Lake Wissota State Park
Encyclopedia
Lake Wissota State Park is a 1062 acres (429.8 ha) Wisconsin
state park near the town of Chippewa Falls
. The park is situated on the northeast shore of Lake Wissota
, a reservoir
on the Chippewa River
. Camping, boating, and fishing are the most popular activities. Park lands are covered in a mix of pine/hardwood forests and prairie. Visitors can access the Old Abe State Trail
and bike or hike 17.5 miles (28.2 km) to Brunet Island State Park
.
, which is overlain by 600 million year old Cambrian
sandstone
. An outcrop of this sandstone is visible south of the swimming beach. Otherwise these rock layers are blanketed by a thick layer of glacial sand and gravel. During the last ice age
15,000 years ago the Chippewa Lobe of the Wisconsin glaciation
ended just six miles (10 km) northeast of the park. When the glacier
s melted 10,000 years ago, rock debris settled in a 12 miles (19 km) wide outwash plain
where the park is today. The prodigious meltwater also carved the valley of the Chippewa River.
stands. The entire valley was extensively logged
for this target species from the mid-to-late 19th century. Once the harvestable timber was gone farmers began settling in the cleared out land.
The Chippewa River was dammed for hydroelectric power
in 1917, creating Lake Wissota.
As the sandy soil was marginal farmland, twelve landowners took advantage the federal Soil Bank Program between the mid-1950s and early 70s. This erosion-control program paid farmers to plant trees, and 205 acres (83 ha) here were planted with red pines
. Today these trees still flank the park road near the campground.
Legislation authorizing the state park passed in 1961, championed by state senator Davis Donnelly. Wisconsin spent a decade acquiring 990 acres (400.6 ha) from various owners and developing services. The park formally opened to the public in 1972.
and temperate forest. The forest itself is a mix of hardwoods such as sugar maple
and oak
and softwoods such as red
and white pine
.
Greatly disrupted by decades of logging and farming, these vegetative communities are healthy again after extensive restoration ecology
efforts. Controlled burn
ing is conducted in the prairie. As a sustainable management model, the red pine stand is periodically thinned for maximum health. There are demonstration shoreline restoration projects near the swimming beach to educate homeowners about improving their lake frontage.
for crappies, walleye, and bluegill.
The family campground contains 81 wooded sites, 17 with electrical hookups. At the south end of the park are two primitive, tent-only group campgrounds. One accommodates up to 100 people and the other up to 80 people.
There are 17.4 miles (28 km) of summer trails, most of which allow horses and mountain bikes. The Beaver Meadow Nature Trail is a shady, one mile (1.6 km) loop with interpretive signs which passes a wetland, a fern garden, natural springs, and an ancient river bed. In winter, there are 9.6 miles (15.4 km) of trail for snowshoeing, 7 miles (11 km) for cross-country skiing, and 5 miles (8 km) for snowmobiling.
The unstaffed Karen Lea Nature Center has tables of hands-on exhibits, and there are naturalist-led programs offered during summer weekends. The park also features two baseball diamonds and a volleyball court.
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
state park near the town of Chippewa Falls
Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin
Chippewa Falls is a city located on the Chippewa River in Chippewa County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 13,661 at the 2010 census. Incorporated as a city in 1869, it is the county seat of Chippewa County....
. The park is situated on the northeast shore of Lake Wissota
Lake Wissota
Lake Wissota is a reservoir in Chippewa County, Wisconsin, USA, just east of the city of Chippewa Falls. It covers an area of and has a maximum depth of . The lake was formed by the construction of a hydroelectric dam on the Chippewa River, completed in 1917. The dam was built by the...
