Middle Eel River Initiative: A collaborative approach for

ecological studies

Stream Habitats

www.usda.gov/stream_restoration/chap1.html

• 41 Watersheds• 36,000 stream

miles• 8 digit HUCs• Eel River HUC

05120104

Indiana Watersheds

814 mi2

Stream Monitoring• Water chemistry or Stream habitat?• Stream biology?• Where and when?• How clean is clean?

Connecting critical upland processes with aquatic ecosystems.

Approximate locationof Virgin Old-GrowthForest in 1620, 1850,and 1920

Meyer, 1995

Cuyahoga river, 1969

3,000-6,000 square miles

Ecological Impacts: Streams

• Chemical• Physical• Biological• Temporal• Spatial

Can changes be detected?

Middle Eel River Monitoring• Three gage sites • Six Tributaries

Water Sample Collection• Grab Samples • Time integrated• 15 minute data collection

– Water temperature – Stream discharge

Parameters

• Water Chemistry– Total Suspended Sediment– Total Phosphorus– Nitrate

• Biological– QHEI– IBI– Mussel survey– E. coli

4/22

/201

0

5/2/

2010

5/12

/201

0

5/22

/201

0

6/1/

2010

6/11

/201

0

6/21

/201

0

7/1/

2010

7/11

/201

0

7/21

/201

0

7/31

/201

00

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100TSS discharge m3/sec

TSS

(mg/

L)

Dis

char

ge (

m3/

sec)

Upstream rain event

Upstream Gage 2010

Blocher Site

5/27 6/4 6/12 6/20 6/28 7/6 7/14 7/22 7/300.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

3.5

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

3.5

4.0

4.5

5.0

Stage Height (ft) Total Phosphorus (mg/L)Summer 2009

Sta

ge H

eigh

t (ft)

Tota

l Pho

spho

rus

(mg/

L)

Mexico Site

5/27 6/6 6/16 6/26 7/6 7/16 7/260.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

3.5

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

Stage Height (feet) Total Phosphorus (mg/L)Summer 2009

Sta

ge H

eigh

t (ft)

Tota

l Pho

spho

rus

(mg/

L)

Blocher's Farms

Near Pawpaw Creek

Mexico, IN

Silver Creek

Beargrass Creek

Squirrel Creek

Pawpaw Creek

Flowers Creek

Weesau Creek

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

0102030405060708090100

IBI QHEI

IBI S

core

QHEI

Sco

re

IBI Good QHEI Good

Fish and Habitat

Dam Research

Indiana• 1,100 dams and most in poor

condition• 70 % privately owned

North Manchester dam• Approximately 3 feet of water

Mean IBI Scores above NM dam

0-0.5 0.5-1 1.0-1.5

1.5-2.0

2.0-2.5

Dam303234363840424446

35

41

40

41

44

Distance upstream from dam, km

IBI S

core

Exceptional (50-60)Very Good (49-42)Good (41-34)Fair (33-27)Poor (26-17)Very Poor (<17)

Mean QHEI Scores above NM dam

0-0.5 0.5-1.0 1.0-1.5 1.5-2.0 2.0-2.550

55

60

65

70

75

55.5 57

67.5

70.5 71

Distance upstream from dam, km

QH

EI S

core

Liberty Mills Site

Liberty Mills

Indiana’s aquatic “dust bowl”

Suspended Sediment

Smallmouth bass Monitoring• SMB nests• Year Class

Strength• Growth

Eel River median discharge and SMB nest frequency at North

Manchester

2006 2007 2008 2011 2012

0

5

10

15

20

25

Discharge (m3/sec)Number of Nests

SMB nests and TSS

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 20120

2

4

6

8

10

12

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

SMB nestsYear

Mean TSS mg/LMay-June SMB nests

SMB Spine

Wet Fanny Awards

Nate’s FishBruce’s Fish

Ryan’s Fish

My Fish!

21-Apr 1-May 11-May 21-May 31-May 10-Jun 20-Jun 30-Jun 10-Jul0

2

4

6

8

10

12

Cumulative Precipitation May and June 2007-2011

20072008200920102011

Month

Cum

ulat

ive

Prec

ipita

tion,

inch

es

0123456

0 8 16 32 63 125 250 500Clay Concentration, mg/L

Gro

up B

iom

ass,

mg

4-d exposure7-d exposure

Figure 2. Mean and standard error of group biomass for smallmouth bass (11mm TL) after 4 d and 7 d exposure to bentonite clay suspensions.

Smallmouth Bass Compared to mean Total Suspended Solids in May and

June

Blocher Site

5/27 6/4 6/12 6/20 6/28 7/6 7/14 7/22 7/300.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

3.5

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

Stage Height (ft) TSS (mg/L)Summer 2009

Sta

ge H

eigh

t (ft)

TSS

(mg/

L)

Mexico Site

5/27 6/4 6/12 6/20 6/28 7/6 7/14 7/22 7/300.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

3.5

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

Stage Height (ft) TSS (mg/L)Summer 2009

Sta

ge H

eigh

t (ft)

TSS

(mg/

L)

Stream Sediment

Eel River Discharge at North Manchester

5/1 5/5 5/9 5/13

5/17

5/21

5/25

5/29 6/2 6/6 6/1

06/1

46/1

86/2

26/2

66/3

00

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

3,000

3,500

4,000

4,500

2006200720082011

Date

Disc

harg

e (ft

³/s)

Mean (SE) for upstream gage and NM

2007 2008 2009 2010 20110

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

TSS, mg/L

Number of SMB Nests Compared to Discharge at North Manchester

2006 2007 2008 2011

0

5

10

15

20

25

Discharge (m3/sec)Number of Nests

Discharge (red) and SMB fre-quency (blue)

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 20120

20406080

100120140

0

5

10

15

20

25

median Q m3/secTSS mg/L mean

year

TSS, mg/L Discharge, m3/sec

Eel River TSS vs discharge

0 5 10 15 20 250

20

40

60

80

100

120

140f(x) = 5.57992570251916 x + 13.0950737849669R² = 0.856656565599417

Median Discharge m3/sec

Mean TSS, mg/L

0 30 60 90 12015Miles

C

Cre k

r

h eek

r Cr

a

St

Ah

Warsaw

Wabash

Peru

Mexico

Grissom AFB

Winona Lake

North Manchester

Bourbon

Lagro

Rochester

Pierceton

Mentone

Akron

La Fontaine

North Webster

Etna Green

Claypool

Denver

Silver Lake

Macy

Roann

Leesburg

Sidney

0 3 6 9 121.5Miles

µ

LegendTowns

Major Roads

Impaired Streams

Tributaries

Eel River

Middle Eel River Watershed

Eel River Watershed

Counties