbler.jpg|alt=Palm warbler's breed in the Kickapoo Valley|thumb|[[Palm warbler]]s breed in the Kickapoo Valley]]
[[Wildcat Mountain State Park]] and the Kickapoo Valley Reserve<ref>{{cite web|title=The LaFarge Dam Project |url=http://kvr.state.wi.us/category.asp?linkcatid=1858&linkid=945&locid=115 |access-date=July 22, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080330222536/http://kvr.state.wi.us/category.asp?linkcatid=1858&linkid=945&locid=115 |archive-date=March 30, 2008 }}</ref> form a continuous protected area. Most of the tributary streams and the Kickapoo River itself, upstream of [[Gays Mills, Wisconsin|Gays Mills]], are good trout habitat due to the baseflow from coldwater springs and watershed and stream projects carried out over the recent decades.<ref name=USDANRCS/> 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."<ref>[http://www.na.fs.fed.us/watershed/factsheets/WI_Kickapoo.pdf Wildlife Service PDF file], Retrieved July 22, 2007</ref>

[[Image:Bald Eagle on Weister Creek, WI Beaver Pond.jpg|thumb |220px |[[Bald eagle]] (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') attracted to Weister Creek beaver pond |left]]
Recently a movement called "Save Taryn's Beaver" was launched to save a family of [[North American beaver|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.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Wright, J.P. |author2=Jones, C.G. |author3=Flecker, A.S. |year=2002 |title=An ecosystem engineer, the beaver, increases species richness at the landscape scale|url=http://www.eeb.cornell.edu/flecker/pdf/Wright%20et%20al%202002_Oecologia.pdf |journal=Oecologia |volume=132 |issue=1 |pages=96–101|doi=10.1007/s00442-002-0929-1 |pmid=28547281 |bibcode=2002Oecol.132...96W |s2cid=5940275 }}</ref> 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.<ref name=Rosell>{{cite journal |title=Ecological impact of beavers Castor fiber and Castor canadensis and their ability to modify ecosystems |vauthors=Rosell F, Bozser O, Collen P, Parker H |journal=Mammal Review |year=2005 |pages=248–276 |url=http://teora.hit.no/dspace/bitstream/2282/536/1/Ecological_impact.pdf |access-date=Mar 1, 2010 |doi=10.1111/j.1365-2907.2005.00067.x |volume=35 |issue=3–4 |hdl=11250/2438080 |hdl-access=free |archive-date=March 4, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120304003304/http://teora.hit.no/dspace/bitstream/2282/536/1/Ecological_impact.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> Beavers benefit bird diversity in numerous ways. [[Trumpeter swan]]s (''Cygnus buccinator'') and [[Canada goose|Canada geese]] (''Branta canadensis'') often depend on beaver lodges as nesting sites.<ref name=Rosell /><ref>{{cite journal |title=Canada geese nesting on a beaver lodge |author=Brenner, F.J. |year=1960 |journal=The Auk |pages=476–477 |url=http://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/auk/v077n04/p0476-p0476.pdf |volume=77|issue=4 |doi=10.2307/4082428|jstor=4082428 }}</ref> As trees are drowned by rising beaver impoundments, they become ideal nesting sites for obligate cavity nesters such as [[wood duck]]s (''Aix sponsa''), [[goldeneye (duck)|goldeneye]]s (''Bucephala spp.''), [[merganser]]s (''Mergus spp.''), and [[owl]]s (''Titonidae'', ''Strigidae'').<ref name=Rosell /> In addition, beaver ponds have been shown to increase the number of trout, their size, or both, in a study of [[brook trout]] (''Salvelinus fontinalis''), [[rainbow trout]] (''Oncorhynchus mykiss''), and [[brown trout]] (''Salmo trutta'').<ref name="Gard">{{cite journal |title=Effects of beaver on trout in Sagehen Creek, California |author=Gard R |year=1961 |journal= Journal of Wildlife Management |volume=25 |issue=3 |pages=221–242 |jstor=3797848|doi=10.2307/3797848}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Effects of beaver dams on the fish fauna of forest streams |author1=Hägglund, Å. |author2=Sjöberg, G. |year=1999 |journal=Forest Ecology and Management |pages=259–266|doi=10.1016/S0378-1127(98)00404-6 |volume=115 |issue=2–3}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite journal |title=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 |vauthors=Collen P, Gibson RJ |journal=Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries |volume=10 |issue=4 |pages=439–461 |year=2001 |doi=10.1023/A:1012262217012 |s2cid=8713798 }}</ref>

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.<ref name=WDNR>{{cite report |title=Middle Kickapoo Valley Watershed |publisher=Wisconsin Dept. of Natural Resources |url=http://dnr.wi.gov/org/gmu/lowerwis/watersheds/lw05.pdf |access-date=May 3, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100606073010/http://dnr.wi.gov/org/gmu/lowerwis/watersheds/lw05.pdf |archive-date=June 6, 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Demise of La Farge Dam==
[[Image:La Farge Lake and Dam uncompleted.jpg|thumb|left|The uncompleted dam with spillway and intake tower near [[La Farge, Wisconsin]]]]The river has a relatively low capacity for water, leading it to quickly and frequently flood after heavy rain. In the late 1960s, the frequent floods prompted the U.S. [[United States Army Corps of Engineers|Army Corps of Engineers]] to begin a dam project on the Kickapoo River near [[La Farge, Wisconsin]]. The proposed dam would have created a {{Convert|1780|acre|km2|sp=us|adj=on}}, {{Convert|12|mi|4=-long|sp=us|adj=mid}} long reservoir to control downstream flooding. In preparation for the construction, the government used [[eminent domain]] to buy 149 farms comprising {{Convert|8569|acre|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.<ref>[http://www.williamcronon.net/place_papers/460ppr_Janowski_2003.pdf] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303214351/http://www.williamcronon.net/place_papers/460ppr_Janowski_2003.pdf|date=2016-03-03}}, Two Visions of the Kickapoo River: Voices For and Against the
Lake LaFarge Dam Project, Cronon and Janowski 2003, Retrieved December 16, 2013</ref>

