February 2012 Vermillion River 2011 Fish Community Monitoring Report Prepared for Vermillion River Watershed Joint Powers Organizaon Physical Development Division—14955 Galaxie Avenue Apple Valley, Minnesota 55124 Maple Plain, MN Woodbury, MN Windom, MN Fargo, ND Mandan, ND Roswell, GA 1800 Pioneer Creek Center 1802 Wooddale Drive 1012 5th Ave. 3310 Fiechtner Drive 301 1st Street NE 11113 Houze Road P.O. Box 249 Suite 100 P.O. Box 453 Suite 110 Suite 202 Suite 200 P: 763-479-4200 P: 651-294-4580 P: 507-831-2703 P: 701-297-9600 P: 701-751-3370 P: 678-987-5840 Telephone: 800-472-2232 Web Site: www.wenck.com Vermillion River 2011 Fish Community Monitoring Report Wenck File #1305-15 Prepared for: VERMILLION RIVER WATERSHED JOINT POWERS ORGANIZATION Prepared by: February 2012 WENCK ASSOCIATES, INC. 1800 Pioneer Creek Center P.O. Box 249 Maple Plain, Minnesota 55359-0249 (763) 479-4200 Table of Contents 1.0 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................... 1-1 2.0 STREAM FISH MONITORING ................................................................................... 2-1 2.1 Field Reconnaissance and Reach Determination ................................................. 2-3 2.2 Fish Community Monitoring ............................................................................... 2-6 3.0 MONITORING RESULTS ............................................................................................ 3-1 3.1 Fish Community Summary Information .............................................................. 3-1 3.2 IBI Calculations ................................................................................................... 3-3 4.0 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ........................................................ 4-1 5.0 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................ 5-1 TABLES 1 Sample reach information for the 14 stream fish monitoring sites 2 Electrofishing Methods and Sample Dates 14 stream fish monitoring sites 3 General Fish Community Sampling Results 14 stream fish monitoring sites 4 IBI scoring results for 14 stream fish monitoring sites applying the new MPCA statewide IBI scoring protocol CHARTS 1 Comparison of IBI Scores using the new MPCA statewide protocol across 2009 to 2011 monitoring years 2 Comparison of IBI scores under new MPCA statewide protocol to impairment listing thresholds for the fish community for each stream category FIGURES 1 Stream Monitoring sites in the Vermillion River Watershed 2 Stream Monitoring site A1 3 Stream Monitoring site A2 4 Stream Monitoring site A3 5 Stream Monitoring site A4 6 Stream Monitoring site A5 7 Stream Monitoring site A6 i T:\1305 Dakota\15\Report\2011 Fish Community Monitoring Report.docx Table of Contents (cont.) 8 Stream Monitoring site A7 9 Stream Monitoring site A8 10 Stream Monitoring site A9 11 Stream Monitoring site A10 12 Stream Monitoring site A12 13 Stream Monitoring site A13 14 Stream Monitoring site A14 15 Stream Monitoring site A15 APPENDICES A Field Photos B MN DNR Special Survey Permit No. 17701 C Species Summary Table D Trout Collections Summary Table E MPCA State Wide Fish IBI Fact Sheet ii T:\1305 Dakota\15\Report\2011 Fish Community Monitoring Report.docx 1.0 Introduction The Vermillion River Watershed covers approximately 335 square miles in Scott and Dakota Counties in Minnesota and contains reaches designated as either warmwater or coldwater stream fish communities. The Vermillion River Watershed Joint Powers Organization (VRWJPO) is tasked with developing policies and programs that protect and improve water resources within the watershed. In the summer of 2008, the VRWJPO developed a biological monitoring plan as a means to assess and track biological health throughout the watershed. The biological monitoring plan described goals and objectives for monitoring aquatic macroinvertebrate and fish community health as well as assessing the existing stream habitat and geomorphology in the watershed. Because the Vermillion River Watershed contains stream reaches that are designated as both warmwater and coldwater fish communities, the VRWJPO is interested in determining the appropriate means for assessing the fish community health in both warmwater and coldwater reaches as well as establishing appropriate management goals for each community type. The Index of Biotic Integrity (IBI) is a useful tool that has been developed for assessing the overall health of a stream by monitoring some aspect of the biological community. IBIs have been developed for both warmwater and coldwater stream fish communities. