Prairie Creek IA 02-CED-510

Assessment Comments

Two stream use assessments in Benton County.

Basis for Assessment

Waterbody subsegment created in 1998 due to excessive length of this Class B(LR) waterbody (approximately 40 miles).  

Used a review of the field sheets from the July 1991 DNR stream use assessment assess support of the Class B(LR) aquatic life uses as FST due to (1) presence of a majority of the expected fish taxa (6 of 11) at one of two sites assessed by DNR in July 1991 and (2) generally good quaity aquatic habitats through most of this waterbody subsegment.   The fish community at the assessement site near Norway was not determined due to difficulty of seining.  Supporting evidence for the FST assessment comes from results of April 1990 DNR fish surveys near Watkins and Keystone that showed (1) moderately diverse fish communities (species/families: 12/5; 11/3) for streams in the Iowan Surface subecoregion (47c) and (2) presence of a majority of the expected fish taxa (10 of 11 at Watkins and 7 of 11 at Keystone) for streams in this subregion.   The primary threats to the continued support of the Class B(LR) uses are pasturing of the riparian zone and the related streambank erosion.   The data upon which this assessment is based are more than 5 years old.   Additional monitoring is needed to update this assessment and to determine the status of the aquatic communities and habitats.