North Skunk River Newton (Site #4)

Sites that score between 0 - 25 are considered poor. Fish abundance is usually lower than normal or, if fish are abundant, the collection is dominated by a few tolerant species. The number of native fish species present is low. Sensitive species and habitat specialists are absent or extremely rare. The population is dominated by just a few ubiquitous species that are tolerant of wide-ranging water quality and habitat conditions. Pioneering, introduced and/or short-lived fish species are typically the most abundant types of fish. Fish collected at poor sites often have a higher than normal occurrence of external physical anomalies.

This location has been classified as a survey site. Survey sites are compared to reference sites within the same ecoregion. A reference site represents natural stream qualities that are least disturbed by human activities within the watershed. Reference sites are grouped by ecoregion to establish a benchmark against which these survey streams are compared.