The area’s history of European settlement dates back to the seventeenth century expedition of Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet who canoed down the Wisconsin River to the popular fur trading post Fort Crawford, now known as Prairie du Chien.

[2][3] During the 1820s the Ho-Chunk Nation or Winnebago was forced to give up their reservation and were relocated by the federal government because of desire to exploit the lead ores in the area.

[4] Weister Creek has a reputation as an excellent fishery for brown (Salmo trutta), rainbow (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis).

[8][9] As trees are drowned by rising beaver impoundments they become ideal nesting sites for obligate cavity nesters such as wood ducks (Aix sponsa), goldeneyes (Bucephala spp.

[13] At the first hearing, May 12, 70 citizens showed up and it was standing room only in a debate between those who wanted to protect the beavers versus those who feared further road damage or loss of pastureland to wetland.

[14][15] At a special follow-up town board meeting on June 1 a compromise was reached to adopt a proposal by Steve Solberg, an environmental engineer of La Crosse and Ben Hansen of Viroqua, for a flow device to permanently lower the beaver pond by 1.5 feet (0.46 m) so that it would not threaten Dell Road and to open up pastureland that had been flooded by the beavers.