Aquatic Ecological System Type: C005-Northwestem Great Plains Perennial Stream, but due to 

 reduced hydrology from upstream dams, trending towards a D005 Northwestern Great Plains Intermittent 

 Stream 



Key Environmental Factors: Hydrology — upstream dams or diversions in the watershed; Grazing — 

 moderate impacts 



Rare or Unique Species: No rare species or communities documented 



Rare Features: No rare features documented 



Introduced/Exotic Species: Black & yellow bullhead, green sunfish 



Overall Ecological Site Condition: Good-with high restoration potential 



Reach Summary: The 1 50 m reach consisted of a 50m run/pool complex above the road crossing and a 

 100m series of riffle/run/pools below the crossing. This road crossing could really use a culvert, as the dirt 

 fill road is causing hvdrologic modifications and accumulating silt in the upper pool. The upper pool being 

 ~30m long and 5m wide contained the deepest fish habitat, albeit silted (Figure 33). This stream reach has 

 moderate-quality aquatic habitat and good fish species diversity (8 fish species, 5 natives). Pools below 

 the road averaged 5-lOm long and 2.25m wide (Figure 34). Spacing between the pools was fully 

 connected. All substrate of the pools was silt dominated with some gravel/pebble in the runs between 

 them; the lower pools contain pebble/cobble riffle areas between them (Figure 36), which provided the 

 highest habitat diversity for macroinvertebrates. The surrounding vegetation dominated by Scirpus sp. 

 (rushes) and Eleocharis palustris, common spikerush. Aquatic vegetation and overhanging banks 

 provided the most significant stream habitat in this stream reach. Livestock use index (LUl) was 

 moderate with -15 cow pies counted on a 75 m walk of the left bank. Pugging and hummocking was 

 minimal. 



Reach Riparian RanUng: BLM= 80% (20 of 24) EPA RBP= 87.5% (175 of 200) 



Reach Riparian Geomorphology: The geomorphology of this stream reach is a Rosgen E-4 with a 

 gentle-medium slope (-1%), moderate sinuosity, a riffle-pool configuration with substrate dominated by 

 gravels and silted-embedded pools. Pools are slightly incised and averaged >30 cm in depth, wetted width 

 of the reach was 3.4. Surrounding bank materials are similar to the channel bed materials indicating a 

 balance of sediment accumulation locally and upstream in the reach, except for the hydrologic change 

 caused by the road crossing. 



Amphibian Community: 1 Adult Northern Leopard Frog (NLF) present in the uppermost pool. 



Fish Community: 8 fish species (5 natives) were seined in the 2 riffie/run/pool sequences. Dominant 

 species were the sand shiners, fathead minnows and flathead chubs. Expected fish for this stream type 

 have almost been met, although a few introduced species were present (BlackA'ellow Bullhead and green 

 sunfish (Figure 35)). These probably originated from the upstream Jones Creek stock ponds that can 

 contribute introduced species during high flow events. Only the one introduced species (green sunfish) 

 was seined below the road, possibly indicating the road may be a barrier to bullhead from getting 

 downstream. 



Fish Community Quality: IBI= 88.25 0/E= 5/7.5 or 66.7% of the expected fish community. 



33 



