What's the problem with Mink Creek?
Known as a cold water stream, Mink Creek is threatened by excess sediment and nutrients. Sediment from the watershed runs off fields, delivering thousands of tons of sediment from sheet and rill erosion to the creek annually.

Keeping sediment out of Mink Creek is key to creating an environment where trout eggs can thrive. If excess sediment washes into the creek and covers the nest, it can cut off oxygen to the eggs, kiling them. Thus, cleaner water can lead to improved fishing, which also attracts visitors to the area.

Those looking to preserve the water quality in the Mink Creek watershed are also battling nutrients. Nitrogen and phosphorus are two of the most common nutrients found in Iowa. These nutrients come from manure and chemical fertilizers used for agriculture and in urban areas. Nutrients like this can cloud the water, create low oxygen and high ammonia levels, lead to poor aquatic life diversity and even speed up the natural aging process of the creek.
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What's being done to help Mink Creek?
The Mink Creek Watershed Project has a number of conservation practices for farming and country living. Landowners in the Mink Creek watershed can improve the creek by partnering with the Mink Creek Watershed Project.

Carrie Davis, watershed project coordinator, can work with you to evaluate your property and identify practices that can help both the creek and your property. Davis can also help find financial assistance to install those practices. Landowners participating in the watershed project can generally get improved financial assistance opportunities.

Since the start of the project, many conservation practices have been installed in the Mink Creek watershed, including terraces, grassed waterways, grade stabilization stuctures and filter strips to improve water quality.

Terraces are an efficient practice in reducing soil erosion and sediment in the watershed. Terraces are built around a hillside and either slow runoff and guide it to the bottom of the hill or collect runoff and store it until the runoff can be absorbed by the ground. Terraces must be properly designed and maintained to combat erosion.

Grassed waterways are also an effective practice in reducing soil erosion in the Fayette County watershed. These natural or constructed channels move surface water across the land without causing soil erosion. The vegetation in the waterway slows the water, protecting the land from rill and gully erosion.

Grade stabilization structures reduce water flow and slow erosion by being built across a grass waterway or other gullies.

Filter strips are strips of grass or other vegetation used to trap sediment and pollutants attached to it from runoff.
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What can I do to help?
Landowners can consider installing conservation practices to control the amount of sediment, nutrients and other pollutants reaching Mink Creek.

Financial assistance is available, and the benefits extend beyond cleaner water - often conservation practices can produce financial benefits, create recreational opportunities and provide habitat for wildlife.

Residents of Mink Creek can volunteer as part of IOWATER. Volunteer monitors collect information on the levels of nitrates, nitrites, dissolved oxygen, pH, chloride and phosphate in creeks and streams.

Some monitors also report on the water's temperature and color, on biological life in the monitoring area, which is often an indicator of water quality. The public then can view water monitoring results from across the state at IOWATER.
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What is the future of Mink Creek?
The future of Mink Creek looks promising with conservation practices underway. The Mink Creek watershed program's ultimate goal is to treat a majority of the watershed and continue to place projects where there are sediment problems.
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Meet the project coordinator Carrie Davis grew up on a farm outside of Hawkeye, Iowa and attended Winona State University in Minnesota. She graduated in 2003 with a major in environmental science and soon became project coordinator at Mink Creek. "I really enjoy meeting landowners and helping to improve the watershed," said Davis. "It's a very rewarding job." For other ways you can get involved with the Mink Creek Watershed Project, contact Carrie Davis, watershed coordinator, at (563) 422-5770 ext. 3 or Carrie.Davis@ia.nacdnet.net Back to top