Assessment Comments
1997 biocriteria: 13 spp., 4 fams. Fish IBI= 29 (fair), BM-IBI= 46 (fair).
Basis for Assessment
[Note: For the 2002 report, the previous waterbody segment for the Des Moines River (IA 04-EDM-0020-1), which extended 53 miles from Buffalo Creek (Kossuth Co.) to Soldier Cr. (Emmet Co.), was split into three subsegments: (1) Buffalo Cr. (Kossuth Co.) to Prairie Cr. (Kossuth Co.) (IA 04-EDM-0020-1), (2) Prairie Cr. to unnamed tributary south of Armstrong in Emmet Co. (IA 04-EDM-0020-2), and (3) unnamed tributary to Soldier Cr. (Emmet Co.) (IA 04-EDM-0020-3). See assessment for segment IA 04-EDM-0020-1 for previous Section 305(b) assessments for the original 53-mile river reach.]
For the 2002 report, the assessment was based on the 1997 data (see 2000 assessment comments above) and the aquatic life use support continued to be assessed as partially supporting (=PS), based on a comparison of the F-IBI and BM-IBI scores with biological assessment criteria established specifically for the 2002 Section 305(b) report. The biological assessment criteria were determined from a statistical analysis of data collected at stream ecoregion reference sites from 1994-2001.
