Coon Creek Community Watershed Council Inc.

History

Some ninety years ago, the Midwest was engulfed in an environmental and agricultural disaster roughly seventy years in the making as the result of the continuous use of unsustainable agricultural practices. In the driftless region of Wisconsin, soil erosion and flooding threatened the existence of homes, farms and small villages, the backbone of local economies. Change was imperative and the federal government chose the location of the Coon Creek Watershed that runs through parts of La Crosse, Monroe, and Vernon Counties in western Wisconsin for a large-scale, conservation demonstration project. Coon Creek Watershed entrepreneurial farmers and businesspeople alike came together in the 1930’s to work with the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Soil Conservation Service to stop the destructive soil erosion and flooding in this watershed, shaped by the agricultural practices our ancestors brought from Europe. These brave farmers, who recognized the need, implemented land conservation practices that literally changed the face of the earth. The work was not easy. It was accomplished by backbreaking effort, shovels in hand to construct earthen terraces to slow the water and to build dam structures to hold the water back. And, it was accomplished through the slow process of building trust between the farmers, the university, and the government, at the high cost of friendships, relationships and initially respect for the farmers courageous enough to try something new. Through this difficult work, amid the Great Depression, the legacy of conservation leadership in the Coon Creek Watershed was born. It was here that the model for land and water conservation practices in the nation was designed and realized.