Dead Sheep Stream and Wetland Restoration Project for a New Regulatory Requirement
Reid Cepa, PE
KCI Technologies, Inc.
Madison, WI
Authors: Cepa, Reid, P.E.; Jordahl, Harald (Jordy)
KCI’s Dead Sheep restoration is the first US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) approved stream/ wetland mitigation bank approved in Wisconsin. KCI identified the site in 2021, with construction completing in 2024. This complicated project includes a 4,000+ foot Priority 1 stream restoration of Cedarburg Creek meandering through 80 acres of restored forested wetland. This project navigated a new regulatory structure and included a difficult restoration in a sand-bed river system. This project, having produced the first stream credits in the state and showing its resilience following a 1,000-year flood event, is now in the monitoring/maintenance phase.
In 2019, the St. Paul District (USACE) began applying the Minnesota Stream Quantification Tool to stream impacts and mitigation projects in Wisconsin. In 2021, KCI began designing and implementing the project to produce both stream and wetland mitigation credits. Project goals were to undo decades of anthropomorphically altered hydrology to reconnect Cedarburg Creek to its historic floodplain and increase the quality and size of wetlands on-site.
Located adjacent to Wisconsin DNR’s Jackson Marsh State Natural Area and within the Cedar Creek and Milwaukee River watersheds, the site was an active row crop and tree farm with widespread hydric soils and Cedarburg Creek traversing the site. Cedarburg Creek was ditched in the 1950s with numerous drain tiles installed over the past 80 years. The 0.02% valley slope made reestablishment with Cedarburg Creek’s floodplain and connectivity with the adjacent wetlands challenging.
This presentation will discuss the intricacies of implementing a new stream metric system while the system is actively being updated (there have been both a Wisconsin SQT Beta and a combined Minnesota and Wisconsin SQT system released as the project has progressed). The presentation will also describe the engineering challenges with connecting Cedarburg Creek to the wetlands and floodplain with no grade loss on the site as well as facilitating a sand bed system’s evolution while preventing reach-wide head cut development and excessive erosion. The ultimate restoration goal is to integrate into the habitat matrix with the larger Jackson Marsh State Wildlife/Natural Area and the broader Cedar Creek and Milwaukee River Watershed restoration efforts.
About Reid Cepa, PE
Reid Cepa has over a decade of experience in the water resources industry. For the past 8 years since joining KCI, he has focused exclusively on stream and wetland restoration, working on and being technical lead on projects from site analysis through post-construction monitoring. Prior to joining KCI, Reid worked on wastewater treatment projects, including utilizing constructed wetlands for wastewater treatment. Outside of work Reid is an outdoorsman who loves taking his dog on hikes and camping trips, as well as an avid reader. Reid Cepa will be presenting on the success of the Dead Sheep at Jackson Marsh Restoration Project, including handling a 1,000 year storm event just two years after construction was completed.
LinkedIn Profile