BARRON COUNTY - West Central Wisconsin Regional Planning ...

Blue Hills, the County’s highest elevation point, is 500 meters above sea level and is
located in the east-northeast part of the County.
Barron County is almost entirely in the Lower Chippewa River Basin. A small part of
western and northwestern Barron County lies within the St. Croix River Basin. Numerous
tributaries running into the Hay, Red Cedar and Yellow Rivers drain the County. There
are also numerous lakes in the northern half of the County and around the City of Chetek.
Within Barron County there are 25 unincorporated towns, seven villages and four cities.
Centrally located in the County, the City of Barron is also the county seat. The story of
the County’s people is subsequently told in the socio-economic section.
Major transportation corridors include U.S. Highway 53, which runs through the east half
of the County north from the southeastern corner and south from the north central border;
U.S. Highway 8, which bisects the County running east and west; U.S. Highway 63,
which is found in the northwestern corner of the County; State Trunk Highway 48, which
runs generally west and east across the County’s northern half; and State Trunk Highway
25, which runs north up the center of the County from the City of Menomonie in Dunn
County, through Barron, and ends at State Trunk Highway 48 between the Cities of
Cumberland and Rice Lake. Numerous county trunk highways distribute traffic to a
relatively fine network of town roads.
Nearby major urban areas include the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area to the
southwest and the Eau Claire-Chippewa Falls area to the southeast. Although Barron
County is not adjacent to either urban area, County development has been directly
influenced by these areas, especially in shoreland areas.
Element Context
The Issues and Opportunities Element follows an approach similar to that described
above. A socio-economic profile for all of Barron County is provided, which provides a
demographic context for developing the individual community plans.
Overall comprehensive planning goals and objectives for the County are not provided in
this section; instead, each community comprehensive plan will contain its own individual
vision, goals and objectives. Existing governmental programs and policies are also not
provided here, but are reviewed in the Addendum: Inventory of Existing Plans, Programs,
& Land Use Policies in West Central Wisconsin.
2 Issues and Opportunities Information