Students get hands-on experience monitoring Kinnickinnic River in River Falls in advance of dam removal project

 

University students get hands-on experience monitoring Kinnickinnic River in River Falls in advance of dam removal project 

Aug. 5, 2026 — For a fifth year, students from Universities of Wisconsin campuses stepped into the Kinnickinnic River in River Falls to gather data that tracks the ecological health of the river in advance of an expected dam removal project. The students spent two weeks working with University of Wisconsin-River Falls faculty on the Dam Analysis and Monitoring Crew, DAM Crew for short, before wrapping up the program with a group presentation of their work on Friday, July 31. 

Five students from UWRF, one student from UW-Milwaukee and two UWRF student interns participated in this year’s DAM Crew.   

UWRF faculty and staff created the DAM Crew to provide ecological monitoring for the city’s planned removal of the Junction Falls and Powell Falls Dams. During the project, undergraduate students were trained by river restoration professionals to monitor the ecological health and physical state of the Kinnickinnic River and establish a baseline to which the impacts of dam removal can be compared. Their data contributes to the 10-year Kinnickinnic River Monitoring Plan written in 2021.  

For the first week of the program, students spent eight hours a day in the river gathering data. They spent the second week processing the data and creating a presentation highlighting their findings. They also networked with other professionals who work on riverway issues.  

UWRF Plant and Earth Science Professor Jill Coleman Wasik, who created the DAM Crew, said the students get hands-on experience contributing to a real-world project, all while working in a group and meeting a tight deadline. 

“They collect the data, they process the data, they analyze the data, they try to find the correlations and they put it all together in a limited time,” Coleman Wasik said. “I’m always amazed by what every group comes out with.” 

Kayla Nagel, a senior UWRF conservation major from Anoka, Minn., said working on the DAM Crew helped her get a feel for working in the field. 

“I thought it would be a really good experience and good for my resume,” Nagel said. “I also wanted to work outside and experience the kinds of skills I would need for a professional job. It was really fun—definitely something I want to keep growing in and building my skill set.”  

Angelina Taylor, a junior UWRF biology major from Woodbury, Minn., said she thought collecting and analyzing the data would be something only highly trained professionals could do, but she found it easy and enjoyable under the guidance of the faculty and other mentors. 

“It definitely gave me a lot of confidence in my ability to do this in the future,” Taylor said. “I learned I really enjoy working outside. And it was very inspiring to see our work have actual outcomes.”   

The dam removal project moved one step closer to reality in April, when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) announced it had approved the feasibility study. The study found that the changes in water flow, warmer water temperature and sedimentation caused by the dams have negatively impacted trout habitats. The next phase of the project, which would include engineering design of the dam removal and river restoration, will depend on USACE funding and River Falls City Council approval. 

River Falls Mayor Alison Page says the city and the university have a long history of working together to safeguard this natural resource.  

"More than 50 years ago, the UW-River Falls faculty began working with the community to restore, protect and preserve the Kinnickinnic River,” Page said. “The City of River Falls values our partnership with UWRF to continue to study the health of the river. These students are doing important work to monitor the Kinni and help us understand the impacts of future river restoration. We look forward to continuing to partner with UWRF throughout our efforts on this project." 

The DAM Crew is a cooperative effort involving UWRF, the City of River Falls, the Kiap-TU-Wish Chapter of Trout Unlimited, the Kinni Corridor Collaborative and Inter-Fluve. It is funded by the Freshwater Collaborative of Wisconsin and supports the collaborative’s mission to train Wisconsin’s water workforce to address water challenges. 

In 2025, the Freshwater Collaborative committed to an additional six years funding for the DAM Crew, which will help see the 10-year monitoring plan to completion. 

Photo: Participants in the 2026 Data Analysis and Monitoring Crew (DAM Crew) gather ecological data in the Kinnickinnic River in River Falls. Five UW-River Falls students, one UW-Milwaukee student and two UWRF student interns participated in the fifth year of the program July 20-31, supported by funding from the Freshwater Collaborative of Wisconsin. Photo courtesy of the City of River Falls.