Minnesota Pollution Control Agency

Contact: Cathy Rofshus, 507-206-2608 Toll-free: 1-800-657-3864 mailto:catherine.rofshus@state.mn.us Editor's note: Photos of some of the fish found during the survey are available on the MPCA's News Media Center at www.pca.state.mn.us/newscenter/index.html. Austin, Minn. - For the first time in Minnesota history, an Ozark minnow was found during a fish survey in the Turtle Creek watershed east of Austin. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources considers the Ozark minnow a species of special concern because it is extremely uncommon in Minnesota, though it is not endangered or threatened. The fish was found in a small stream, along with 22 other fish species. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) conducted the fish survey in August as part of the state's intensive watershed monitoring plan. The plan is designed to measure the aquatic health of watersheds through biological and water chemistry sampling. The Mower County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD), with three watershed districts, is providing the water sampling as part of a pollution study of the Cedar River Basin in southeastern Minnesota The Ozark minnow was also found in high numbers in Otter Creek, Orchard Creek, Rose Creek and the main part of the Cedar River below Austin. In addition, survey crews found Redfin Shiners for the first time since 1964 in Turtle Creek, along with large walleye and northern pike in the same stretch of creek. The MPCA, with help from a Mower SWCD staff member, conducted more than 50 fish surveys in the Cedar River and several of its tributaries in the Austin area. The survey crew collected large walleye, as well as large carp, in the Cedar River below Austin's wastewater treatment plant. Dobbins Creek had a high number of smallmouth bass, a few largemouth bass, rock bass, and other sunfish species. Other fish collected included the southern redbelly dace, blacknose dace, rainbow darter, slenderhead darter, golden redhorse, bigmouth shiner and carmine shiner, among others. While the species diversity of native fish appeared healthy at most sites, high sedimentation - water made cloudy by soil and other particles - may be stressing the fish population in some stream sites. While some sedimentation is a natural process, excess sedimentation can affect water bodies by making them shallower, introducing extra phosphorus and nutrients that fuel algal blooms, and burying important habitats for stream and lake species. Soil enters the water with rain running off farm fields, streambanks, ravines, streets, parking lots, roofs and other surfaces. For more information about the Cedar River Watershed, go to www.cedarriverwd.org/. For details on the MPCA's intensive watershed monitoring plan, go to www.pca.state.mn.us/water/monitoring/monitoring-watersheds.html.