Chippewa Valley

The Chippewa River is formed by the confluence of the West Fork Chippewa River, which rises at Chippewa Lake in southeastern Bayfield County, and the East Fork Chippewa River, which rises in the swamps of the southern part of the Town of Knight in Iron County. These forks join at Lake Chippewa, a reservoir in central Sawyer County, which is the official "beginning" of the Chippewa River.

The Upper Chippewa Watershed encompass 3 million acres and include 23 distinct watersheds. The Lower Chippewa Watershed (1.3 million acres) begins where the Chippewa River leaves Lake Holcombe in Chippewa County and ends where the river empties into the Mississippi River at Lake Pepin.

(Others apply the term Chippewa Valley to the Eau Claire-Chippewa Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) and its immediately surrounding area - including communities not located within the Chippewa River's watershed. One interpretation of this: a tri-county area including Eau Claire, Chippewa, and Dunn Counties. Another interpretation: any community or rural area within roughly 30 miles of the Valley's largest city, Eau Claire.)

Communities lying within the Chippewa River Watersheds include

Ashland County: Butternut, Clam Lake

Barron County:Almena, Baronett, Barron, Brill, Cameron, Canton, Chetek, Cumberland, Dallas, Haugen, Hillsdale, Mikana, Prairie Farm, Rice Lake, Turtle Lake

Buffalo County: Maxwell, Nelson

Chippewa County: Bloomer, Boyd, Cadott, Chippewa Falls, Cornell, Eagleton, Holcombe, Jim Falls, New Auburn, Stanley

Clark County: Humbird, Thorp, Willard

Dunn County: Boyceville, Caryville, Colfax, Connorsville, Cedar Falls, Downing, Downsville, Dunnville, Eau Galle, Elk Creek, Elk Mound, Irvington, Knapp, Menomonie, Meridean, Ridgeland, Rock Falls, Rusk, Sand Creek, Weston, Wheeler

Eau Claire County: Allen, Altoona, Augusta, Brackett, Cleghorn, Eau Claire, Fall Creek, Fairchild, Foster, Wilson

Iron County: Emerson, Manitowash

Pepin County: Arkansaw, Durand, Ella, Pepin, Porcupine, Stockholm

Pierce County: Bay City, Ellsworth, Elmwood, Gilman, Hager City, Maiden Rock, Martell, Olivette, Plum City, Rock Elm, Spring Valley

Price County: Catawba, Kennan, Ogema, Park Falls, Phillips, Prentice

Rusk County: Bruce, Conrath, Glen Flora, Hawkins, Ingram, Island Lake, Ladysmith, Sheldon, Tony, Weyerhaeuser

Sawyer County: Couderay, Draper, Exeland, Loretta, New Post, Ojibwa, Radisson, Winter

St. Croix County: Baldwin, Cylon, Emerald, Glenwood City, Hammond, Hersey, Wilson, Woodville

Taylor County: Bellinger, Gilman, Hannibal, Jump River, Lublin

Vilas County: Lac du Flambeau, Star Lake

Washburn County: Birchwood