Nippersink Creek Watershed

Watershed Description
Counties
Municipalities
Land Cover
Planning and Technical Committee Chair
Resource Concerns
Milestones
Completed Technical Inventories
Identified Resource Projects

The Nippersink Creek is a 23-mile long creek that flows from headwaters in Alden Township in northwestern McHenry County. The main channel meanders southeast to fill the 830-surface acre reservoir, Wonder Lake, before flowing back to the northeast and joining its north channel near Spring Grove. The 87,624-acre Nippersink Watershed empties into Pistakee Lake and is the largest tributary to the Fox River System.

McHenry and Lake

Fox Lake, Greenwood, Hebron, Ringwood, Spring Grove, Wonder Lake, and Woodstock

Dick Hilton

• Soil erosion and sedimentation
• Urban, agricultural, and construction runoff
• Streambank erosion
• Surface water management of stormwater flow, wetlands and flood plain protection
• Degradation and destruction of wetlands
• Fish and wildlife habitat and populations
• Continued urban growth
• Septic and sanitary facility failures and sewage treatment plant releases
• Human and animal waste management

• Completed Nippersink Watershed Plan, in September 1998.
• Started water quality monitoring in upper creek funded by U.S. Geological Survey and IDNR Conservation 2000 grants.
• Assisted in development, publishing and distribution of lake stewardship book detailing activities landowners can initiate to improve water quality.
• Remeandered a section of Nippersink Creek.
• Relocated aquatic species upstream of Wonder Lake Dam.

Completion of the planning process resulted in fifteen watershed protection and enhancement recommendations. These recommendations are large in scope and not project specific. With approximately 18,670 tons of sediment reaching the Fox River annually, there exists many opportunities to establish conservation practices. Identified projects include water quality components for regional detention, additional stream remeandering, removal of contaminated sediments, and stream bank stabilization. Approval has been received to hire a Conservation Engineer to oversee the implementation of the plan. This will result in further project identification and implementation.