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (MN DNR) is currently coordinating with the VRWJPO on the IBI monitoring. The VRWJPO has expanded their IBI monitoring program to monitoring sites in addition to what MN DNR personnel are currently providing. In the summer and early fall of 2009, fish community monitoring was conducted by two parties for the VRWJPO; the MN DNR and Wenck Associates, Inc. (Wenck). Each party was responsible for conducting fish community monitoring at seven stream sampling locations in the watershed. Monitoring was again conducted by the MN DNR and Wenck in 2010 for the VRWJPO at essentially the same sampling locations as 2009. The VRWJPO is in the process of beginning a watershed wide study that will address the listing impairments and development management goals for the Vermillion River watershed. 1-1 T:\1305 Dakota\15\Report\2011 Fish Community Monitoring Report.docx This overall study is called the Vermillion River Watershed Restoration and Protection Plan (WRAPP). In preparation for the WRAPP study that will begin in 2012, the biological monitoring program was again conducted in 2011 at the same sites from 2010. This report provides data analysis and summary of the 2011 fish community monitoring results as well as providing comparisons of the results to the 2009 and 2010 monitoring efforts. 1-2 T:\1305 Dakota\15\Report\2011 Fish Community Monitoring Report.docx 2.0 Stream Fish Monitoring Fourteen stream monitoring sites were identified by the VRWJPO for inclusion in the 2009 fish community monitoring project (Figure 1). In 2010, two changes were made to the 14 sites from 2009. The fish community monitoring in 2011 was conducted at the exact same 14 reaches as in 2010, with the revisions from 2010 described as follows. The first change was the relocation of site A10 approximately one-tenth of a mile downstream. This reach was relocated due to site access issues. The new reach for A10 has not been channelized (as the original A10 reach had) and contains a riparian zone of wetland and forest vegetation as opposed to agricultural fields. Due to the close proximity of the relocated site to the original site, data comparisons between the two reaches are appropriate. The second change to the stream sampling reaches in 2010 was the discontinuation of monitoring at site A11. This site is located on a small tributary stream with limited habitat. Due to low water conditions at site A11 the fish community was not monitored at this site in 2009. It was determined that this stream is likely to experience intermittent conditions during most years, would not likely support a long term stable fish community, and would be an unlikely site for management or stream restoration projects. As a result, a new monitoring reach was established on Middle Creek in Farmington where biomonitoring had not taken place as part of the biomonitoring plan implementation. This site was labeled as site A15 (see Figure 1). The new A15 site provides a monitoring site on a stream that is more visible in the watershed and more likely to be the target of management dollars or projects by the VRWJPO, MN DNR, or other partners. The fourteen monitoring sites include ten reaches (sites A1, A2, A3, A5, A6, A7, A8, A9, A12, and A13) that are designated as coldwater fish communities (class 2A waters). The four 2-1 T:\1305 Dakota\15\Report\2011 Fish Community Monitoring Report.docx remaining reaches (sites A4, A10, A14 and A15) are classified as warmwater fish communities (class 2B waters). Additionally there are 12 reaches that are designated as trout streams by the MN DNR, sites A1, A2, A3, A5, A6, A7, A8, A9, A10, A12, A13 and A15. The MN DNR designation of trout streams does not always follow the state beneficial use classification of 2A coldwater communities, although classifying it as class 2A following a trout designation by the DNR is the typical process for the MPCA. It is planned for 2012 that reaches currently classified as class 2B but designated as DNR trout stream, will be reclassified as class 2A to match the DNR trout designation. The fish community monitoring data that has been collected under the VRWJPO Biomonitoring Plan was gathered for the intent of using the data to calculate Index of Biotic Integrity (IBI) scores. The IBI is a tool that is often used to assess the overall health of a water body based on the composition of a certain facet of the biological community. During the 2009 and 2010 monitoring years there were two fish community based IBI’s that were used to score each of the fourteen sampling reaches monitored in the Vermillion River Watershed. The first IBI was developed by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) for warmwater rivers and streams of Upper Mississippi River Basin (Niemela and Fiest, 2002). The second was an IBI developed for coldwater streams in the Upper Midwest (Mundahl