Little Sugar River watershed (SP14)

The Little Sugar River watershed lies in north-central Green County and a very small portion of southern Dane County. Agricultural land uses dominate, especially dairying, cash crops and feeder operations. Two municipal wastewater treatment plants discharge to surface water in the watershed: New Glarus and Monticello. New Glarus is the beginning of the Sugar River State bicycle trail which parallels the Little Sugar River and Sugar River from New Glarus to Brodhead.

Burgy Creek

Burgy Creek is a tributary to the West branch Sugar River below Monticello. Its existing biological use is as a warmwater forage fishery. Though it has a diverse forage fishery (Wisconsin DNR, 1992-93¹), it has the potential to be a trout stream. Historically, brook trout were found in the upper reaches (Bush, 1980). Stream channel ditching, runoff from farm fields and streambank grazing have resulted in siltation in the stream (Marshall, 1988). Burgy Creek was added to the state's Exceptional Resource Waters (ERW) list under administrative codes NR 102 and NR 207, the state's antidegradation rule.

Little Sugar River

The Little Sugar River rises in southwest Dane County and flows southeasterly to the Sugar River at the Albany millpond. The river above New Glarus is a class II trout stream (Wisconsin DNR, 1980) and is considered an ERW under NR 102 and NR 207, the state's antidegradation rule. Below New Glarus, the stream becomes wider. Some larger wetland complexes exist adjacent to the stream, which both buffers the stream and provides important wetlands functional values. Other wetland areas have been drained and put into agricultural production. Much of the remaining wetland area is in the Albany State Wildlife Area. There are potential sources of polluted runoff, but their impacts on the stream are unevaluated. The New Glarus wastewater treatment plant has had problems meeting its Wisconsin Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (WPDES) permit limits.