Mississippi River Lake Pepin Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategy Report

The Mississippi River-Lake Pepin Watershed includes 205,747 acres that drain several small, cold-water streams in bedrock-dominated bluff country. The largest of these streams is Wells Creek (45,954 acres), which winds through 18 miles of bluff lands and joins the Mississippi near Old Frontenac, southeast of Red Wing. Hay Creek is a popular trout stream (30,405 acres) that flows from south to north, joining the Cannon River bottoms at Red Wing. Most of the other streams in the watershed are also trout waters, and drain directly to the Mississippi River. The Mississippi River-Lake Pepin watershed consists of forests, bluff lands, and cultivated lands. The top of the watershed is rolling cropland interspersed by many small tributaries that drop steeply through forested valleys with scattered goat prairies atop cliffs. The tributaries form the named streams, which drain directly into the Mississippi River.