THE GREAT RIVERS NEWS
,™
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
EPA/620/N-05/004 Vol. 1 No. 4
October 2005
PROGRAM
J
Texas USGS Fish Crew Finds Upper Missouri River Challenging, But Interesting
Kathleen Rowland (USGS)
The USGS fish crew from
Texas found the Upper Missouri
River challenging and different
from many Texas rivers they
usually work on. They are used
to rivers with well-defined banks
and channels in Texas. In the
Upper Missouri River they found
more sediment and sandbars; a
not-so-well-defined main chan-
nel that often split into smaller,
multiple channels; or a main
channel that would wander back
and forth from left to right bank
or vice versa with no clear direc-
tion or definition.
Everyone agreed that sediment
in the Missouri River made it
difficult to spot and net fish once
they were electroshocked.
Given the low-flow conditions
due to a multi-year drought in
the Upper Missouri River Basin,
the USGS - Texas group was
surprised to find high velocities
at some of the sites. Those
velocities coupled with high
wind conditions on some day
made it a real challenge to keep
the boat on course for some of
the EMAP work. Defining the
actual shoreline for some of the
sites in the Upper Missouri
River also was interesting. The
crew found that when they
placed flagging at the different
stations along the main channel
shoreline, during the course of
sampling the flagging would
disappear under water due to
increased discharges from the
Garrison Dam or from area
power plants.
The crew from Texas also en-
joyed getting to see some spe-
cies offish they've read about
but are not
normally
found in
Texas like the
walleye, north-
ern pike, and
sturgeon.
However, they
had their fill of
gizzard shad
(too many to
count) by the
end of the
sampling sea-
son. They
gave a
"thumbs up" to
North Dakota
scenery and
the pristine conditions found in
many places in the Garrison
Reach. Would they like to come
back and work on the Upper
Missouri River? Most definitely!
Texas Fish crew sampling the Upper Missouri River
Algal Indicator Development Cooperative Agreement Awarded to University of Minnesota
Brian Hill (USEPA)
The University of Minnesota's
Natural Resources Research
Institute was recently
awarded a cooperative agree-
ment for the development of
algal indicators for the Great
Rivers. The research team,
led by Dr. Euan Reavie, will
be working closely with the
EMAP staff in Duluth to 1)
develop indicators based on
phytoplankton and periphyton
assemblages, 2) interpret
river condition based on these
assemblages, 3) evaluate
algal-environment relation-
ships and how the effects of
human disturbances can be
separated from natural gradi-
ents, and 4) contribute to the
development of reference
expectations for the Great
Rivers. For more information
on this cooperative agree-
ment contact Dr. Brian Hill at
218-529-5224.
This diagram shows how po-
tential stressors may affect
algal communities in the
Great Rivers of the Central
Basin.
(Tilling f Fertilizer / Pesticide / Road / Harvestino I Impervious ( Aufo/lndusinal ( Lawn che
practices \ application V application V building V B \ suhace V emissions V applies!
The Great Rivers Newsletter is periodic publication of the EPA's Mid-Continent Ecology Divi-
sion in Duluth, MN. The newsletter is designed to disseminate timely information about the
EMAP-GRE project among EPA investigators; state, federal, and tribal collaborators; and other
stakeholders. Contact Mark Pearson, editor (pearson.mark@epa.gov; 218-529-5205) to obtain
copies of the newsletter. The newsletter and other EMAP information can be found on this
website: www.epa.gov/emap/greatriver
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Page 2
THE GREAT RIVERS NEWS
LETTER
Strong Longitudinal Gradients For Many EMAP-GRE Metrics Ted Angradi (USEPA)
Preliminary data analysis
of 2004 EMAP-GRE data
reveals strong longitudi-
nal gradients for many
water chemistry and hu-
man-disturbance-related
metrics. The plot shows
an example of a strong
gradient for each river.
Nutrient concentrations
generally decreased with
distance from the conflu-
ence (the downriver end
of the EMAP sample
reach). For the Missouri
River, indicators of hu-
man disturbance had
lower values upriver.
These preliminary find-
ings have implications for
developing an approach to
reference conditions for
20
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200 400 600 800 1000
0 200 400 600 800 1000
River miles above confluence
0 300 600 900 1200 1SOO 1800
Great Rivers. Accounting for surrogate for watershed turbed condition for each
variation along natural gradi- area), will produce more reli- river.
ents, in this case river mile (a able definitions of least dis-
EMAP-GRE QA Audits Completed for 2005 Ted Angradi and Mark Pearson (USEPA)
EMAP-GRE project scientists
(Mark Pearson, Debra Taylor,
Terri Jicha, David Bolgrien, Ted
Angradi, Jeff Thomas, and Erich
Emery) have recently completed
QA audits with field crews. Dur-
ing each audit, the auditor ob-
serves the crew during sampling
and records compliance with a
set of QA procedures and ex-
pectations. The auditor dis-
cusses QA with the crew and
receives feedback on methods
and the crews' field experiences.
At the end of the sampling sea-
son, EPA scientists will compile
the findings and share them with
field crews in a debriefing meet-
ing. The QA audits are an inte-
gral part of EMAP-GRE's com-
prehensive QA program de-
Updates, Meetings, Goings-On
signed to insure the highest pos- I
sible quality standard for data.
These are some of the EMAP-
GRE fish and river crews for the
2005 field season. Many thanks
for a job well done. From left to
right and top to bottom the crews
are: Iowa Dept. of Natural Re-
souces (Bellevue, IA); Missouri
Dept. of Conservation (Liberty,
MO); Minnesota Dept. of Natural
Resources (Lake City, MN);
USGS (Rolla, MO); Wisconsin
Dept. of Natural Resources
(Onalaska, Wl); Missouri Dept.
of Conservation (Columbia,
MO).
Mississippi River Basin
Nutrients Science Workshop
Oct 4-6; This meeting included a
presentation on Inter-river &
downstream patterns in Si, N, &
P: preliminary assessment of the
Upper Mississippi. Missouri. &
Ohio Rivers by Brian Hill, Terri
Jicha, Paul Buckaveckas,
Shirley Yuan, & David Bolgrien;
and Demonstrating a consistent
approach for monitoring and
assessing ecological conditions
of the Upper Mississippi, Mis-
souri, and Ohio Rivers by David
Bolgrien, Ted Angradi, Terri
Jicha, Brian Hill, Mark Pearson,
and Deb Taylor.
National Research Council
Committee on the Mississippi
River and the Clean Water Act
Oct 18; David Bolgrien gave a
presentation on EMAP-GRE.
Red River of the North Eco-
system Workshop
Nov 2-3; Ted Angradi is invited
to speak on Inter-habitat varia-
tion of Upper Missouri River
benthos: implications for bio-
assessment and An approach
for determining reference Great
Rivers.
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