Anglers in Taylor County, Wisconsin might want to think twice before they wet a line. A disastrous manure spill fouled a popular stream, and killed countless fish along a five-mile stretch.
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) confirmed this week that Trappers Creek, a tributary of the Black River, suffered significant ecological damage after County Line Dairy, LLC, located on the Taylor–Clark county line, failed to report a manure release that occurred on September 2.
The spill was not discovered by the farm, but rather by routine water monitoring conducted by Taylor County’s Land Conservation Department on September 5, a full three days after the manure began gushing into the environment. Officials reported fish kills extending for miles downstream.
“They detected dissolved oxygen levels in Trappers Creek to be indicative of a spill, and they called it into our spills hotline,” Liz Usborne, the DNR’s regional nonpoint source coordinator, tells Wisconsin Public Radio.
Nine Hours of Toxic Overflow
The DNR traced the contamination to an open valve on a manure transfer pipe at County Line Dairy. The manure, meant to be pumped from the barn into a storage pit, instead surged backward, flooding the barn, then pouring through cow pastures and road ditches before dumping into Trappers Creek.
The spill began around 11:30 a.m. on September 2 and continued unchecked until roughly 8:30 p.m. that evening, a full nine hours of continuous toxic discharge, according to the DNR.
Officials are still trying to determine whether the release was caused by an equipment failure or operator error, though they have classified it as an accidental spill at this time.
“The manure they were working to pump into secondary storage… overflowed, flooded the barn, left the barn, flowed through the production site, through cow pasture into a road ditch and then flowed… into the creek,” Usborne told Wisconsin Public Radio.
Massive Ecological Fallout, Unknown Toll
The exact volume of manure released and the number of fish killed remain unknown, but the scope of the damage is unmistakable. Dead fish were found all the way to the confluence of Trappers Creek and the Black River, indicating the spill’s far-reaching impact.
Despite the carnage, the farm’s owner declined to comment when contacted by the media on Tuesday.
County Line Dairy, which operates just under the regulatory threshold for a Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) with 988 animal units, is subject to Wisconsin’s spill law. The law mandates immediate reporting of any hazardous release; a requirement the farm clearly failed to meet. Violations can incur fines of up to $5,000 per day.
The DNR is continuing to monitor the situation, working in coordination with the Taylor County Land Conservation Department and the farm to evaluate mitigation options and potential cleanup efforts. However, officials have yet to release a timeline or outline the long-term ecological impact.
No further information has been made available by the DNR, and staff have declined interviews regarding the specific incident (Wisconsin DNR).
A Preventable Disaster
The tragedy in Taylor County is a grim reminder of the fragile balance between agriculture and the environment — and how quickly that balance can be upended when protocols are ignored or systems fail.
For now, Trappers Creek, a once-thriving waterway teeming with life, has become a cautionary tale flowing downstream.
