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Potential for more trout in Elk Creek Record brook trout caught in Fountain Springs, but better water could still improve fishing |
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About 15 years ago, Iowa’s record brook trout––tipping the scales at 7 pounds and measuring more than 19 inches––was caught at Fountain Springs in Delaware County. Fountain Springs, Spring Falls, and Schechtman Branch, three tributaries of Elk Creek, and portions of Elk Creek support wild trout populations. Brown trout have reproduced naturally in Fountain Springs and Spring Falls, but only sporadically. Those coldwater streams could do better for trout if sediment and nutrients were kept out of the water, fisheries biologists say. The sediment covers gravel and cobble on the stream bottom reducing insect populations and covering eggs, and excess nutrients cause algae that can deplete oxygen supplies. The Elk Creek Watershed Project has been steadily working at that problem, offering cost-share funds and encouraging landowners to apply best management practices on land that drains into the streams. Through the Delaware County Soil and Water Conservation District, the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship Division of Soil Conservation and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources have shared costs to install grassed waterways, terraces, and grade stabilization structures. They have also assisted with tree planting, fencing livestock away from streams, applying nutrient and pest management practices, and encouraging no-till farming and better pasture management. The practices continue to improve both the land and water in the watersheds. |
IDALS project coordinator Mike Freiburger works with landowner John Wessel in the Elk Creek watershed (above). Wessel and his neighbors are applying measures to reduce soil erosion and nutrient loss on farmlands that improve water quality in Elk Creek and its tributaries, popular cold water trout streams (below).
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One in a series of summaries of watershed projects in Iowa carried out by local conservation districts, the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, Division of Soil Conservation, and other partners. |
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