Assessment Comments
1997 Biocriteria: Fish IBI=44 (fair),35 (fair); BM-IBI = 63 (good), 71 (good).
Basis for Assessment
Upgraded the assessment of support of the Class B(LR) aquatic life uses due to a review of the field sheets from the October 1995 DNR stream use assessments which showed the occurrence of fish communities at both assessment locations (9 spp., 2 fams; 15 spp, 4 fams) the meet or exceed the expectations of the fish community typical of Class B(LR) streams in this region. Thus, despite the considerable alterations to aquatic habitats, this stream supports a fish community that suggests that the Class B(LR) aquatic life uses are fully supported. Threats to the continued support of this use include extensive channelization and frequent pasturing impacts. Results of two August 1997 DNR Maple River watershed bioassessments NW of Galva and SW of Aurelia support the assessment of the Class B(LR) aquatic life uses as FST due to (1) presence of a moderately diverse fish communities (13 and 15 species from 4 families), (2) presence of a majority of the expected fish taxa (7 of 9 at both sites) for streams of the Northwest Iowa Loess Prairies subecoregion, and (3) lack of violation of Class B(LR) WQ criteria in the samples collected as both locations during the watershed bioassessments.