, a reservoir
Water reservoir
A reservoir , artificial lake or dam is used to store water.Reservoirs may be created in river valleys by the construction of a dam or may be built by excavation in the ground or by conventional construction techniques such as brickwork or cast concrete.The term reservoir may also be used to...
on the Chippewa River
Chippewa River (Wisconsin)
The Chippewa River in Wisconsin flows approximately 183 miles through west-central and northwestern Wisconsin. It was once navigable for approximately 50 miles of its length, from the Mississippi River, by Durand, northeast to Eau Claire. Its catchment defines a portion of the northern boundary...
. Camping, boating, and fishing are the most popular activities. Park lands are covered in a mix of pine/hardwood forests and prairie. Visitors can access the Old Abe State Trail
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, an orphaned bald eagle found in the area in 1861 which became the mascot of the 8th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment in the American Civil War...
and bike or hike 17.5 miles (28.2 km) to Brunet Island State Park
Brunet Island State Park
Brunet Island State Park is a Wisconsin state park just north of Cornell. The park features a island in the Chippewa River, with the remaining area on the east bank of the river. The park is noted for its numerous white-tailed deer and large eastern hemlock trees...
.
Geology
The bedrock beneath the park is two billion year old graniteGranite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
, which is overlain by 600 million year old Cambrian
Cambrian
The Cambrian is the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, lasting from Mya ; it is succeeded by the Ordovician. Its subdivisions, and indeed its base, are somewhat in flux. The period was established by Adam Sedgwick, who named it after Cambria, the Latin name for Wales, where Britain's...
sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
. An outcrop of this sandstone is visible south of the swimming beach. Otherwise these rock layers are blanketed by a thick layer of glacial sand and gravel. During the last ice age
Ice age
An ice age or, more precisely, glacial age, is a generic geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers...
15,000 years ago the Chippewa Lobe of the Wisconsin glaciation
Wisconsin glaciation
The last glacial period was the most recent glacial period within the current ice age occurring during the last years of the Pleistocene, from approximately 110,000 to 10,000 years ago....
ended just six miles (10 km) northeast of the park. When the glacier
Glacier
A glacier is a large persistent body of ice that forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. At least 0.1 km² in area and 50 m thick, but often much larger, a glacier slowly deforms and flows due to stresses induced by its weight...
s melted 10,000 years ago, rock debris settled in a 12 miles (19 km) wide outwash plain
Sandur
A sandur is a glacial outwash plain formed of sediments deposited by meltwater at the terminus of a glacier.- Formation :Sandar are found in glaciated areas, such as Svalbard, Kerguelen Islands, and Iceland...
where the park is today. The prodigious meltwater also carved the valley of the Chippewa River.
History
It has been estimated that the Chippewa River Valley once contained one-sixth of the United States' white pineEastern White Pine
Pinus strobus, commonly known as the eastern white pine, is a large pine native to eastern North America, occurring from Newfoundland west to Minnesota and southeastern Manitoba, and south along the Appalachian Mountains to the northern edge of Georgia.It is occasionally known as simply white pine,...
stands. The entire valley was extensively logged
Logging
Logging is the cutting, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks.In forestry, the term logging is sometimes used in a narrow sense concerning the logistics of moving wood from the stump to somewhere outside the forest, usually a sawmill or a lumber yard...
for this target species from the mid-to-late 19th century. Once the harvestable timber was gone farmers began settling in the cleared out land.
The Chippewa River was dammed for hydroelectric power
Hydroelectricity
Hydroelectricity is the term referring to electricity generated by hydropower; the production of electrical power through the use of the gravitational force of falling or flowing water. It is the most widely used form of renewable energy...
in 1917, creating Lake Wissota.
As the sandy soil was marginal farmland, twelve landowners took advantage the federal Soil Bank Program between the mid-1950s and early 70s. This erosion-control program paid farmers to plant trees, and 205 acres (83 ha) here were planted with red pines
Red Pine
Pinus resinosa, commonly known as the red pine or Norway pine, is pine native to North America. The Red Pine occurs from Newfoundland west to Manitoba, and south to Pennsylvania, with several smaller, disjunct populations occurring in the Appalachian Mountains in Virginia and West Virginia, as well...
