WDNR has funded intensive monitoring by the U.S. Geological Survey through the Lake Management Planning Program. The results are available in the report Hydrology and Water Quality of Whitewater and Rice Lakes in Southeastern Wisconsin, 1990-1991, published in 1993. Calcareous Fen Kettle Moraine Springs A system of active calcareous springs supporting a fen and a southern sedge meadow. The entire drainage area is within the Kettle Moraine State Forest. Calcareous Fen, Slow hard, warm stream, Wet Mesic Prairie Clover Valley Fen Series of peat mounds rises several meters above mosaic of sedge meadow, wet mesic prairie, shrub carr and abandoned pastures, fields, which border tributary of Bluff Creek.
Mounds support rich vascular flora.
Spring discharge areas found on mound slopes. Sensitive grassland species inhabit area. A series of springs and elevated spring runs and seepage slopes which originate at the base of a morainal ridge. Along the springs and Bluff Creek is a calcareous meadow. Large bubbling springs are the largest and least disturbed in the region.