ELLSWORTH, Wis. – More than 600 fish died last week in Isabelle Creek, which flows 15 miles from Ellsworth to Bay City at the upper end of Lake Pepin on the Mississippi River. The state Natural Resources Department confirmed that it learned of the fish-kill August 17 and sent investigators. The fish-kill was along County Road C, which runs south through farm land. The DNR said it didn’t immediately identify the source of contaminants.
Isabelle Creek profile
The headwaters near Ellsworth are spring-fed. In ancient times the upstream channel filled only during seasonal rains. White settlement in the mid-1800s added discharge from the Ellsworth creamery. So too did Ellsworth’s later municipal wastewater treatment plant. The flow now is year-round. The state Natural Resources Department describes Isabelle as a beautiful creek with a steep coulee gradient that is prone to flash floods. Farming, which began in the latter 800s, led to severe erosion that degraded the creek as a natural trout habitat. Since the 1930s conservation farming practices and fish stocking, have re-established Isabelle for trout. The lower reaches are classified as good or fair habitat for brown trout and other species.
Red line. Where brown trout had been thriving.