Bret Schultz fishes Black Earth Creek in 2016. The Department of Natural Resources has warned anglers to limit consumption of trout from the creek because of PFAS contamination.
State officials say fish in Black Earth Creek are contaminated with toxic “forever chemicals.”
The Department of Natural Resources and Department of Health Services are advising anglers to limit consumption of brown trout from the popular Class 1 trout stream in western Dane County.
The agencies said fish collected in 2020 near Cross Plains had elevated levels of PFOS, one of many fluorinated compounds that can cause cancer and other ailments, and cautioned people not to eat the fish more than once per week.
The DNR did not immediately provide the test results or indicate a potential source of contamination, though some of the highest surface water concentrations reported are near the former Refuse Hideaway Landfill, a 23-acre Superfund site on Highway 14 in Middleton where industrial waste was dumped in the 1970s and 80s.
The advisory includes the entire length of the creek from Middleton to the confluence with Blue Mounds Creek near the Wisconsin River.
There was no discussion of new or modified limits for about two dozen other substances, including Trichloroethylene, a common dry cleaning chemical known as TCE, and chromium-6, a carcinogen made famous by Erin Brockovich.
Kyle Zempel, a fishing guide and owner of Black Earth Angling, said Black Earth Creek is one of the closest trout streams to Chicago and is easily accessible to Madison anglers.
“The resource itself is extremely important,” he said. “To have a trout stream within a short distance of a major city is really really special.”
Though most trout anglers return their catch, Zempel said the consumption advisory is “another knock” against the creek, which was once considered among the best trout fisheries in the nation but has been degraded by urban and agricultural pollution in recent decades.
“One thing after another keeps happening,” he said.
Thursday’s announcement is the state’s second PFAS-related consumption advisory issued this year. In January the agency said people should limit consumption of rock bass from Green Bay and its tributaries.
Advisories are in place for all but two of Madison’s lakes as well as Starkweather Creek.
The DNR has also issued PFAS consumption advisories for smelt from Lake Superior and trout from Silver Creek in the Fort McCoy Army base in Monroe County. PFAS advisories were previously in place for fish caught in three pools of the Mississippi River.
The DNR publishes advisories for specific species from around the state in an annual guidebook available on the agency website.
Photos: Historic round barn moved to new home
Kyle Vesperman plans to spend about $100,000 to move and restore this historic round barn. He was on hand Thursday as it made its way across farm fields to his farm on Stage Road south of Lancaster.
Workers with Dairyland Power Cooperative lower power lines Thursday morning to allow the 45-foot-high round barn to be moved across a farm field south of Lancaster.
A crowd gathers along Old Potosi Road south of Lancaster as a historic round barn is moved to a new location 3 miles east to Vesperman Farms, where it will be used for weddings and other events.
Hydraulic lifts suspend the 150-ton barn as it’s transported by Heritage Movers to its new location. The move began Tuesday and concluded Thursday.
The remnants of a a foundation which held an historic round barn remain at the site following its move in Lancaster, Wis., Thursday, Feb. 17, 2022. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL
Vehicles park and drive along Fairview road in the town of Lancaster, Wis. as an historic round barn is transported nearby Thursday, Feb. 17, 2022. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL
Jenny Stillestad offers warm apple cider donuts to spectators Thursday parked along the roadway as a round barn is transported across several farm properties in Grant County.
The interior supports create a maze for the round barn that was constructed sometime between 1902 and 1922.
The weathered exterior of the round barn is seen as it’s moved to a new location south of Lancaster.
Cindy and Mark Rupp record the move of an historic round barn in the town of Lancaster, Wis., Thursday, Feb. 17, 2022. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL
Shortly after 11 a.m. Thursday, the round barn approached Vesperman Farms, south of Lancaster, where it will be used for weddings and other events.
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