60-meter Segment Stream Network of the Upper East River Watershed, Brown County, Wisconsin

The East River is an agricultural tributary to the Lower Fox River and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Green Bay Area of Concern (AOC) in northeast Wisconsin. This tributary has known excessive phosphorus (P) and suspended sediment loads that contribute to habitat related impairments and downstream algal blooms. As part of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI), the U.S. Geological Survey conducted a stream corridor sediment budget study to estimate the spatial distribution of near-channel erosion and in-channel deposition of sediment and sediment-bound phosphorus (P). The Upper East River watershed is largely located in southern Brown County, with some headwater streams in northern Calumet and Manitowoc counties. In August 2022, erosion and deposition were assessed along 15 stream reaches using rapid geomorphic assessments (RGAs) and sediment samples were collected and analyzed for total phosphorus concentrations. The results of these field-based estimates were later applied to an expanded 60-meter stream network constructed from a hydro-enforced 10-meter digital elevation model in a Geographic Information System (GIS) in order to spatially map areas of streambank erosion and streambed deposition.