East Branch Boone River IA 04-UDM-6367

The fishkill occurred on or before September 15, 2009, and affected the East Branch of the Boone River near Kanawha. The kill affected approximate 945 fish and was attributed to pesticides, possibly due to aerial spraying. The value of the fish was estimated to be $4,178.42. At the time of this 2016 assessment there is no record that DNR sought or received restitution for this fish kill.

This stream segment’s fish community was sampled on October 8, 2014, as part of the DNR Watershed Improvement and Water Monitoring sections’ fishkill follow up monitoring program. Sampling methods described in DNR’s fish kill follow-up protocol (Attachment 5 of Iowa’s assessment/listing methodology) were followed. Approximately 440 feet of stream were sampled using a single pass with two backpack electro fishing units. Results of this sampling show that this stream supports approximately 4,800 fish per mile compared to the Level IV ecoregion 47b average of approximately 3,000 fish per mile; 73% of the expected fish taxa for this ecoregion were sampled. The results from this follow-up sampling and comparison of these results to ecoregion averages suggest that the fish community of this stream segment is similar to or better than non-fishkill impacted streams. Although the results of the fishkill follow-up sampling lack the scientific rigor to determine whether the designated aquatic life uses are “fully supported,” the results do indicate that the stream has recovered from the September 2009 fish kill event. Thus, the assessment of aquatic life use support for this stream segment was moved from impairment Category 5b of Iowa’s Integrated Report to Category 3a (designated use not assessed).