Bear Creek IA 01-MAQ-34

Assessment Comments

1991 stream use assessment in Jones County. 1997 biocriteria sampling 2 mi. SW of Baldwin, Jackson County.

Basis for Assessment

Used results of the September 1997 DNR biocriteria sampling approximately 2 miles SW of Baldwin to update the assessment of support of the Class B(LR) aquatic life uses developed for the 1996 report (=FST).   Used results of the biocriteria sampling to upgrade the assessment of support of the Class B(LR) uses from FST to FS due to (1) presence of a very diverse fish community (21 species from 5 families) for the portion of the Southern Iowa Rolling Loess Prairies subecoregion in the Mississippi River drainage, (2) presence of all (9 of 9) the expected fish taxa for streams in the subecoregion, and (3) lack of violatins of Class B(LR) WQ criteria in the sample collected during biocriteria sampling.   Thus, despite threats from old channelization and streambank erosion noted in the assessment devloped for the 1994 report, the composition of the fish community indicates that the aquatic life uses for this stream are fully supported.