Fish Community Monitoring at Pipestone National Monument: 2001 – 2008 Trend Report

Dodd, Hope; Morrison, Lloyd; Peitz, David

An annual fish monitoring program was initiated at Pipestone National Monument to determine the status and long-term trends in fish community composition, and to correlate this community data to water quality and habitat conditions. This report presents trends from 2001 to 2008. Pipestone National Monument (PIPE), located in southwestern Minnesota, was established to protect and interpret the cultural resources surrounding the pipestone quarries and to provide American Indian tribes access to these quarries. A goal at PIPE is to maintain and restore the historic prairie ecosystem that surrounds these pipestone quarries, and an important component of tallgrass systems is water quality/quantity and biotic integrity of prairie streams. Changes in land use have resulted in habitat loss and degradation, and poor water quality in many prairie streams. This has partially led to the decline of many native prairie fishes within their ranges, including the federally endangered Topeka Shiner (Notropis topeka). Although human disturbances within a watershed can alter a lotic system, PIPE may offer important habitat for conserving native species.In 2001, an annual fish monitoring program was initiated at PIPE to determine the status and long-term trends in fish community composition, and to correlate this community data to water quality and habitat conditions. Fish community data were collected at two reaches from 2001 to 2008. One reach was sampled above the Winnewissa Falls, a 2.5 m waterfall, and a downstream reach was sampled near the west border of the park. Physical habitat and water quality were collected in conjunction with fish sampling.The fish community in Pipestone Creek differed between the upstream-most reach (above falls) on the east side of the park and the downstream (lower) reach near the west boundary. The fish community above the falls consisted primarily of species tolerant to poor stream conditions with no Topeka Shiners collected at this reach during the eight year period. Richness, diversity, stream integrity and abundance were low, potentially due to daily fluctuations in dissolved oxygen (DO). Levels of DO fell below 5 mg/L at night, a lethal level for many fish species (USEPA 1988). In comparison, the lower reach had high richness, good stream integrity, and moderate to high diversity, indicating a healthy fish community. The fish community at this downstream reach consisted of species moderately tolerant to poor water quality which is typical of prairie streams (Pflieger 1997, Bramblett et al. 2005, Fischer and Paukert 2008). Of the four sites that have been historically sampled by the Heartland I&M Network (HTLN), the downstream reach contained 85% of the Topeka Shiner abundance in Pipestone Creek, further indicating a higher quality fish community than that found above the falls. Richness and diversity at this lower reach significantly increased over time, although this increase may be an artifact of annual variability in precipitation and the relative efficiency of sampling smaller sites. Individual species catch fluctuated within acceptable limits of variability during the eight year sampling period, relative to baselines established from the first three years of data. However, when sample area was taken into account, deviations from baseline conditions were found for species catch per area at the lower reach, suggesting that size of the site may introduce variability in the samples.Although a small portion (1 km) of Pipestone Creek flows through the park, PIPE appears to provide some protection for native prairie fishes as evidenced by the higher quality fish community and presence of Topeka Shiners at the downstream reach. Additional study would be useful in determining mechanisms behind differences in fish communities of Pipestone Creek as it enters the park from agricultural land use and the communities found downstream where the prairie system is intact.

Fish Community Monitoring at Pipestone National Monument: 2001 – 2008 Trend Report

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