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Assessment Comments

Assessment evaluated based on fishkills.

Basis for Assessment

Divided this waterbody into two subsegments to reflect the upstream (channelized) reach and the downstream (meadered) reach.  Continued to assess support of the Class B(LR) aquatic life uses as FST with the primary threat from reoccurring fish kills caused by animal feeding operations in the watershed.   Additional monitoring is needed to update the assessment and to determine the status of aquatic communities and habitats, esepcially following the extensive fish kills in August 1996 and July 1998 that occurred near Williams, IA.   Problems with recoccurring fish kills in Tipton Creek were highlighted in the August 1, 1998 Des Moines Register.   A review of the field sheet from the May 1992 DNR stream use assessment 6 mi SW of Eldora, and the results of sampling at three locations by Kaminski et al.  (1995) suggests that, in the absence threats from fish kills, this streams would fully support its Class B(LR) aquatic life uses.   Results of DNR and ISU sampling show that this reach Tipton Creek supports one of the most diverse fish communities of any Iowa stream:  species/families, dstr->upstr:  22/5 (1992) & 30/5 (1995) same location), 27/5, and 22/5.   All, or nearly all of the expected fish taxa for streams in the Des Moines Lobe subecoregion (47b) were present (dstr->upstr:  11 of 11 (both DNR & ISU), 10 of 11, and 11 of 11).   In addition, Tipton Creek was rated as having the best habitat of the four streams examined in Kaminski et al.  (1995), and the aquatic habitat score from the 1992 DNR stream use assessment was well above average.