News

Turtle Creek Water Quality Improving
By Dan Bratrud
Posted Dec. 16, 2008

You may have read some of the earlier articles about the water quality improvement activities happening on Turtle Creek this year. Some may have even been in the area or on the creek and witnessed some of the work that is being done. Projects this past year include tree planting in the riparian area of the Boerjan Wildlife Area and installation of fish hides and stream bank stabilization on over 800 feet of stream bank on three different sites. Recently I was informed that the efforts to improve water quality on Turtle Creek appear to be paying off!

Fish sampling on Turtle Creek was done during August 2008 to help measure the success of the trout stocking program that the Iowa Department of Natural Resources has been doing in the creek for the past five years. Approximately 2,000 fingerling brown trout have been stocked into Turtle Creek annually since 2003. This year the stocking was reduced to about 1,400 due to some hatchery issues. There are also 6,000 catchable size rainbow and brook trout (10-13 inch) that are stocked regularly from early spring to mid fall.

Sampling results were 396 fish per mile on the Boerjan Wildlife Area and 316 fish per mile on the Darlene Kittleson property northeast of St. Ansgar. Several year classes were observed with fish ranging in size from 4-inch fish (which were from spring 2008 stocking or last years spawn) to 17-inch brown trout, which would be about 5 years old, and lots of sizes in between. All fish sampled were found to be in excellent shape.

"I did notice there were a few small trout (3-4 inches) collected during our sampling. They could be from last year's spawning activity in the stream. As we talked about, we'll be doing some sort of marking on fish we stock this year. This is really exciting!" said Theresa Shay from the Iowa DNR Fish Management Unit in Decorah.

During the second week of November 2008, Milt Owen, Mitchell County Conservation Board Director, and Bill Kalishek, Fisheries Biologist for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, were assessing some additional sites that need work along Turtle Creek. As they walked the creek channel they observed Brown Trout spawning in many of the riffles they walked by. Brown Trout require rocky substrate free of silt deposits with clean flowing water to lay their eggs. As witnessed by Milt and Bill, the efforts to improve water quality and reduce siltation on Turtle Creek are working.

One of the goals of this water quality project is to restore the water quality in Turtle Creek to the point that it will support natural reproduction of trout. From this years results it seems like we are close to reaching that goal. If you have questions about the water quality project on Turtle Creek or Burr Oak Creek please contact Dan Bratrud at the Mitchell County SWCD Office, phone 641-732-5504.