Virtual Tour
Experience daily life in the watershed through a collection of images by going on a Virtual Tour of High Island Creek. Check out a variety of features including the landscape, water bodies, communities and agriculture. The clickable interactive map might take a few minutes to load (size k).

Watershed Description
High Island Creek Watershed spreads out across 153,222 acres (237 square miles) in three counties: Sibley (66% area), McLeod (23%) and Renville (11%). Located in south-central Minnesota, High Island Creek is a sub watershed in the Lower Minnesota River Watershed, a major sub-basin of the Minnesota River Basin. As a moderate tributary, this watershed is the third largest of the Lower Minnesota River subwatersheds, comprising 13% of the total land area. High Island Creek Watershed, along with the Rush River Watershed, is one of the few rural subwatersheds in the Lower Minnesota River Watershed.

History
High Island Creek comes by its name from an island in High Island Lake (more on the history of the name). For over 10,000 years this watershed was part of the extensive tall-grass prairie with a large portion of wetlands. In addition, the area along the Minnesota River was part of the Big Woods, a large deciduous forest of oak, elm, maple, cottonwood and butternut trees.

Approximately 85% of the land mass is currently used for agriculture. The mostly level or slightly rolling landscape has a high rate of crop productivity; consisting of corn, soybeans, small grain and forge. Canning crops of peas and sweet corn are also grown within the watershed. Sugar beets, a relatively new crop, are found on the watershed's western end.

Grassland, the primary land cover before European settlement, now represents less than 5% of the watershed. Presently, urban and rural development account for 2.1% of the land area. As a major natural land feature, wetlands once represented 17% of the watershed acreage. Due to extensive drainage, wetlands have now shrunk to only 1.3% of the landscape. Today, less than 2% of High Island Creek Watershed is in conservation cover.

Landscape
Topography and surficial material characteristics can be traced to the movement of glacial ice and water flowing across the land surface. Glacial deposits, collectively known as drift, make up these surficial materials. Ground moraines formed as these glaciers advanced and retreated. Long intervals between glacial episodes may have allowed for the deep erosion and weathering of drift and bedrock surfaces.

Covering 95% of the watershed is the glacial drift of the Wisconsin age Des Moines lobe, the last glacial advance south of what is Canada. It is composed mainly of glacial till, characterized by a matrix of sand, silt and clay with pebbles, cobble and boulders. This drift deposits range from slightly less than 200 feet to over 450 feet in places, overlying a bedrock surface. Soils in the watershed developed from this glacial deposit. During glacial activity, drift from what is now the Minnesota River Valley was removed by Glacial River Warren, an outlet of glacial Lake Agassiz.

The topography in the watershed is generally flat (slope map). Approximately two-thirds of the watershed is flat to gently rolling with deep ravines along the eastern portion of the watershed.

High Island Creek Watershed is approximately 37 miles long and has a fairly narrow width, especially the middle section. An elevation of approximately 1090 feet above sea level is found in the western portion of the watershed in Renville County. Mid-point has an elevation of 1015 feet and by the watershed's eastern edge it has fallen to 720 feet above sea level. High Island Creek drops approximately two hundred and fifty-nine feet from the City of Arlington to the mouth. The eastern section of the watershed is characterized by steep ravines, natural stream cover, forested areas and a narrow floodplain.

Maps
Check out the various maps created by the Water Resources Center, MSUM for the High Island Creek Watershed Diagnostic Study. These maps include Land Use and Cover, Highly Erodible Cultivated Lands, Slope Characteristics, Soil Erosion Potential, Restorable Wetlands.

Water Quality
In 2000, the High Island Creek Watershed Assessment Project was launched to monitor water quality throughout the watershed for fecal coliform bacteria, nutrients and sediment. The water quality data was used to complete a diagnostic study and move the project into an implementation phase. Monitoring continues at three sites to assess any improvements in water quality as conservation practices are put on the land.

Diagnostic Study
In the summer of 2000, the Sibley Soil and Water Conservation District received funding through the Clean Water Partnership program to complete a diagnostic study of High Island Creek Watershed. After two and half years of water quality monitoring, community meetings and other activities an assessment report was completed and turned into the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. To read the full report: High Island Creek Watershed Diagnostic Report/Implementation Plan.