Johnson Creek is a minor

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage ...

of the Rock River, about long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data
The National Map
, accessed May 13, 2011 in southeastern

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 ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Via the Rock River, it is part of the watershed of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

. Its

watershed Watershed is a hydrological term, which has been adopted in other fields in a more or less figurative sense. It may refer to: Hydrology * Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins * Drainage basin, called a "watershe ...

lies entirely within Jefferson County.

Course

Johnson Creek rises in northern Jefferson County within the city limits of

Watertown Watertown may refer to: Places in China In China, a water town is a type of ancient scenic town known for its waterways. Places in the United States *Watertown, Connecticut, a New England town **Watertown (CDP), Connecticut, the central village ...

and follows a J-shaped course through the northern half of the county. Upon entering the city of Johnson Creek from the south, it turns sharply to the west and flows into the Rock River on the west end of the city, near where County Road B crosses the Rock River. Numerous small streams empty into the creek, and there is one recognized lake in the watershed. The lake is officially unnamed, but is locally called Lake Dorothy. Portions of the creek and its many small branches are channelized. The watershed, including the majority of Farmington and portions of

Concord Concord may refer to: Meaning "agreement" * Pact or treaty, frequently between nations (indicating a condition of harmony) * Harmony, in music * Agreement (linguistics), a change in the form of a word depending on grammatical features of other ...

Jefferson Jefferson may refer to: Names * Jefferson (surname) * Jefferson (given name) People * Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826), third president of the United States * Jefferson (footballer, born 1970), full name Jefferson Tomaz de Souza, Brazilian foo ...

, and

Aztalan Aztalan State Park is a Wisconsin state park in the Town of Aztalan, Jefferson County. Established in 1952, it was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1964 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1966. The park cover ...

, is mostly rural.

U.S. Route 18 U.S. Route 18 (US 18) is an east–west U.S. highway in the Midwestern United States. The western terminus is in Orin, Wyoming at an interchange with Interstate 25. Its eastern terminus is in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin. However, US 18 run ...

passes along the southern edge of the watershed, and

Interstate 94 Interstate 94 (I-94) is an east–west Interstate Highway connecting the Great Lakes and northern Great Plains regions of the United States. Its western terminus is just east of Billings, Montana, at a junction with I-90; its eastern ter ...

crosses through it from east to west.

Geography

The region is predominantly agricultural, with some wetlands, grassland, and forested areas. The Wisconsin DNR labels the majority of the land type as the Watertown

drumlin A drumlin, from the Irish word ''droimnín'' ("littlest ridge"), first recorded in 1833, in the classical sense is an elongated hill in the shape of an inverted spoon or half-buried egg formed by glacial ice acting on underlying unconsolidated ...

s: "the landform pattern is undulating till plain with drumlins, lake plains, and muck areas common. Soils are predominantly moderately well drained silt and loam over calcareous sandy loam till or silty, loamy and clayey lacustrine." Small portions are associated with the Jefferson Lake Plains; the entire area is contained within the southeast glacial plains. The original vegetation cover is primarily sugar maple,

basswood ''Tilia americana'' is a species of tree in the family Malvaceae, native to eastern North America, from southeast Manitoba east to New Brunswick, southwest to northeast Oklahoma, southeast to South Carolina, and west along the Niobrara River to ...

, red oak, white oak, and

black oak Black Oak may refer to: Places in the United States * Black Oak, Arkansas * Black Oak, Daviess County, Indiana * Black Oak, Lake County, Indiana, a neighborhood of Gary, Indiana * Black Oak, Missouri Other * Black Oak Arkansas, American band ** ...

, with smaller areas of swamp conifers, lowland hardwoods, and marsh and sedge meadow with lowland shrubs. Johnson Creek is part of the larger Upper Rock River Basin. The of streams comprising the Johnson Creek watershed cover , or 28939 acres, with 20.38 acres covered by lakes and 5226.41 acres of wetlands.

Conservation

The creek's watershed includes extensive forested and shrub wetlands, most of which are listed as potentially restorable and of which have been restored. An infestation of

rusty crayfish The rusty crayfish (''Faxonius rusticus'') is a large, aggressive species of freshwater crayfish which is native to the United States, in the Ohio River Basin in parts of Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana. Its range is rapidly expanding across much of ...

has plagued the creek's entire length for some years, and another noted aquatic invasive is

reed canary grass ''Phalaris arundinacea'', or reed canary grass, is a tall, perennial bunchgrass that commonly forms extensive single-species stands along the margins of lakes and streams and in wet open areas, with a wide distribution in Europe, Asia, northern ...

along much of the watershed's wetlands. Its entire course is also listed as impaired due to nonpoint sources and destabilization of the creek's banks, leading to contamination by sediment and suspended solids. This signifies that the water quality does not allow the creek to meet its designated use, necessitating a water quality improvement plan. The creek's total maximum daily load planning is still in development. A small stretch of the creek is designated wadable nursery waters for smallmouth bass by the Wisconsin DNR, but the creek's rated condition for fish and aquatic life is poor as of 2008. Additionally, Jefferson County has been granted a Lake Protection Grant which includes the Johnson Creek watershed. There are seven DNR managed lands, most of which are extensive wildlife habitats.

References

{{authority control Rivers of Wisconsin Rivers of Jefferson County, Wisconsin Tributaries of the Mississippi River

Course

Geography

Conservation

See also

References