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Wisconsin's Water Management
Wisconsin manages resources using two key concepts -- Ecosystem Management and the Watershed Approach. Ecosystem Management is based on the fundamental ecological concept of interconnectedness. The Watershed Approach applies that same concept to the presence, movement, and interaction of water in the landscape. DNR, in applying the Watershed Approach to protect and restore water quality, focuses on aquatic and landscape areas of ecoregions, basins, and watersheds.
Basins and Watersheds
Basins and watersheds are interconnected areas of land draining from surrounding ridge tops to a common point such as a lake or stream confluence with a neighboring land area.
All lands and waterways can be found within one watershed or another. Picture a raindrop making its way from the very top of the mountain, through and over the land, joining more water on a journey down through gullies, streams and rivers to a lake. The land where all the water comes from is a watershed...it's easy to see that what the water picks up on its journey will affect the receiving waters -- lakes, rivers, and wetlands located downstream.
In the WDNR, these hydrologic areas are used for 2 purposes. First and foremost, the delineation of these areas identifies where surface waters drain across the land surface of the state. Based on the drainage areas, the WDNR then develops water quality management plans by Water Management Units for protecting our water resources. Secondly, these areas define the distribution of resource management work in the Watershed Management, Fisheries Management and Habitat Protection and Drinking Water and Groundwater Management Programs. Some hydrologic areas are modified to also follow political boundaries (e.g. county borders) in order to help define where work activities of WDNR staff begin and end. These units are referred to as Geographic Management Units (GMUs)
Other federal natural resource agencies have delineated hydrologic drainage areas as well. These areas are known as Hydrologic Unit Codes [exit DNR] or "HUCs". To the extent possible, state and federal agencies have tried to be consistent with each other. But for various management purposes, some differences in the hydrologic boundaries are necessary. Provided below is a list of hydrologic drainage areas the WDNR maintains, along with a purpose for their existence, a map depicting their definitions and a description of how they are similar and/or different from the HUCs.
About WDNR Hydrologic Areas: Watersheds, Basins, WMUs and GMUs
Contact Information
Bureau of Watershed Management WT/2
101 South Webster St
PO BOX 7921
Madison WI 53707
(608) 267-7694
fax: (608) 267-2800
Watershed@wisconsin.gov
Related Sites
- Partners and Links
- Coastal Wetlands of the Great Lakes
- UW Extension Basin Education Program [exit DNR]
- US EPA Introduction to Watershed Protection [exit DNR]
- US EPA Surf Your Watershed [exit DNR]
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