The Fox-Wolf Basin in northeast Wisconsin drains 6,400 square miles before flowing into Lake Michigan at Green Bay. By the mid 1900s, parts of the lower Fox River were dead, laden with raw sewerage and discharges from pulp and paper mills and a variety of other industries. Over the last three decades, however, the health of the river has improved significantly, but many important water resource issues remain. Walleye and other species are not safe to eat because of persistent toxic chemicals such as PCBs, mercury and more than 100 other substances. The waters remain choked with soils and nutrients washed into hundreds of miles of streams and tributaries from lawns, streets, parking lots and agricultural fields.
Exotic species continue to threaten the ecological balance of the region.
The Lake Winnebago pool lakes and the lower bay of Green Bay continue to experience algae blooms, which cause foul odors during low-flow periods in the summer, inhibiting recreational use. Fish, wildlife, benthic populations, and habitat are also severely degraded. Completed in 1988, the Stage I RAP identified more than 120 management actions designed to reach a desired state for water resources. Unfortunately, resources for implementing these actions were clearly dwindling. If water resource goals were to be met, priorities would have to be set, and more would have to be done with less.