The {{Convert|8569|acre|km2}} 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.<ref>[http://www.mvp.usace.army.mil/fl_damage_reduct/default.asp?pageid=21 Army Corps of Engineers] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070726064716/http://www.mvp.usace.army.mil/fl_damage_reduct/default.asp?pageid=21 |date=2007-07-26 }}, Retrieved July 22, 2007</ref> The Kickapoo today is a popular [[canoe]]ing river.

==Flooding==
[[File:KickapooRiverMuseumGaysMillsWIS171.jpg|thumb|right|Kickapoo River in Gays Mills in 2010]]
{{main|Gays Mills, Wisconsin |Soldiers Grove |2007 Midwest flooding}}Nationwide, the construction of flood-control structures has saved lives and property, but in some cases, structures have been found to result in greater loss of life and property than if they had not been built. Dams, for example, encourage downstream development; if they fail, as some do, the destruction can be catastrophic. Today, an increasing number and intensity of extreme weather events is sometimes exceeding the design capacity of flood-control structures. Because of the abandonment of the La Farge flood control project, the Kickpoo Valley continues to suffer from catastrophic flooding. Major floods have occurred in 1978, 2007, 2008, and 2018. In the mid-1970s, [[Soldiers Grove]] residents decided on an alternative to the Corps of Engineers' plan to build a levee around the village and undertook the relocation of the community's central business district to higher ground. The relocation was completed several years later, with the business district rebuilt out of reach of flooding and heated largely with passive solar systems. The project became a national model of nonstructural flood control. Soldiers Grove was virtually undamaged by the 2007 flooding that cost well over $60 million in the Kickapoo Valley, and after the 2008 floods, communities are being forced by the [[Federal Emergency Management Agency]] (FEMA) to move from their historic locations, requiring even more unwilling residents to relocate. After several years of discussion, a planned relocation of the village began in 2010.

After a record-setting {{Convert|6–12|in|cm}} 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.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.weather.gov/arx/kickapoorecordcrests |title = Record Crests on the Kickapoo from the Aug 28-30 Flood}}</ref> Villages along the Kickapoo were hit by water {{Convert|7–12|ft|m}} above flood stage. With a flood stage of {{Convert|16|ft}}, Ontario saw the floods crest at {{Convert|28.5|ft}}. In Readstown, the flood stage is {{Convert|11|ft}} with the 2018 flood cresting at just over {{Convert|23|ft}}.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.weather.gov/arx/aug2818 |title = Summary of Significant Flooding and Severe Storms August 27-28, 2018}}</ref> 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==
{|style="margin: 0 auto; float:center;"
|[[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]]]]
|}

==See also==
*[[List of Wisconsin rivers]]
*[[Weister Creek]]

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Kickapoo River}}
* [http://kvr.state.wi.us/ Kickapoo Valley Reserve, main page], Retrieved April 29, 2010
* [http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/land/parks/specific/wildcat/kickapoo/ Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070810163237/http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/land/parks/specific/wildcat/kickapoo/ |date=2007-08-10 }}, Retrieved July 22, 2007
* [http://www.kickapoovsn.org/ Valley Stewardship Network] is a nonprofit watershed group working to preserve and protect the natural resources of the Kickapoo River area.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070111043356/http://kicktime.org/ KickTime] is a community website that has a focus on events and news of concern to the residents of the Kickapoo Valley.
* [http://kickapedia.wiki.zoho.com/Kickapedia-Home.html Kickapedia] is a community website that serves as a directory of local commerce and nonprofit groups in the Kickapoo Valley and wider region.
* [http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=101032109939235 Site for "Save Taryn's Beaver"]
* [http://www.martinezbeavers.org "Worth a Dam" (beaver information and educational site)]
*An ecological and land use history of the region, [https://www.amazon.com/Thousand-Pieces-Paradise-Landscape-Wisconsin/dp/0299213943/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1354039484&sr=8-1&keywords=Kickapoo+Lynne "A Thousand Pieces of Paradise" by Lynne Heasley]

{{authority control}}

[[Category:Rivers of Wisconsin]]
[[Category:National Natural Landmarks in Wisconsin]]
[[Category:Driftless Area]]
[[Category:Rivers of Crawford County, Wisconsin]]
[[Category:Rivers of Vernon County, Wisconsin]]
[[Category:Rivers of Richland County, Wisconsin]]
[[Category:Rivers of Monroe County, Wisconsin]]
[[Category:Dams in Wisconsin]]
[[Category:United States Army Corps of Engineers proposed dams]]

Kickapoo River - Revision history

imported>GreenC bot: Move 1 url. Wayback Medic 2.5 per WP:URLREQ#citeftp