Buffalo Creek Union Slough NWR

This site was analyzed using the BMIBI-Warm Water assessment methodology.

Sites that score between 31 - 55 are considered fair. Total taxa richness and EPT (Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, Trichoptera) taxa richness are noticeably reduced from optimum levels; sensitive species and habitat specialists are rare; EPT taxa are still dominant in abundance; however, the most-sensitive EPT taxa have been replaced by ept taxa that are more tolerant of organic enrichment; the community is not well-balanced; a few taxa clearly dominate in abundance, collector-gatherers or collector-filterers often comprise more than 50% of the community.

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.