Dams in western Wisconsin
More than 300 current and former dams are found in the four western Wisconsin counties of Polk, St. Croix, Pierce and Pepin, according to Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources data examined by student journalists at UW-River Falls. The majority of these dams are on private land and out of sight of the public. And dozens more may be located in the region but not recorded by the DNR.
Students studied the dams as part of their work in JOUR 111, Introduction to Data Journalism, a spring semester 2023 course. The students were James Ackmann, Ethan Lay, Angel Riley, Greta Van Guilder and Erik Winberg. The course instructor was Associate Professor Andris Straumanis.
After sorting through the data and analyzing it, the student journalists wrote an overview, “Hundreds of dams dots western Wisconsin.”