Lowery Creek Watershed | Driftless Area Land Conservancy

MAPPING THE WATERSHED

Lowery Creek Watershed Initiative

At 8,600 acres, the Lowery Creek watershed is small by most standards, but is packed with more intriguing beauty, culture, and history than your average watershed. Even the trout in Lowery Creek are special, being one of only two “heritage breed” brook trout populations that exist in Wisconsin’s Driftless Area.

Like all Driftless Area cold water streams, Lowery Creek begins in the springs that dot the surrounding hills. It starts near the aptly-named Far Look Road, then winds through a four-mile long valley before filling the pond at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin estate and spilling into the Lower Wisconsin River. A primary tributary follows Hillside School Road before flowing into Lowery Creek just upstream of the Taliesin pond.

The valley’s slopes hold the mix of woods, prairies, savannas, crops, and pastures the Driftless Area is known for. Add to that Unity Chapel, Taliesin, great biking and hiking, fascinating history, and the enduring influence of Frank Lloyd Wright – and you have a very special place.

We are working toward a watershed that, fifty or more years from now, will be even more beautiful and bountiful than it is today. It will be known for its aesthetics, progressive agriculture, rich biodiversity, cultural tourism, and engaged community. It will serve as a model for our region and beyond.