. Today these trees still flank the park road near the campground.
Legislation authorizing the state park passed in 1961, championed by state senator Davis Donnelly. Wisconsin spent a decade acquiring 990 acres (400.6 ha) from various owners and developing services. The park formally opened to the public in 1972.
Flora and fauna
Lake Wissota State Park lies in the transition zone between prairiePrairie
Prairies are considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the dominant vegetation type...
and temperate forest. The forest itself is a mix of hardwoods such as sugar maple
Sugar Maple
Acer saccharum is a species of maple native to the hardwood forests of northeastern North America, from Nova Scotia west to southern Ontario, and south to Georgia and Texas...
and oak
Oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 600 species exist. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus...
and softwoods such as red
Red Pine
Pinus resinosa, commonly known as the red pine or Norway pine, is pine native to North America. The Red Pine occurs from Newfoundland west to Manitoba, and south to Pennsylvania, with several smaller, disjunct populations occurring in the Appalachian Mountains in Virginia and West Virginia, as well...
and white pine
Eastern White Pine
Pinus strobus, commonly known as the eastern white pine, is a large pine native to eastern North America, occurring from Newfoundland west to Minnesota and southeastern Manitoba, and south along the Appalachian Mountains to the northern edge of Georgia.It is occasionally known as simply white pine,...
.
Greatly disrupted by decades of logging and farming, these vegetative communities are healthy again after extensive restoration ecology
Restoration ecology
-Definition:Restoration ecology is the scientific study and practice of renewing and restoring degraded, damaged, or destroyed ecosystems and habitats in the environment by active human intervention and action, within a short time frame...
efforts. Controlled burn
Controlled burn
Controlled or prescribed burning, also known as hazard reduction burning or Swailing is a technique sometimes used in forest management, farming, prairie restoration or greenhouse gas abatement. Fire is a natural part of both forest and grassland ecology and controlled fire can be a tool for...
ing is conducted in the prairie. As a sustainable management model, the red pine stand is periodically thinned for maximum health. There are demonstration shoreline restoration projects near the swimming beach to educate homeowners about improving their lake frontage.
Recreation
The primary attraction of Lake Wissota State Park is its access to water recreation. The unguarded 285 feet (87 m) swimming beach, located on a quiet arm of the lake, is very popular on summer weekends. There is a two-lane launching ramp for power boats and fishing boats. Nearby is a canoe rental and a 25 feet (8 m) fishing pier specially built to be handicap-accessible. Game fish in Lake Wissota include walleye, muskies, bass, panfish, northern pike, catfish, and sturgeon. Fish cribs have been dropped into the lake to provide habitat for crappies and smallmouth bass. In winter visitors can go ice fishingIce fishing
Ice fishing is the practice of catching fish with lines and fish hooks or spears through an opening in the ice on a frozen body of water. Ice anglers may sit on the stool in the open on a frozen lake, or in a heated cabin on the ice, some with bunks and amenities.-Locations:It is a popular pastime...
for crappies, walleye, and bluegill.
The family campground contains 81 wooded sites, 17 with electrical hookups. At the south end of the park are two primitive, tent-only group campgrounds. One accommodates up to 100 people and the other up to 80 people.
There are 17.4 miles (28 km) of summer trails, most of which allow horses and mountain bikes. The Beaver Meadow Nature Trail is a shady, one mile (1.6 km) loop with interpretive signs which passes a wetland, a fern garden, natural springs, and an ancient river bed. In winter, there are 9.6 miles (15.4 km) of trail for snowshoeing, 7 miles (11 km) for cross-country skiing, and 5 miles (8 km) for snowmobiling.
The unstaffed Karen Lea Nature Center has tables of hands-on exhibits, and there are naturalist-led programs offered during summer weekends. The park also features two baseball diamonds and a volleyball court.
External links
- Lake Wissota State Park official website