Brunet Island State Park is a

state park State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the sub-national level within those nations which use "state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on account of its natural ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

, USA, featuring a island in the Chippewa River. The remainder of the park's are on the east bank of the river. It is noted for its numerous

white-tailed deer The white-tailed deer (''Odocoileus virginianus''), also known as the whitetail or Virginia deer, is a medium-sized deer native to North America, Central America, and South America as far south as Peru and Bolivia. It has also been introduced t ...

and large

eastern hemlock ''Tsuga canadensis'', also known as eastern hemlock, eastern hemlock-spruce, or Canadian hemlock, and in the French-speaking regions of Canada as ''pruche du Canada'', is a coniferous tree native to eastern North America. It is the state tree of ...

trees. The park is located just north of

Cornell Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

in Chippewa County in the

Northern Highland The Northern Highland is a geographical region in the north central United States covering much of the northern territory of the state of Wisconsin. The region stretches from the state border with Minnesota in the west to the Michigan border i ...

region of Wisconsin. The

Old Abe State Trail Old Abe State Trail is a paved multi-use rail trail in Chippewa County, Wisconsin, USA. The name commemorates Old Abe, a bald eagle that was captured in 1861 by Ahgamahwegezhig, a Native American man, near the South Fork of the Flambeau R ...

begins in the park and follows the riverbank south to the town of

Chippewa Falls Chippewa Falls is a city located on the Chippewa River (Wisconsin), Chippewa River in Chippewa County, Wisconsin, Chippewa County in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 14,778 in the 2021 census. Incorporated as ...

, with access to Lake Wissota State Park.

Natural history

Brunet Island is formed by the confluence of the Chippewa and

Fisher Fisher is an archaic term for a fisherman, revived as gender-neutral. Fisher, Fishers or The Fisher may also refer to: Places Australia *Division of Fisher, an electoral district in the Australian House of Representatives, in Queensland *Elect ...

Rivers. Backwater channels at the north end of the island create several undeveloped islets. The regional landscape was strongly marked by glaciation during the

Wisconsin glaciation The Wisconsin Glacial Episode, also called the Wisconsin glaciation, was the most recent glacial period of the North American ice sheet complex. This advance included the Cordilleran Ice Sheet, which nucleated in the northern North American Cor ...

. The park is forested with mature eastern hemlocks. Deer, overpopulated on the island, eat most of the young hemlocks. In time red pines and spruces may become dominant. Small fenced plots are scattered throughout the island to protect saplings and undergrowth from the deer. In 1977, a

tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, altho ...

touched down on the north-central part of the island, leveling . The tornado left so much debris that the park was closed until spring 1978 for cleanup. Today, this area is regenerating with

birch A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech-oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains 30 ...

trees.

Cultural history

The park is named after Jean Brunet (1791–1877), an upper-class French immigrant who was instrumental in the development of the upper Chippewa River. He moved to

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

in 1818 and found employment with a trading company. Two years later his employers stationed Brunet in

Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin Prairie du Chien () is a city in and the county seat of Crawford County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 5,506 at the 2020 census. Its ZIP Code is 53821. Often referred to as Wisconsin's second oldest city, Prairie du Chien was esta ...

, where he became a leading citizen, married, and eventually went into business for himself. Brunet formed interests in the Chippewa River Valley and moved to Chippewa Falls in 1828. There he was engaged to oversee the construction of the first dam and sawmill on the Chippewa River, which opened the region up to logging. Brunet and his wife, who were childless, took a liking to Francis Gauthier, a boy who worked for him, and treated him as an adopted son for the rest of their lives. In 1837 and 1838 Brunet served on the

Wisconsin Territory The Territory of Wisconsin was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 3, 1836, until May 29, 1848, when an eastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Wisconsin. Belmont was ...

legislature. Shortly thereafter Brunet moved upriver where he settled permanently. He engaged in trade with native people and ran a popular inn. The city of Cornell was originally called Brunet Falls in his honor. The state acquired Brunet Island in 1936 when it was donated by Northern States Power (now

Xcel Energy Xcel Energy Inc. is an American utility holding company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, serving more than 3.7 million electric customers and 2.1 million natural gas customers in Colorado, Texas, and New Mexico in 2019. It consists of four oper ...

). The

Civilian Conservation Corps The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was a major part of ...

built a log shelter in 1938 as the park was developed, and Brunet Island State Park officially opened two years later.

Recreation

*Bicycling: Allowed on park roads and

. *Boating: **Ramp for power boats and fishing boats. Boaters can access a stretch of the Chippewa River between two dams. **Canoes can be rented from several outfitters in Cornell and Holcombe. *Camping: **South Campground: 24 sites, all with electrical hookups. **North Campground: 45 primitive sites. *Fishing: Game fish include northern pike, walleye, small mouth bass, catfish, crappie, muskie, and yellow perch. There are fishing piers near each campground. *Hunting: Deer hunting allowed in northern two-thirds of mainland section. *Sports: Playground and baseball diamond at the picnic area. *Swimming: swimming beach on the south end of the island. *Trails: of hiking trails and for cross-country skiing. **Jean Brunet Nature Trail (hiking): Interpretive trail starting near the bridge (). **Timber Trail (hiking): Leads across the middle of the island from the campground to the beach. **Pine Trail (hiking): Leads through a plantation of red pine. **Spruce Trail (hiking): Leads along the eastern shore of the island. **Nordic Trail (hiking, skiing): Loops through the park section on the mainland.

References

External links

Brunet Island State Park
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources {{authority control Civilian Conservation Corps in Wisconsin Protected areas established in 1936 Protected areas of Chippewa County, Wisconsin State parks of Wisconsin River islands of Wisconsin Landforms of Chippewa County, Wisconsin 1936 establishments in Wisconsin